MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported that Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc (NYSE: BUD) and InBev may be one possible coupling in the fast-consolidating brewery industry; the people familiar said the two have already held talks.
• HSBC Holdings Plc (NYSE: HBC) yesterday launched its first two retail branches in Japan, according to the Financial Times. The bank also kicked off its "HSBC Premier" services, which aim to tap into Japan's budding market for wealth management.

• Despite rumors that none of those interested in struggling bank Northern Rock Plc (OTC: NHRKF), the UK Guardian reported that Sir Richard Branson will submit a bid by Monday's government deadline. Investment group Olivant is also expected to submit a bid for Northern Rock.

• TechCrunch has "gotten word" that Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) will acquire Maven Networks for $150M.

There has certainly been a lot of buzz about Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE:VIA) latest moves with online video. Basically, the company doesn't want to play ball with Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:GOOG) YouTube.

For example, Viacom cut a deal with Joost, which is an online video service. And, of course, the company also demanded that Google take-down over 100,000 of its copyrighted videos.

What does this all mean? Well, I had a chance to interview Hilmi Ozguc, who is the CEO of Maven Networks:

First, perhaps provide some background on your company?

Maven enables major media companies to create, distribute and profit from Internet TV. CBS, Sony, A&E, The Weather Channel and many others rely on Maven to power their Internet TV initiatives and the online video advertising revenue those generate.