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■ Confectionery
`Peko-chan' faces ax
Japanese cake maker Fujiya is considering dropping its venerable mascot doll "Peko-chan" in a bid to change its image after a scandal in which it confessed to selling pastries made from stale ingredients. Life-sized Peko-chans, round-eyed mannequins with a lip-licking grin, have stood outside Fujiya cake stores since the firm adopted the eternal six-year-old after World War II. The company has assembled a team to consider a new mascot as one way of showing that it has reformed, the daily Yomiuri Shimbun said yesterday. The team would take about a year to mull the issue, it said.

■ Games consoles
Wii outsells rivals in US
US sales of Wii video game consoles last month nearly matched those of rivals Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined, figures released on Friday by NPD Group showed. While Nintendo's Wii was proving to be a powerful contender, it had a lot of ground to cover to catch up with the 5.1 million Xbox 360 consoles Microsoft had sold as of last month, NPD reported. Xbox was released a year before Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3 made their US debuts in November last year. Neither Wii nor PlayStation 3 sales have breached 2 million units in the US, NPD said.

■ Investment
Blackstone mulls listing
The Blackstone Group, the US investment fund which specializes in taking publicly listed companies private, is mulling a partial stock market flotation, media reports said on Friday. The Wall Street Journal's online edition reported that Blackstone could be close to seeking a stock market listing for about 10 percent of the New York-based firm. Such a move would be somewhat ironic for a firm that has made a name for itself by taking large companies private.

■ Electronics
LG, Philips to lose tube firm
LG Electronics Inc and Royal Philips Electronics NV will lose control of their TV glass-tube company as early as this month, a spokeswoman for their venture said. The two companies will no longer own a combined controlling stake in the venture by the end of this month or beginning of next month, said Arleen Chipongian-Perez, a spokeswoman for Hong Kong-based LG.Philips Displays, the world's second-largest maker of cathode-ray tubes. Financial institutions and private equity firms will own shares of LG.Philips Displays, which will change its name to LP Displays starting next month, she said on Friday.

■ Wireless
Duo agree to drop claims
Qualcomm Inc and Broadcom Corp agreed to dismiss patent and trade-secret claims against each other, ending several skirmishes in the long-running legal battle between the two wireless technology companies. Qualcomm said the settlement on Friday eliminates five jury trials scheduled to start this year. The first was to begin on Monday in federal court in San Diego. The dismissed claims included allegations that Qualcomm violated six patents and Broadcom infringed on four patents, Qualcomm said.

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