The board of Hynix Semiconductor rejected Micron Technology's $3 billion offer for its core operations, saying the company's solo survival was possible.
The surprise rejection of what would have been South Korea's biggest stake sale to a foreign buyer dashed plans by Micron (MU) to buy out a main memory rival and creditor hopes of recovering money spent rescuing Hynix (HXSCY) twice last year.
Top lenders wanted the deal and are not expected to respond positively to funding requests that analysts said cash-strapped Hynix will have to make.
Hynix lost $3.9 billion last year as the hardest hit memory-chip maker in a record fall in chip prices.
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Changing the rules: Morningstar, known for its five-star ratings of mutual funds, is revamping its system to reflect the huge growth in an industry where there are 14,000 U.S. stock funds.
The biggest, most important change involves how funds are grouped and graded. Under the current system, funds are rated within four broad asset classes: U.S. stock, international stock, taxable fond and municipal bond. There is no division by investment style or size.
The new system will rank funds within 50 more specific categories. Growth funds will be separated from value funds. Funds will also be sorted by the size of companies on which they focus large, mid and small capitalization.
The changes address concerns of critics who said Morningstar's old approach favored the investment style with the best performance at any given time like growth funds during the late '90s bull market and value funds in the current bear market.
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Widening MS' girth: Navision confirmed it was in discussions to sell its company, after reports that Microsoft was set to pay $1.2 billion for the Danish enterprise software firm.
Navision (NVIOF), one of Europe's leading manufacturers of medium-sized business software, is already a key partner for Microsoft (MSFT).
By combining Navision with its recently acquired enterprise software unit Great Plains from the United States, Microsoft would become one of the world's leading providers of business planning software.
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CEO says sayonara: Bernard Ebbers, who built WorldCom into one of the top telecommunications companies, has resigned, bowing to a plummeting stock price and government probes into accounting issues and personal loans he received.
Ebbers -- who is relinquishing his posts as president, chief executive and board member -- will be succeeded by Vice Chairman John Sidgmore, the company said. Sidgmore has taken a back-seat role over the past year, after having run the company's Internet arm, UU-Net.
Bert Roberts, the former head of MCI (MCICP), which WorldCom (WCOM) bought in 1998, will remain chairman of the board.
WorldCom said Chief Financial Officer Scott Sullivan has been named as executive vice president.
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Guilty as charged: EarthLink co-founder Reed Slatkin pleaded guilty to 15 federal counts relating to a fraud scheme that bilked investors out of at least $254 million.
Slatkin, who also served as a financial adviser to celebrities, business executives and socialites, pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, six counts of money laundering and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Slatkin, who resigned from EarthLink's (ELNK) board last year and filed for bankruptcy protection, will face up to $3.75 million in fines and 105 years in prison. Federal prosecutors expect he will receive a sentence of 12 to 15 years in exchange for the plea.
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News non-gratis: The Financial Times plans to charge for its FT.com website, joining a growing band of publications forced down the subscription route as advertising dries up.
FT.com (PSORF), which has 2.7 million unique users, said it would charge readers up to $292 per year for its premium content, aiming to break even by the end of this year.
AP and Reuters contributed to this report.
