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World Business Quick Take

■ INVESTMENT

Gates takes a drink

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has invested about US$364 million in Mexican drink giant FEMSA, the distributor of Coca-Cola in Latin America and dozens of beers including Tecate and Dos Equis. Gates' investment firm, Cascade Investment LLC, filed a document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday showing it was acquiring 1.2 percent of FEMSA capital through "B" shares. Cascade acquired about 10.81 million of FEMSA's American Depository Shares Street traded in New York. FEMSA closed at US$33.68 late on Wednesday.



■ ELECTRONICS

BlackBerry brings Q3 profit

Research in Motion (RIM) Ltd's fiscal third-quarter profit more than doubled on strong demand for its BlackBerry smart phones and related services by consumers and businesses. For the quarter ended Dec. 1, Canada-based RIM earned US$370.5 million or US$0.65 per share, compared with US$175.2 million, or US$0.31 per share, in the same quarter last year. The company's third-quarter revenue rose to US$1.67 billion from US$835.1 million last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of US$0.62 per share on US$1.65 billion in revenue.



■ COMMUNICATIONS

Brazil auctions 3G licenses

An auction of third-generation (3G) mobile telephone licenses covering Brazil has netted the government nearly US$3 billion, regulators said on Thursday. The operators paid, on average, nearly twice as much as the minimum fee to grab the hotly sought-after licenses. In total, the auction raised 5.3 billion reais (US$2.9 billion), the National Telecommunications Agency said. Winning bids were received from Vivo (controlled by Portugal Telecom and Spain's Telefonica), Telecom Italia's TIM, Claro (controlled by Mexico's Telecom Americas), and Brazil's OI and four other companies.



■ FOOD

Campbell to sell Godiva

Campbell Soup Co said it has agreed to sell its upscale Godiva Chocolatier brand to a Turkish food company for US$850 million. Campbell said on Thursday that the buyer, Yildiz Holding AS, would add the brand to its Ulker Group. Campbell, the world's largest soup maker, announced in August that it was looking for a buyer for the brand, which does not fit squarely into its main business of selling healthy meals and beverages. Annual sales for Godiva are around US$500 million. Margins are strong for the company, but analysts said it just did not fit with what Campbell is trying to do.



■ SUBPRIME LOANS

Tax break bill signed

US President George W. Bush on Thursday signed a measure to provide financial relief for homeowners facing foreclosure or bankruptcy. The bill gives a tax break to US homeowners who have mortgage debt forgiven as part of a foreclosure or renegotiation of a loan. No taxes would be owed on the value of any debt forgiven or written off. Such debt forgiveness is taxable income under existing rules. While the measure is anticipated to reduce taxes of some homeowners by US$650 million, the cost to the government would be offset in part by limiting a tax break on the sale of second homes. An estimated 2.5 million adjustable-rate mortgages will jump from low initial rates to higher rates this year and next.
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