MAJOR PAPERS:

• According to a person briefed on the situation, Merrill Lynch & Co Inc's (NYSE: MER) CEO Stan O'Neal was negotiating the terms of his forced departure on Sunday and the departure is expected to be announced on Monday. The top contenders for the CEO position are said to be BlackRock Inc's (NYSE: BLK) CEO Laurence Fink and NYSE Euronext Inc's (NYSE: NYX) CEO John Thain, the Wall Street Journal reported.
• The WSJ also reported that Alibaba.com raised $1.5B after the company priced its IPO at HK$13.50, at the top-end of the HK$12-$HK13.50 range. Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) holds a 39% stake in Alibaba Group.

• Ness Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: NSTC) was awarded a contract worth NIS 5 Million to convert the pension fund data managed by Opal Future Technologies, Globes reported.
• Indian company Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Limited (NYSE: RDY) is set to attempt to raise its share of the U.S. over the counter drug market by partnering with at least six more U.S. retail chains; the company plans to launch up to 10 drugs over the next 12 months that could become OTC offerings in the U.S., the Economic Times reported.

• According to TechCrunch, IAC/InterActiveCorp (NASDAQ: IACI) may have submitted a letter of intent to acquire movie-centered social network Flixter over the last week or so.

Newspaper wrap-up: Merrill Lynch CEO negotiates terms of forced departure originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.