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Sony Corp. Chief Executive Howard Stringer speaks during a press conference, outlining Sony's turnaround strategy at the electronics giant's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009. Sony said it aims to be profitable in gaming and flat-panel TVs by the fiscal year ending March 2011 as it slashes costs to turn around money-losing businesses. "Our work is already bearing fruit," Stringer said. "We still have more work to do." (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

Sony » said it aims to be profitable in gaming and flat-panel TVs by the fiscal year ending March 2011, pushing 3-D technology as a way to showcase its strength in entertainment and surface from deep losses.

"Our work is already bearing fruit," Chief Executive Howard Stringer said Thursday in outlining Sony's turnaround strategy at the electronics giant's Tokyo headquarters. "We still have more work to do."

The maker of the PlayStation 3 game console is headed for its second straight billion dollar loss in the current fiscal year ending March 2010, battered by the global slowdown and sliding prices of gadgets.

 

Mariott International's » fastest growing business will become luxury properties, President Arne Sorenson said.

"This segment will grow faster than the rest of our business," Sorenson, who is also Marriott's chief operating officer, said in an interview at the company's Bethesda, Md.-based headquarters.

Marriott, the owner of mid-priced brands such as Courtyard and Residence Inn, has added upscale locations to capture that sector's higher profit margins as the economy improves. The company announced a new luxury brand last week, the Autograph Collection, through which it expects to add as many as 100 independent hotels as operators struggle with a travel slump.

 

DirecTV Group Inc. » Chairman John Malone

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won't rule out a possible takeover by AT&T Inc. or Verizon Communications Inc., saying they will likely have closer ties to his company as they develop packages of phone and television service.

"Our relationship will continue to broaden and intensify," Malone, 68, said Thursday in an interview. "It may lead to some more ownership-oriented relationship, or it may not." DirecTV already offers pay-TV service to some Web and phone customers of AT&T and Verizon, the biggest U.S. carriers.

DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite-TV provider, simplified a potential takeover bid by agreeing to merge with Malone's Liberty Entertainment unit, a move that cut Malone's voting stake in half. The companies expect the deal to close by year-end, clearing the path for a potential acquisition.

 

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner » said the government's $700 billion bailout program will end "as soon as we can," and that part of it will be used to lower the soaring federal debt.

During a sometimes contentious Joint Economic Committee hearing that included one lawmaker calling on him to resign, Geithner was pressed to disclose the administration's plan for dealing with the unpopular financial rescue program.

"We are winding it down and will close it as soon as we can," Geithner said of the $700 billion bailout fund, known as the Troubled Assets Relief Program. Congress approved TARP at the height of the financial crisis in October 2008 as a way to supply banks with fresh capital.

 

 

Developed economies » will accelerate next year due to "substantial improvements" in financial markets and fast-growing Asian countries, but is likely to remain fragile, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday as it doubled its 2010 growth forecast.

The Paris-based watchdog's chief economist, Jorgen Elmeskov, told a news conference that the recovery has been mostly driven by government stimulus measures and interest rate cuts. Those benefited financial markets, whose recovery is "considerably faster and stronger" than anticipated in the June economic outlook, he said.

Still, the recovery will remain modest next year, with the U.S. and Japan outpacing Europe, the OECD report said.