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NYSE: Nasdaq snub sets up a two-front fight

The New York Stock Exchange has issued a “harsh rejection” of an $11.3 billion takeover bid from an investor group led by Nasdaq, “setting up a potentially awkward showdown between the Big Board and its own shareholders,” said Gina Chon and Aaron Lucchetti in The Wall Street Journal. The NYSE stated that a Nasdaq deal would entail “unacceptable execution risk,” effectively placing “the onus on Nasdaq” to make the case that regulators won’t block the tie-up on antitrust grounds. But NYSE executives are already hearing from “angry investors” who want to know why the exchange summarily rejected an offer worth $1.6 billion more than the February bid from Deutsche Börse that put the Big Board in play.

Nasdaq and its bidding partner, IntercontinentalExchange, won’t walk away without a fight, said Paritosh Bansal in Reuters.com. “Nasdaq and ICE have been working behind the scenes to rally support for their bid from NYSE shareholders” and to press management to meet with them. The pressure on NYSE board members, who must evaluate any takeover offer, is likely to increase ahead of the exchange’s April 28 annual shareholders meeting.

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Jobs: McDonald’s one-day hiring spree

To staff up for the busy summer season, McDonald’s Corp. plans to sign up as many as 50,000 restaurant workers and managers in a mass-hiring event on April 19, said Angela Moore in MarketWatch.com. “It smacks of a publicity stunt, but if people end up employed and it helps the economy, what’s the harm?” The fast-food empire and its franchisees will spend an additional $518 million in the coming year, and the new hires are expected to generate an estimated $54 million in federal, state, and local tax revenue.

Big Pharma: J&J settles bribery charges

Johnson & Johnson agreed last week to pay $70 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges that it bribed doctors abroad, said Parija Kavilanz in CNNMoney.com. The company did not admit wrongdoing, but the SEC alleged that its employees and subsidiaries used offshore accounts, slush funds, and “sham civil contracts” with doctors to win overseas orders for its drugs and medical devices. The settlement highlights continuing management disarray at J&J, whose McNeil Consumer Healthcare unit was recently placed under federal supervision following recalls of Tylenol and other over-the-counter drugs.

Markets: Main Street investors not invited

Securities regulators may be on the verge of “easing decades-old constraints” on how private companies raise capital, said Jean Eaglesham in The Wall Street Journal. The changes could include making it easier for private firms like Facebook and Twitter to publicize share offerings and raising the number of shareholders—currently 499—a company can have before it is subject to disclosure rules. While the move could streamline startup funding, critics argue that it would block “ordinary investors” from tapping into some of the market’s fastest-growing firms.

Facebook: One fight over site’s genesis nears end

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court has denied an appeal by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, the twins who claim that they, not Mark Zuckerberg, hatched the original idea for Facebook, said Carol Williams in the Los Angeles Times. The twins have pursued their claim in court for six years, despite a 2008 settlement worth an estimated $180 million. They said they would seek to have their case heard by the full court. Zuckerberg still faces a suit from Paul Ceglia, who claims 50 percent of Facebook.