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Far from being immune to stormy weather, people in high places get fired, too. This can be especially demoralizing, and often more public. 'Pervasive social media can keep messy exits [...]

American International Group Inc. is expected to announce next week the preferred bidder for its Taiwanese operations, Nan Shan Life Insurance Co. AIG expects to raise about $2 billion from the sale.

Sprint Nextel Corp. is excluding Huawei Technologies Ltd. and ZTE Corp. from a contract worth billions of dollars because of the companies' links to the Chinese government and armed forces. It is feared Huawei and ZTE technology may be used to disrupt or intercept communications in the US.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to approve a measure that would make it easier and less expensive for investors to nominate their own board candidates, putting pressure on underperforming directors.

Relational Investors L.L.C. and the California State Teachers' Retirement System said they will seek to unseat at least four of Occidental Petroleum Corp.'s 13 board members at the company's annual meeting. The investors, which own a combined stake of 1%, are concerned over Occidental's executive compensation and succession planning.

Part of a consolidation wave in the management-consulting sector, Aon Corp. will buy rival Hewitt Associates Inc. for $4.9 billion in cash and stock.

CenturyTel Inc. will buy Qwest Communications International Inc. for $10.6 billion in an all-stock deal. CenturyTel, which will be renamed CenturyLink, is offering 0.1664 share of its stock for every Qwest share. CenturyTel will also assume $11.8 billion of Qwest's debt.

Byline: JEFFREY MCCRACKEN AND JOANN S. LUBLIN HUMAN RESOURCES Two of the country's largest human resources consulting firms, Towers Perrin Forster & Crosby Inc. and Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc., agreed [...]

Byline: YUKARI IWATANI KANE AND JOANN S. LUBLIN TECHNOLOGY Will Apple CEO Jobs make it to the party? After months of uncertainty about Steve Jobs's health, the Apple Inc. AAPL-Q [...]

ENERGY Shell told to stop 'gravy train' Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Europe's largest oil company, suffered a stunning rebuke yesterday when nearly 60 per cent of investors who voted, rejected [...]

AUTOMOTIVE GM hires headhunter to fill board slots General Motors Corp. GM-N has hired an executive-search firm to help find replacements for at least half of its 12 directors, reflecting [...]

Byline: ELLEN BYRON AND JOANN S. LUBLIN; WALL STREET JOURNAL STAFF The succession race at Procter & Gamble Co. narrowed yesterday with the exit of Susan Arnold, clearing the way [...]

Byline: JAMES R. HAGERTY AND JOANN S. LUBLIN Freddie Mac's chief executive, David Moffett, announced his resignation from the U.S. government-backed mortgage company just six months after being installed in [...]

Byline: DAN FITZPATRICK AND JOANN S. LUBLIN Bank of America Corp.'s handling of its acquisition of troubled Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. has put chairman and chief executive officer Kenneth [...]

Because of weakening job markets and falling demand for temporary staff in the U.S. and Europe, employment firm Manpower Inc. announced its previous fourth-quarter revenue drop forecast of between 9% and 11% would be more severe. The company's actual revenue fell 20% in the first two months of the quarter, which translates into a 10% drop in the number of temporary workers employed by the firm. For its third quarter, Manpower reported losses of $43.2 million.

Byline: JOANN S. LUBLIN; WALL STREET JOURNAL STAFF Earlier this year, Mark Cummuta walked away from a chance to become the No. 2 executive of a Chicago technology consultancy - [...]

It is speculated that telecommunications equipment manufacturer Nortel Networks Corp. has consulted legal advisers in case the company is forced to seek bankruptcy-court protection from creditors if restructuring efforts fail. Article discusses Nortel's financial standing, share price, market value, efforts to raise cash, cost-reduction plans, and likelihood of a takeover by another company.

Byline: AMOL SHARMA AND JOANN S. LUBLIN; WALL STREET JOURNAL STAFF Nortel Networks Corp.'s contemplation of a bankruptcy filing comes after years of strategic missteps, accounting scandals and failed restructurings [...]

