Beleaguered Napster (NYSE: NAPS) shareholders got a nice surprise today. That is, Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) agreed to buy the online-music operator for $2.65 per share. On the news, the stock price surged 86%. Although, it's still a relatively small deal – amounting to about $121 million.

Something else: Napster already has about $67 million in the bank.

All in all, it looks like a good move for Best Buy. After all, the music CD market is evaporating.

For the most part, Napster has about 700,000 subscribers (there is a monthly fee), which should get a nice boost from the huge distribution of Best Buy. In fact, the platform could eventually allow for other digital offerings, such as videos.

Of course, there is tremendous competition in the space, such as from Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). However, Best Buy can certainly find creative ways to bundle products and services -- making things compelling for its customers.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website

TPG is causing some consternation in the UK. You see, the private equity firm has agreed to invest £179 million in Bradford & Bingley (B&B), which is a beleaguered financial institution.

Essentially, B&B investors are worried that TPG has structured an airtight deal to prevent other bidders from coming to the table. Another concern is an antidilution clause (which protects TPG if B&B's stock price falls).

In fact, shareholders will vote on the deal on July 7th. So yes, there should be some drama.

And, TPG isn't taking any risks. Actually, the firm plans to go on a major roadshow with investors. I'm sure it will be intense – but helpful.

However, it looks like B&B is in a tough spot. In light of the deterioration of its business, the firm needs to work fast. And, if the TPG deal falls through, it's a good bet that B&B's stock price will go into a tailspin.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

The country's second largest retail movie rental chain, Movie Gallery (NASDAQ:MOVI) has collapsed in early trading, down 75% to $.50. The stock has traded as high as $6.78 over the last 52 weeks.

The company blames soft sales for causing it to fail to honor the financial terms of its senior credit facility. Movie Gallery says it is down to $50 million in cash, and may have to sell the company. But, it is unclear whether creditors can simply step in an take the company over, a move that would certainly hurt holders of the common stock.

Movie Gallery is actually a fairly big business. With sales of $2.5 billion last year, it has revenue that is close to 40% of Blockbuster's, which is the No.1 retailer in the industry. Blockbuster's (NYSE:BBI) shares have been up recently as the company brought on a new CEO. But, the stock is still about 50% below where it traded two years ago.

The Movie Gallery troubles should cause concern among Blockbuster shareholders. Traffic at Movie Gallery stores is down sharply and there is no reason to believe that the Q2 trend would not have also hurt the larger company.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Walk into most Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) stores and you'll see multiple wireless carriers selling services and phones. While competitor Circuit City Stores (NYSE: CC) withdrew from this market some time ago, Best Buy has expanded its involvement and now offers phones and service from the top carriers in the U.S., including Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) and AT&T (NYSE: T).

Out of those carriers, Sprint recently received the Best Buy Bravo! Award for outstanding vendor performance. Best Buy's presentation to 25 vendors across various categories included Sprint (the only wireless carrier) because of the company's contributions to the Best Buy's success. Considering that the Bravo! Award covers all things wireless -- from post-paid carriers, pay-and-go, wireless accessories and mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) like Virgin Mobile and Amp'd Mobile -- this is a pretty significant score for Sprint.

Sprint was recognized by Best Buy due to providing exclusive handsets to the retailer for sale as well as offering "instant upgrades" inside stores to encourage customers to sign longer contracts (and giving Best Buy a commission). Sprint Nextel is currently the third-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. behind AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

Don't hit the panic button yet, but sales during the recent holiday period may have not met previous forecasts if certain predictions come true soon. The reason? The slowdown in housing and higher energy costs curbed consumer spending during the holiday shopping season -- causing customers to slow down spending. A likely story I guess -- but for now, it's just a rumor.

Figures put retail sales rising at 1.7% last week -- directly before Christmas this past Monday. which is the smallest gain since February 2005. This, of course, caused certain experts to state that growth in November and December will be at the low end of forecasts for growth rates of 2.5% to 3%.

With the fourth quarter being key to the overall annual fiscal profitability of most retailers (hint: Black Monday is not referencing a color), any slowdown during eh November or December shopping season can set a bad taste in the mouths of retail industry watchers. With retailers like Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) and Federated Department Str. (NYSE:FD) seeing the largest portion of net income in this shopping period, distressful news is not good news in December.

With Black Friday just a few days away, many of us will be packing our stomachs with plenty of food Thursday and then will be packing stores even fuller come Friday morning as we check out the multitude of bargains that will be available at just about every retail store imaginable.

What are some of the *standout* bargains at some of the bigger retailers like Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy. Circuit City, Toys R Us and others? I've been tuned into sites like www.BFads.net and www.GottaDeal.com to see what is lurking for shoppers come Friday morning and beyond -- and there are some deals to be had.

For example, Wal-Mart should be selling a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion ze2308wm notebook computer for $398, an HP Photosmart E317 digital camera for $98.88, a Lexmark all-in-one printer, scanner and copier for $39.88 and a 12-cup coffeemaker, food chopper or 2 qt. slow cooker for just $4.24. One of those sub-$5 coffee makers may come in handy as you wait... and wait... and wait in checkout lines. Bring your best insulated coffee mug with you, alright?

So, without further ado, I'm going to list the best Black Friday deals, right here on BloggingStocks, from eight of the top retailers in the nation in these three ultra-popular categories: Toys/Games, Computers/Laptop Systems and TVs/Electronics. The retailers that I'll cover will come from the below retailer list. Enjoy!

>> Best Buy
>> Circuit City
>> J.C. Penneys
>> Sears
>> Target
>> Toys R Us
>> Wal-Mart