By Alexei Oreskovic and Jennifer Saba (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc said it is buying blogging service Tumblr for $1.1 billion cash, giving the struggling Internet pioneer a much-needed platform in social media to reach a younger generation of users. The deal, announced on Monday, is a bold bet by Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer to revitalize the company by co-opting a Web property with strong visitor traffic but little revenue. Yahoo made clear it was sensitive to concerns that it might damage Tumblr by making it less irreverent or more corporate. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Michael Corbat named Jane Fraser as the new head of the bank's mortgage business on Monday ,as current CitiMortgage CEO Sanjiv Das plans to leave the bank to pursue other opportunities, according to an internal memo. Das took over Citigroup's mortgage business at the height of the financial crisis in 2008 as it was losing billions of dollars on bad subprime housing bets. He will remain at the bank for a few months to assist on mortgage issues related to the government, according to the memo. ...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Yahoo is buying online blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion as CEO Marissa Mayer tries to rejuvenate an Internet icon that had fallen behind the times.

NEW YORK (AP) — A stock market surge took a pause Monday after investors pushed indexes to record levels last week.

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Car maker Mercedes Benz said on Monday workers at its South African assembly plant had gone on an illegal strike at the end of last week but had agreed to resume operations on Tuesday. "Scheduled production will resume on Tuesday 21 May," company spokeswoman Lynette Skriker said in a statement. She said production had been affected by the two-day walkout. (Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Ed Cropley)

NEW YORK (AP) — Rival online takeout services Seamless North America and GrubHub on Monday announced plans to combine and create a new company covering more than 20,000 restaurants in 500 cities across the U.S.

NEW YORK (AP) — Actavis is buying Warner Chilcott in an all-stock deal valued at about $8.5 billion that would create the third-biggest specialty pharmaceutical company in the U.S. market.

By Leah Schnurr NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Monday as acquisition activity gave support but investors were reluctant to rush into the market with indexes hovering around record levels. Deals including Yahoo's $1.1 billion bid for Tumblr indicate that companies continue to search for growth through acquisitions, a bullish sign for stocks. Yahoo was up 0.8 percent at $26.73. The S&P 500 and Dow industrials finished Friday at fresh record highs and the Nasdaq Composite is at its highest since late 2000. ...

(Reuters) - General Electric Co said its financial unit GE Capital Corp would pay $6.5 billion in dividends to the parent in 2013 as part of a plan to reduce the unit's size. "This announcement is consistent with our goal to reduce the overall size of GE Capital and for it to return significant cash to GE," GE CEO Jeff Immelt said in a statement on Monday. The dividend payment includes a special dividend of $4.5 billion, the company said. The dividend payments are planned at 30 percent of GE Capital's total 2013 earnings, GE said. ...

By Caroline Humer (Reuters) - Generic drugmaker Actavis Inc, itself the subject of takeover speculation, said on Monday it would buy specialty pharmaceutical company Warner Chilcott Plc for $5 billion in stock to expand its branded drug portfolio, lower taxes and increase profits. Warner Chilcott brings a portfolio of branded women's health pharmaceuticals, such as the contraceptive patch to Actavis, which makes and sells drugs that are no longer under patent protection. ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has affirmed the authority of federal regulators to try to speed local government decisions on proposals to build or expand cell phone towers.

By Lawrence Hurley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday ruled for utility PPL Corp in its dispute with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service over credits the company claimed to offset overseas tax payments. The court ruled on a unanimous vote that Pennsylvania-based PPL can claim $39 million in U.S. foreign tax credits against a 1997 British windfall tax. Writing on behalf of the court, Justice Clarence Thomas said the "predominant character of the windfall tax is that of an excess profits tax, a category of income tax in the U.S. sense." At least two other U.S. ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were mixed in early trading on Wall Street after investors pushed indexes to record levels Friday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks were mixed in early trading on Wall Street after investors pushed indexes to record levels Friday.

The budget airline attributed the result to the strength of its “ultra-low-cost model” with air travelers.    

CHICAGO (AP) — Seamless North America and GrubHub on Monday announced plans to combine and create an online food ordering service covering more than 20,000 restaurants in 500 cities across the U.S.

LONDON (Reuters) - John Thornton, the former Goldman Sachs president who specializes in Chinese affairs, is stepping down from the board of HSBC to spend more time on his other business interests, Europe's biggest bank said on Monday. Thornton, who heads HSBC's remuneration committee, will not seek re-election to the bank's board at its annual shareholder meeting on Friday in view of "recent expanded responsibilities within his other business interests," HSBC said. He will resign as chairman of HSBC North America on the same day. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - John Thornton, the former Goldman Sachs president who specializes in Chinese affairs, is stepping down from the board of HSBC to spend more time on his other business interests, Europe's biggest bank said on Monday. Thornton, who heads HSBC's remuneration committee, will not seek re-election to the bank's board at its annual shareholder meeting on Friday in view of "recent expanded responsibilities within his other business interests," HSBC said. He will resign as chairman of HSBC North America on the same day. ...

(Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp on Monday named a top executive at rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp to head the No. 2 U.S. natural gas producer, which has suffered through a governance crisis and liquidity crunch over the last year. Chesapeake hired Robert Douglas Lawler, senior vice president of international and deepwater operations at Anadarko, to fill the post vacated by co-founder Aubrey McClendon in April. Shares of Chesapeake rose 1 percent as Wall Street hoped Lawler would restore luster to the tainted energy producer. ...

Lin Haiyan, a businesswoman, told investors the $100 million they gave her was going into stock offerings and bank deposits but she used it to speculate in stocks.