Yahoo Inc. announces that its chief executive, Jerry Young, will step down. It is argued that Mr. Young's managerial style may have contributed to Yahoo's plummeting stock value, and declining revenue. On Tuesday, Yahoo's stocks rose 9% to close at $11.55 on the announcement of Mr. Young's departure. Article discusses the process to appoint Mr. Young's successor.

Byline: JESSICA E. VASCELLARO AND JOANN S. LUBLIN; WALL STREET JOURNAL STAFF The impending exit of Yahoo Inc. CEO Jerry Yang leaves much unresolved for the Internet company, which has [...]

Byline: JOANN S. LUBLIN; WALL STREET JOURNAL STAFF Fans of Bruce Mount sang his praises to BzzAgent before he applied to become vice-president of engineering of the Boston word-of-mouth marketer. [...]

Nortel Networks Corp. reports a third-quarter net loss of $3.41 billion down from a $27-million profit a year earlier, and a 14% drop in sales to $2.32 billion. The company plans to eliminate 1,300 jobs in an effort to slash $400 million in costs by next year. Nortel's market capitalization is about $500 million at Monday's share price of 93 cents on New York Stock Exchange trading. It is speculated that Nortel needs to sell some of its business units to remain competitive.

As part of the announced reorganization of its research-and-development programs, pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. plans to abandon efforts to develop cardiovascular and anti-obesity agents while focusing on more profitable areas such as anti-cancer treatments. It is expected that Pfizer will reduce its R&D budget and labor force in a bid to cut cost.

Byline: SHIRLEY S. WANG AND JOANN S. LUBLIN In a striking shift, Pfizer Inc. will abandon efforts to develop medicines for heart disease, as part of a broad research reshuffling [...]

Byline: PHRED DVORAK AND JOANN S. LUBLIN Fuelled by outrage over big pay packages for executives of failed financial firms, Congress is moving toward including curbs on executive compensation in [...]

Byline: JOANN S. LUBLIN; WALL STREET JOURNAL STAFF During a recent commuter ferry ride, I overheard a pair of investment bankers swap strategies for weathering rumoured job cuts at their [...]

Byline: JOANN S. LUBLIN AND JESSICA E. VASCELLARO Yahoo Inc. is in the final stages of vetting former Viacom Inc. chief executive officer Frank Biondi and John Chapple, the former [...]

Decreased revenue and higher product development costs are raising concerns that Pfizer Inc. may not be able to fund its annual dividend payments to shareholders. Article discusses Pfizer's financial standing, relations with investors, and expected growth.

Investment company The Carlyle Group announces the acquisition of a majority stake in Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.'s U.S. government consulting business. Article discusses Carlyle's investments and diversification strategies, and Booz Allen's financial standing, and division of its government and commercial consulting units.

Byline: JOANN S. LUBLIN; WALL STREET JOURNAL STAFF David Marshall got laid off last October for the second time in two years. The 61-year-old credit manager fears the worsening U.S. [...]

Byline: JOANN S. LUBLIN; WALL STREET JOURNAL STAFF An e-mail that a veteran marketing executive recently blitzed to 12,000 contacts begins: 'On Sept. 11, to my complete and utter surprise, [...]

UK pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline PLC has hired consultants outside the firm to evaluate leadership qualities of its internal candidates for the chief executive officer position. Candidates are European pharmaceuticals president Andrew Witty, US pharmaceuticals president Chris Viehbacher, and global pharmaceuticals operations president David Stout. The selection process is being discussed with shareholders, and Jean-Pierre Garnier is giving each of them specific tasks to assess their skills.

Motorola Inc. has announced weaker cell phone shipments than expected and anticipates its mobile devices business will tally a loss for the year. After the announcement was made, the firm's stock prices dropped by 1.67% to hit $17.65 per share during after-hours trading.

Executive vice president Romeo Kreinberg and senior advisor J. Pedro Reinhard were fired from their positions at Dow Chemical Co. after it was discovered that the two, without the authorization of the company's board of directors, had been in talks with Oman investors regarding a leveraged buyout. The discovery came from information provided by a source at J.P. Morgan Chase and Co.