The daily business briefing: March 15, 2016

(Image credit: Carl De Souza/Getty Images)

Jump to category:

1. Global stocks edge lower ahead of Fed meeting
2. Sony buys Michael Jackson stake in joint music business
3. Institutional investors file lawsuit against VW
4. Police say ex-Chesapeake Energy CEO McClendon crashed into overpass at 78 mph
5. Fresh Market agrees to $1.36 billion buyout

published 15 March 2016

1. Global stocks edge lower ahead of Fed meeting

Global stocks lost ground on Tuesday as investors waited to see what comes out of the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee's two-day meeting, which begins Tuesday and wraps up Wednesday. Fed policy makers raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade at their December meeting, but they are not expected to announce another hike this time. Investors, however, will be looking for signals of what the Fed will do next as global financial markets show signs of stabilizing and job growth remains strong.

Sony Corp. is buying Michael Jackson's 50 percent stake in their joint music business for $750 million. The deal with the late pop star's estate will give Sony control of Sony/ATV Music Publishing's catalog, which includes artists Sting and Alicia Keys. Macquarie Group analyst Damian Thong said Sony is getting a bargain, because the estate's stake in the 4-million-song catalog is worth more than its price tag, thanks largely to the increasing value of music assets with the growth of streaming.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Nearly 300 institutional Volkswagen investors have filed a $3.6-billion lawsuit in Germany over the automaker's diesel emissions scandal. The plaintiffs' lawyers said the suit accuses VW of neglecting its duty to capital markets during the scandal. A Volkswagen spokesman declined to comment. In the U.S., a former employee has filed a lawsuit saying he was wrongfully fired for questioning the company for deleting documents relating to cheating on diesel emission tests. The company said his termination had nothing to do with the scandal.

Energy industry magnate Aubrey McClendon hit an Oklahoma City highway overpass at 78 miles per hour in the March 2 crash that killed him, police said Monday. The former Chesapeake Energy CEO had been speeding at 88 mph down the highway, then veered left about 189 feet before impact and gently tapped on the brakes. He died at the scene of the fiery crash a day after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on accusations of rigging bids for oil and natural gas leases.

The Fresh Market grocery chain has agreed to a $1.36 billion buyout by private equity firm Apollo Global Management, the two companies said Monday. The North Carolina-based upscale grocery chain has been facing increasingly intense competition. Last month there was speculation that the Kroger chain was looking to buy the company. "Grocery retailers are consolidating because they need to bulk up to gain leverage," said Michelle Malison, an analyst with Euromonitor International.

Explore More

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.