DOW JONES- $13,107.21

S&P 500- $1411.94

NASDAQ- $2987.95

The Walt Disney Co.- $50.08

News Corp.- $24.21

Time Warner Inc.- $43.64

In news from my industry, entertainment diversified, according to the Sunday Times, News Corp.’s Robert Murdoch has indicated that it will make a substantial cash offer for media conglomerate Pearson’s Penguin Group, joining the race for the book publisher. It is said that the bid could total $1.6 billion and could scupper plans to tie Penguin with Random House, owned by Germany’s Bertelsmann. As of right now, News Corp. owns book publisher HarperCollins. According to the report, the combination of HarperCollins and Penguin together would have a market share of 20 percent, while a combination of Random House and Penguin would control nearly 30 percent of English-language book sales. Pearson confirmed on Thursday that it was in talks with Bertelsmann, but said the two had yet to agree to a deal. If News Corp. does in fact join forces with Pearson it could be a great and profitable venture that will benefit stockholders significantly. However, if Pearson joins with Bertelsmann, News Corp. could lose money in the long run.

In other news from my industry, according to Reuters, premium cable network HBO delayed the launch of video and online distribution of its programming in four Scandinavian countries, giving a head start in the region to a video streaming service by rival Netflix Inc. HBO Nordic, the joint venture that runs the service, said in a statement to Reuters it had “slightly” pushed back the start date in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. It did not give a precise reason for the delay. HBO Nordic is a joint venture between Time Warner Inc –owned HBO and Parsifal International. Netflix launched its on-demand video service in the Nordic countries last week. As a result of this area being a “global battleground” for television delivered over the internet, this delay by HBO Nordic may very well cause Time Warner stocks to decrease.