Auto tycoon Roger Penske and an investment group based in Ohio are both showing interest in acquiring General Motors' Saturn brand, sources say. Billionaire Penske is the head of Penske Automotive Group, which operates more than 300 franchises globally. A spokesman for Penske says, "It's very premature to assume anything will be done." Details about the Ohio group are murky but it will reportedly meet with Saturn officials today, Robert Snell reports. "(Penske's) a shrewd businessman and has proven himself time and again," says analyst Aaron Bragman of IHS Global Insight. But Bragman is skeptical about his -- …

Amazon reportedly will launch a larger version of its Kindle e-book reader May 6 in partnership with six universities, including Case Western, Pace and Princeton. The market is certainly there: college book sales were valued at $5.4 billion in the 2007-08 fiscal year, according the National Association of College Stores. But Amazon faces several challenges, Douglas MacMillan reports. First, it will need to set prices carefully. "Asking Mom and Dad to shell out a few hundred extra dollars is a hurdle," points out Mike McGuire, a media analyst at Gartner, despite potential savings of e-books over paper. Reports are that …

First Starbucks tells us it's a value brand; now it's Estée Lauder's turn. In reporting a 70% drop in quarterly profits, the cosmetic maker says it hopes to rejuvenate sales by selling smaller, less-expensive perfume bottles and offering more free services at counters. What's more, it won't be so tight-lipped about prices, Ellen Byron reports. You won't have to ask how much something costs, and some brands will even post prices. About 25% of Lauder's sales are from department stores. Despite lower sales, which he attributes to less traffic, CEO William Lauder points out that upscale cosmetics are …

Kim Souza's lede had me cackling at sunrise: "Poultry companies have found a market for everything but the cluck in the low margin, high volume business of chicken processing." And that's about all you need to know, probably, about the 988 million pounds of chicken feet and paws shipped to China last year, or the one billion pounds of processed feathers whose keratin is used in shampoo and skin care products as well as products such as wet wipes and baby diapers.The bottom line is that for every penny per pound Tyson earns on its feathers, it adds $10 million …

Kraft Foods, the maker of Oreo cookies, Maxwell House coffee and other top brands, says profit was $662 million, or 45 cents a share, compared with $601 million, or 39 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts on average forecast 40 cents a share, Brad Dorfman reports. The company has cut production costs while also increasing advertising and product development to help it garner higher prices and fend off competition from lower-priced private-label competitors. Sales fell 6.5% to $9.40 billion, hurt by the impact of the stronger dollar, which lessens the dollar-value of sales made overseas. A shift …

Boosting Curve sales was an aggressive "buy-one-get-one" promotion by U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless, according to NPD.

McDonald's is undertaking "one of the bigger drum-roll moments" in its marketing history, as one analyst puts it, as it unleashes a long-awaited national campaign for its new coffee line, McCafé. Although McDonald's won't say how much it's budgeting on the new product line, it is expected to spend more than $100 million across TV, print, radio, outdoor, Internet, events, PR and sampling, Emily Bryson York reports. Understanding that it faces a quality-perception hurdle with first-time buyers, McDonald's is focused on "making the product the hero" in TV spots with what Marlena Peleo-Lazar, chief creative officer, McDonald's USA, …