Ford says it earned a profit of $2.3 billion during the three months ending June 30, far surpassing Wall Street's expectations. Its performance was boosted by one-time gains from successful debt restructuring actions, reports Brent Snavely.

"We know people like to treat themselves during tough times and with the high quality and affordability of our products, we believe that is one of the reasons Dairy Queen continues its growth in China," says Daily Queen president and CEO John Gainor.

General Mills is introducing Wheaties Fuel today and all its marketing will be aimed at men -- a first, by all accounts, in the cereal aisle, reports Andrew Adam Newman.

This cankle story appears to have legs. As we re-reported a few weeks ago, Gold's Gym is building a summer marketing campaign around the term, which the Urban Dictionary refers to as "the area in affected female legs where the calf meets the foot in an abrupt, nontapering terminus." (A spokeswoman for the American Podiatric Medical Association, however, tells the Journal's Amy Chozick that the word is not a medical term.) Robert Schwartz, a plastic surgeon near Dallas, says he does 10 to 12 liposuction treatments on the area a year. "I see women all the …

Estée Lauder chairman William Lauder tells Jonathan Birchall and Francesco Guerrera that changing European competition laws could turn the business of buying beauty and skin care brands into an experience akin to flying on EasyJet, the low-cost British airline. "You get on the plane, they throw you a bag of peanuts ... that's a commoditized experience," says he. The European Commission is reviewing the selective exemption rights that it grants to leading luxury companies that allows them to restrict distribution to favored retailers and to their own e-commerce Web sites. Lauder says small local retailers have "a real …

I know this is akin to admitting a fondness for my father's Oldsmobile, but I considered it a sign of coming-of-age when I acquired my first La-Z-Boy recliner in the early 1980s. Although the nap-inducing recliner and I have gone our separate rejuvenating ways, it's reassuring to read Jaclyn Trop's story about how La-Z-Boy continues to reinvent itself, from massage controls to built-in coolers. The ComfortTouch model has 100 remote-controlled adjustment combinations for the seat and back with air chamber technology, for example. And EcoComfort models use soy-based foam cushions and are available in EcoSuede fabrics made of recycled …

Amazon is acquiring Zappos, the 10-year-old online retailer with roots in footwear that's known for its social-media savvy, for about $880 million in cash and stock. Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh announced the acquisition via a tweet to his more than one million followers and his blog, Natalie Zmuda reports. Zappos will operate as a separate brand; the deal isn't expected to close for several months. "Our vision remains the same: delivering happiness to customers, employees and vendors. We just want to get there faster," according to Hsieh. Zappos has been lauded for its customer-service-centric …

Wal-Mart, which recently renovated the PC displays in 1,200 of its 3,600 stores, plans to refurbish more stores, broaden product selection and do a series of rock-bottom-pricing promotions starting on Sunday, Byron Acohido reports. Some laptops will be on sale for less than you'd pay for a netbook. Wal-Mart will sell, for example, a Hewlett-Packard-made laptop, running Windows Vista with 3 gigabytes of memory and a 160-gigabyte hard drive, for just $298. "We believe we can move the needle for us as a laptop destination," says Gary Severson, Wal-Mart's svp for entertainment. "Other retailers will be watching closely to …