Hertz is buying Dollar Thrifty in a $1.2 billion deal that combines two of the most prominent players in the car rental business. Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ, Fortune 500) said late Sunday that it has agreed to buy its rival for $41 a share in cash and stock. The $41 a share purchase price represents [...]

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Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG (DB) Tuesday said net profit increased 49% in the first quarter on record quarterly pretax profits in its corporate and investment banking segment and fewer write-downs overall. “Deutsche Bank has once again demonstrated its earnings power,” Chief Executive Officer Josef Ackermann said.

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Profits at oil giant BP have more than doubled from a year ago on the back of rising oil prices. Replacement cost profit for January to March was $5.6bn (£3.6bn), compared with $2.4bn for the first quarter of 2009 – a 135% rise.

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US newspapers Circulation continues to drop. The latest Audit Bureau of Circulations figures show that average daily circulation fell 8.7% in the six months ended March 31, compared with the same period a year earlier. One positive note: it is not as steep a decline as the 10.6% drop in the last reporting period, which [...]

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Wall Street banking giant Citigroup has reported a profit of $4.4bn (£2.9bn) for the first three months of the year. The result represents a return to profit after the bank lost $7.6bn in the last quarter of last year after repaying government loans.

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Toyota has agreed to pay a record fine of $16.4m (£10.7m) in the US for failing to report defects in some of its vehicles’ accelerator pedals. The Japanese carmaker denied hiding the defects, but again acknowledged that it could have handled the issue better.

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Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has said his country is making “preparatory moves” to take advantage of a multi-billion euro rescue package. He added, however, that Greece would not necessarily make a formal request for help.

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Global electronics giant Philips has reported a profitable quarter, as the Dutch firm continues to recover from the recession. The company said it made a pre-tax profit of 320m euros (£283m; $431m) for the first three months of the year, compared

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United Airlines and US Airways are in merger talks that, if successful, would create the nation’s second-biggest airline. It is the third time in a decade that they have tried to make a deal. The negotiations represent the latest efforts to consolidate the struggling airline industry, which

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Analysts said that the results of Wednesday’s 10-year $21 billion Treasury auction gave a clear signal that investors have a healthy appetite for U.S. government debt and will serve as a bellwether for how those auctions will perform going forward. The high yield, in fact, was the highest for this maturity: 3.90

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