Also
Top women’s tennis player Serena Williams signed a one-year deal with Close Up for about $500,000, and is expected to appear on one million toothpaste packages in the next year, according to athlete marketing firm DLB.
*
Sunbeam Corp.’s recovery plan was approved by a federal bankruptcy judge after bondholders dropped their objections, clearing the way for the small-appliance maker to emerge from Chapter 11 reorganization.
*
Priceline.com Inc. named Jeffery Boyd the company’s sole chief executive, ending Richard Braddock’s reign as co-CEO. Braddock, 60, will remain with Priceline.com, which sells discounted airline tickets, hotel rooms and car rentals over the Internet, as non-executive chairman.
*
Mel Weiss, a partner in class-action law firm Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach, was named to help lead a suit accusing Martha Stewart of harming investors in her company by failing to disclose her sale of ImClone Systems Inc. stock.
*
* Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. twice offered to buy its former parent company, Del Monte Foods Co., for about $575 million this year but was rejected each time in favor of an offer from H.J. Heinz Co., sources close to the situation said. Del Monte Foods revealed in a regulatory filing last week that in April it had considered a third-party offer for $11 a share in cash before ultimately accepting Heinz’s stock-swap bid instead.
