Gulf’s Spending Spree, Apple’s Bittersweet Grapes

NEWS AT A GLANCE

Carlyle taps oil wealth

Private equity giant Carlyle Group agreed to sell 7.5 percent of itself to Mubadala Development, an investment firm run by Abu Dhabi’s government, for $1.35 billion. The deal values Carlyle at $20 billion. (The Washington Post) The Carlyle deal topped off $25 billion worth of overseas acquisitions from oil-flush Persian Gulf states in recent days, and $68 billion worth this year. (Bloomberg) After state-owned Borse Dubai bought a 20 percent stake in Nasdaq and a 28 percent chunk of the London Stock Exchange yesterday, Qatar purchased 20 percent of the LSE and 10 percent of Nordic exchange OMX. (The Wall Street Journal)

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Mixed day for Apple

Apple CEO Steve Jobs was subpoenaed in the SEC’s backdated-stock-option probe of former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen. The SEC cleared Apple and Jobs earlier this year. (BusinessWeek) But Apple’s got a boost from Fox, which will offer free downloads of seven season premieres through Apple’s iTunes store. Fox is hoping to hook iPod users on the series. The Apple-Fox deal follows a public breakup between Apple and NBC, which is now offering its shows through a new NBC service. “What we are seeing is a rather messy and inelegant fumbling into the future of video distribution,” said ad consultant Tim Hanlon. (Los Angeles Times, free registration required)

DreamWorks marriage on the rocks

Paramount's 2-year-old, $1.6 billion takeover of DreamWorks SKG appears to be breaking up, as DreamWorks founders Steven Spielberg and David Geffen are widely expected to leave Paramount late next year. Hit movies from DreamWorks have pushed Viacom’s Paramount from last of the major studios, in terms of industry market share, to first. (Los Angeles Times, free registration required) Simmering personality disputes erupted this week after Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman told investors that Spielberg’s departure would be “completely immaterial” to Viacom’s success. (The New York Times, free registration required)

Renters? There goes the neighborhood!

The housing slump is making for bad neighborly feelings, as homebuyers unable to flip their houses are renting them instead. For those who bought to live, renters don’t make good neighbors. Some homeowner and condo associations, concerned about property values, are trying to limit the number of rentals allowed, or prohibiting nonresident investors from buying in at all. And while some renters are truly awful, disgruntled residents tend to save their ire for the absentee landlords. “You don’t just rent a property and assume that it’s going to be taken care of,” says Susan McDonald of Elk Grove, Calif. (The Wall Street Journal)