The fast-food company Yum Brands (NYSE:YUM), the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell chains, reported a 2.6% rise in quarterly earnings. The company's Q4 net income increased to $232 million, or $0.83 a share, from $226 million, or $0.77 a share, a year ago.

Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) reached a deal to sell the Atlanta Braves to Liberty Media after more than a year of negotiations. The agreement, which must still be approved by Major League Baseball owners, would involve Time Warner transferring the Braves, a group of craft magazines and $1 billion in cash to Liberty in exchange for about 60 million shares of Time Warner. Based on the closing price of Time Warner's stock, the market value of those shares would be about $1.27 billion.

Shares of Onyx Pharmaceuticals (NDAQ:ONXX) soared after the company and its partner Bayer reported positive results from the final trial of a treatment for advanced liver cancer, paving the way for approval of the drug. Liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world and is often seen as difficult to treat.

Bayer (FRA:BAY) has said it expects peak sales of about 500 million euros ($649.6 million) from Nexavar in the treatment of kidney, liver and skin cancer. If approved for other cancers such as lung cancer, the firm has said the drug could generate sales of around 1 billion euros. In the Q3 of 2006, Bayer saw Nexavar sales of 37 million euros and for the full year the firm expects more than 100 million euros in revenue from the drug.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY) shares fell as shares of Sanofi-Aventis rose on Monday after a report the two drugmakers had ended talks for the French firm to buy the smaller U.S. group. Bristol-Myers shares have run up strongly in the past two weeks on talk of a Sanofi bid, closing at $28.52 on Friday to value Bristol-Myers at more than $56 billion.  

Canadian luxury hotelier Four Seasons Hotels (NYSE:FS) has agreed to be taken private by a group of investors that includes Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and an investment firm owned by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. The investors have offered $82 in cash for each limited voting share in a deal that values Four Seasons at $3.8 billion including debt, the company said. Four Seasons said the transaction was approved unanimously by its board following a report and recommendation by a panel of independent directors. Shares of Four Seasons closed at $83.88 in New York on Friday.

The U.S. Navy has awarded a $15.8 million contract boost to a subsidiary of Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA); shares of Boeing gained $0.20 to $89.40 in aftermarket trading, after dropping $0.80 to close at $89.20.

The U.S. Navy has awarded a $50.8 million contract to a unit of Raytheon Co. (NYSE:RTN); shares of Raytheon dropped $0.09 to close at $54.54.

Pinnacle Foods Group Inc., the privately held owner of Duncan Hines baking mixes, Hungry Man and Swanson frozen dinners and Vlasic pickles, has agreed to be acquired by a group led by the buyout specialist Blackstone Group for about $1.3 billion in cash. Former Kraft Foods Inc. CEO Roger Deromedi will become chairman when the deal closes. The company generates approximately $2.1 billion in annual gross sales.

Medical research and services company Charles River Laboratories International Inc. (NYSE:CRL) released that its Q4 profit dropped 30%. Quarterly profit totaled $35.2 million, or $0.52 a share, compared with $50.4 million, or $0.69 a share, for the Q4 of 2005. Quarterly sales rose 5% to $271.7 million from $258.2 million year ago. For 2006, Charles River swung to a loss of $55.8 million, or $0.80 a share, from a profit of $142 million, or $1.96 per share, in 2005. Sales rose 7 percent to $1.06 billion from $993.3 million in 2005.

Despite strike issues and layoffs of 440 employees at their largest production plant, shares of Harley (NYSE:HOG) rose $0.47 to close at $68.27. However, the strike is costing Harley up to $11 million a day in sales, but they expect it to be short-lived and have little impact on the company's full-year performance.