PepsiCo has reported better than expected quarterly profits thanks to higher North American demand for its drinks and snacks. Lower commodity costs, including sugar, haven't hurt. The company reported third quarter profits of $533 million. PepsiCo also raised its earnings growth target for 2015 to 9% from 8%. The Purchase, N.Y.-based company says snack and drinks offerings have helped increase revenue by 2% and 5% respectively.

Chester Cheetah is running for mayor of Chester, Montana. The Cheetos mascot is running on a platform that includes painting the local playground slide orange, installing orange crosswalks and distributing free Cheetos to the community of about 863 residents near Montana's northern border. No, a mascot cannot be a mayor. So the ersatz campaign, with a tour bus and a web site, is clearly just ersatz marketing.

Anheuser-Busch InBev tried for the third time to purchase SABMiller, and was rejected for the third time, even though the Belgian beer giant boosted its offer to $104 billion cash. SABMiller said the bid "still very substantially" undervalues the maker of Miller Lite and Coors. Together, AB InBev and SABMiller produce more than 70% of the beer in the U.S. market, with AB InBev alone responsible for roughly 45%. In proposing the takeover, Anheuser-Busch InBev says it wants to create "the first truly global beer company."

DraftKings and FanDuel are the monsters of fantasy football for cash prizes. And they spend monstrous sums on TV ads, to the tune of $500 million so far this year. Will their game get rained out by news of possible unethical behavior by an insider - a DraftKings employee who just happened to win $350,000 playing on FanDuel. What will happen? Probably nothing. Investors in these companies include the likes of the NBA, Time Warner, NBC, MLB, NHL, and Major League Soccer. They have a real interest in wanting the pair to succeed.

The world's largest retailer is going after health seekers. Starting in January, it will give protein and health bars like Cliff and Luna products much more prominent space in its stores, moving them from the over-the-counter area with the diet supplements to the grocery aisle. Later, they might move over to the cash registers at the front. The company will also offerr free health screenings on Saturdays.

After adding two all-new models to its line-up this year, Toyota's youth-oriented brand Scion will preview another all-new offering at the upcoming Los Angeles Auto Show. While the teaser image the maker has released doesn't provide much guidance, insiders have dropped broad hints that the brand is getting set to add its first utility vehicle, and the Scion show car is based on the new Toyota CH-R.

Claiming that it is New York City's "biggest block party," Spike Lee has been named Grand Marshal of the 2015 TCS New York City Marathon, scheduled to take place on Sunday, Nov. 1. Lee would be just the third Grand Marshal in the NYC Marathon's 45-year history. As Grand Marshal, Lee will participate in race-week festivities, including the Marathon Opening Ceremony presented by United Airlines.

Brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev on Wednesday raised its bid for SABMiller, proposing to buy the group for GBP42.15 per share in cash and valuing the group at nearly GBP68 billion ($103.6 billion). The cash proposal represents a premium of approximately 44% to SABMiller's closing share price of GBP29.34 on Sept. 14. The group said it expected most SABMiller shareholders to accept the higher cash offer.

Fiat Chrysler has shuffled its North American upper management. As part of the changes, Tim Kuniskis, who heads Dodge, and Mike Manley, Jeep's chief, and head of sales Reid Bigland get moved up. Kuniskis will now lead passenger cars in North America, and oversee Dodge, Chrysler and Fiat. Kuniskis is also now on FCA's Group Executive Council. Manley keeps oversight ot Jeep, but also gets oversight of the company's pickups and SUVs, including Ram.

The NBA has used the 24-second shot clock since 1954, but has never had an official timekeeping deal. But the NBA now has an official timekeeping partner via a new multi-year, $200 million deal with Swiss watchmaker Tissot; it also encompasses the WNBA and the NBA D-League. Tissot said this would be the first official timekeeping partnership with a major North American sports league. The company said it would support with NBA-themed creative and advertising.