NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 29 (Reuters) – Facebook
unveiled new pages and ways for businesses to plug their
brands on Wednesday, casting its net wider for corporate users
as it prepares for a multibillion-dollar IPO.

Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg launched a
major charm offensive on Madison Avenue advertisers, touting
revamped pages or mini-websites and timelines that marketers can
use to promote brands and businesses to Facebook’s 845 million
members.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook revamped the pages businesses can set up on its online social network, providing a new way for brands to promote their goods to Facebook’s 845 million users.

The new feature lets businesses, as well as celebrities and bands, create self-contained mini websites within Facebook using the Timeline format Facebook introduced for its users’ profile pages earlier this year.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Living in the world of social networking and mobile smartphones means trading away some of your personal information.

But assessing the price of admission to join the super-networked, digital class is not so simple; even experts on the issue admit that they don’t have a full picture of the way personal information is collected and used on the Internet. But here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind.

SHANGHAI/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – China’s top search engine, Baidu Inc, plans to begin monetizing its mobile search traffic and social media platforms this year in an effort to boost growth outside its traditional PC domain, Baidu’s chief executive said on Friday.

Baidu has expanded its dominant position in China’s Internet search market ever since Google Inc decided in 2010 to relocate its search engine to Hong Kong following a standoff with the Chinese government over Internet censorship.

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc’s
efforts to craft a complex $17 billion asset swap with
its Asian partners stumbled over how to value Taobao, the
fast-growing online retail business owned by China’s Alibaba
Group, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Negotiations between Yahoo, Alibaba and Japan’s Softbank
broke down on Tuesday, about two months after the
parties agreed to a basic outline for a deal that would have
returned Yahoo’s stakes in those companies to their owners in
return for a clutch of unspecified assets.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Talks between Yahoo Inc(YHOO.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and China’s Alibaba Group over the U.S. Internet giant’s Asian assets have hit an impasse, throwing their plans for a $17 billion tax-free asset swap into question, according to sources briefed on the situation.

The snag in negotiations came on the same day that activist investor Daniel Loeb, of hedge fund ThirdPoint, sought to install his own slate of directors on Yahoo’s board, further highlighting the turmoil engulfing the one-time Web pioneer.

By Alexei Oreskovic

(Reuters) – Talks between Yahoo Inc and China’s Alibaba over the U.S. Internet giant’s Asian assets have hit an impasse, throwing their plans for a $17 billion tax-free asset swap into question, according to sources briefed on the situation.

The snag in the negotiations came on the same day that activist investor Daniel Loeb, of hedge fund ThirdPoint, launched a campaign to install his own slate of directors on Yahoo’s board, further highlighting the turmoil engulfing the one-time Web pioneer.

By Alexei Oreskovic

(Reuters) – Yahoo Inc and its Asian partners, China’s Alibaba and Japan’s Softbank Corp, have called off talks over a tax-free sale of the U.S. company’s prized Asian assets, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Collapse of the proposed deal — referred to as a cash-rich split-off — would mark the latest setback for an erstwhile Internet media giant now struggling to turn its business around and appease unhappy shareholders.