There is bittersweet news for investors in Hershey Co (HSY). After over 100 years in the same location, Hershey Co. is electing to close its original chocolate factory, which was built beginning in 1903. The company cites the need to upgrade equipment as the main impetus for the change. The company needs to remain current to effectively compete on the global playing field. Hershey is spending $300 million building a new facility near the original factory's location.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM), which launched a factory-building blitz five years ago, is now being urged by senior members of the founding family to stop building factories in the United States on fears it will hurt the company's efficiency.
• Kirk Kerkorian, who controls MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM), had planned to buy the Bellagio Hotel and Casino and the $7.4B Project City Center from MGM. But that deal now appears to be off, according to the Wall Street Journal.

OTHER PAPERS:

• The U.K. Times reported that News Corporation (NYSE: NWS) has had preliminary talks with Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) about giving its social networking site MySpace to the online search company, in exchange for a 25% stake in Yahoo!.
• The New York Times reported that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg will leave the Republican Party and register as an Independent.
• The New York Times also reported that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) will pay Take-Two Interactive Software (NASDAQ: TTWO) $50M for two exclusive downloadable episodes of Grand Theft Auto for the Xbox 360.

It seems only yesterday when Microsoft's position atop the lucrative desktop software market was so unassailable that the FTC had to bust them for monopolistic behavior. Oh wait: it was yesterday. That's why news of Dell and Google agreeing to install Google software on Dell PCs met with a round of gasps heard from Wall Street to Fleet Street.

It's been 10 years since Microsoft first began making deals to pre-install its software on home computers, and the bet was a good one, prompting Microsoft to a seemingly insurmountable lead in the desktop software market. But now Google software will sit in Microsoft's place.

The impact on Microsoft could be stunning. While sales from the "Client" division only make up about 29% of Microsoft's sales as of the most recent quarter's results, those sales represent 63% of the company's operating income. Were the client sales to be impacted only by 10% as a result of this Dell/Google deal, or about 3% of the overall revenue, 7% or more of the operating income would be erased: a serious threat indeed. Fortunes are made or lost on high-single-digit drops in operating income.