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World Business Quick Take

■ TAKEOVERS
Regulator okays Google bid
Australia's competition watchdog said yesterday it had no objection to Google's US$3.1 billion purchase of online advertising firm DoubleClick. In a decision that Google described as a world first among anti-trust regulators, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it had no competition concerns about the deal. "In this context, the ACCC considered that the merger was unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition in an Australian market," the ACCC said in a statement.

■ FINANCE
Chinese firm eyes stakes
Another Chinese agency was in talks about possibly buying stakes in US-based private equity funds following a US$3 billion investment in the Blackstone Group this year, a newspaper reported yesterday. The Social Security Fund, which manages money for China's government pension and welfare programs, has talked to Carlyle, KKR and TPG, the Financial Times said, citing unidentified sources familiar with the talks. It gave no investment amount but said the fund was discussing buying a stake of up to 9.9 percent.

■ ELECTRONICS
Matsushita profits drop
Matsushita reported a 17 percent drop in profit for the second fiscal quarter yesterday as expenses for a massive battery recall and early retirement packages offset better sales. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co's July to last month profit dropped to ¥65.81 billion (US$574 million) from ¥79.29 billion the same period last year. Quarterly sales edged up 1 percent to ¥2.286 trillion from ¥2.253 trillion a year earlier on brisk global demand for flat-panel TVs, semiconductors, digital TVs and air conditioners, the manufacturer said.


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