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Dow closes in retreat mode

NEW YORK, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. stock indexes were mixed in New York Monday to start the last full week of trading before Labor Day, as blue-chip stocks retreated from midday gains.

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By close of trading Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 33.30 points or 0.25 percent to 13,124.67. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index added 3.40 points or 0.11 percent to 3,073.19. The Standard and Poor's 500 dropped 0.69 points or 0.05 percent to 1,410.44.

On the New York Stock Exchange, 1,435 stocks advanced and 1,578 declined on a volume of 2.3 billion shares traded.

The benchmark 10-year treasury rose 12/32, yielding 1.652 percent.

The euro fell to $1.2497 from Friday's $1.2512. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 78.76 yen from 78.65 yen.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 255 index added 14.63 points, 0.16 percent, to 9,085.39.

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The FTSE 100 index in London was closed for the Summer Bank Holiday.


Best Buy opens door to founder's bids

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- The board of U.S. retail giant Best Buy said it had agreed to give founder Richard Schulze permission to pursue a bid to take control of the company.

The board and Schulze had agreed on an orderly process for the former chairman to have access to company information and bid on the company along with "private equity sponsors," Best Buy said in a statement.

Schulze was forced to resign in May after it was learned he did not inform the board of an inappropriate relationship between former Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn and a female employee.

The company, however, is struggling to stay afloat due to changes in the market that put the store in a position to be an expensive pseudo showroom for Internet firms.

While Best Buy pays high rents, electric bills and labor costs, customers with more and more frequency are walking into its stores to view merchandise up close. Then they use the Internet, accessible through smart phones, to find better prices at Amazon.com and other Internet firms that have much lower overhead costs.

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Schulze's deal is a step-by-step agreement on a possible takeover. He is to be granted immediate due diligence access to private company information with an opportunity to present a bid within 60 days.

If the board turns down the offer, Schulze has agreed not to present another offer until January 2013.

The board has agreed to respond to a second offer within 30 days before Schulze has an opportunity to take an offer directly to shareholders in either a special meeting or the company's annual shareholder gathering.

If the second bid fails, Schulze has agreed wait a year before presenting a third offer to the board.


Ask.com to buy About.com for $300 million

NEW YORK, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Ask.com confirmed Monday it had agreed to purchase About.com from The New York Times.

Ask.com is an Internet search that provides links to answer questions typed in by participants. It is owned by the Internet conglomerate IAC.

The purchase was first reported in the Times.

Ask.com Chief Executive Officer Doug Leeds said the firm moved from an algorithmic Web search company in 2010 to a question-and-answer format.

Since then, "we've learned a thing or two from our users," he said in a statement.

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"First, an increasing number of them are in 'browse mode' when they come to Ask."

"In fact, the most satisfied Ask users say they want more than just 'one right answer,'" he said.

The gain for Ask.com, he said was 100 million global users "asking millions of questions in hopes of finding great answers."

About.com is also "home to more than 900 topic sites, all created by guides who are true independent subject matter experts."

The overlap could lead to job losses but "the immediate synergies are obvious," Leeds said.


IBM to buy Kenexa Corp. for $1.3 billion

ARMONK, N.Y., Aug. 27 (UPI) -- IBM said Monday it had agreed to buy Wayne, Pa., human resources software firm Kenexa Corp. for $1.3 billion or $46 per share.

The acquisition "brings a unique combination of Cloud-based technology and consulting services that integrate both people and processes," IBM said in a statement.

Kenexa is a social network that helps companies recruit workers. The acquisition "bolsters IBM's leadership in helping clients embrace social business capabilities, while gaining actionable insights form the enormous streams of information generated from social networks every day," the statement said.

"Every company, across every business operation, is looking to tap into the power of social networking to transform the way they work, collaborate and out innovate their competitors," said Alistair Rennie, IBM's general manager for social business.

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"The customer is the big winner in all this because the combination of our two organizations will deliver more business outcomes than ever before," said Kenexa Chief Executive Officer Rudy Karsan.

IBM also gains access to data related to Kenexa's 8,900 customers, which include business giants in financial services, pharmaceuticals and retail, including half of the Fortune 500 firms.

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