Lending Club cashed in on a hot market for initial public offerings and put the spotlight on an emerging group of companies with online platforms that connect borrowers with lenders. Lending Club (LC) raised $865.5 million, the first IPO in the category of peer-to-peer lending. The San Francisco-based company priced 57.7 million shares at 15, above the high end of its upwardly revised range of 12-14. Lending Club opened at 24.75
Google is shutting down its Google News operation in Spain before a new law takes effect in January that would require it to pay publishers if its news service carried portions of their stories. The announcement that it would shutter the four-year-old operation comes as the search giant faces a slew of privacy and antitrust concerns from the European Union. Meanwhile, Google (GOOGL) risks losing $9.4
Big pharma Merck agreed to buy antibiotic specialist Cubist Pharmaceuticals Monday in a deal valued at $9.5 billion, boosting its fight against drug-resistant “superbugs.” Cubist soared 35% to 100.60, while Merck rose a fraction to 61.88. Merck (MRK) agreed to pay $102 a share cash for Cubist (CBST), worth $9.5 billion including $1.1 billion in assumed debt. Merck said the buyout should add more than $1 billion annually to its