Business & Finance

In a further sign AOL Time Warner is serious about selling its Warner Music division, the media giant is supplementing talks with Britain's EMI Group by making informal contact with other potential bidders, The Wall Street Journal reported. Among those interested in a deal, which the paper said would be worth at least $2 billion, were financier Nelson Peltz and Edgar Bronfman Jr., who led a group of investors vying for Vivendi Universal's US entertainment assets.

US Steel will take a one-time charge of up to $700 million in the third quarter, the company said Friday. The pretax charge is due mainly to retirement benefits linked to previously announced 20 percent staff cuts and to the purchase in May of bankrupt National Steel.

News Corp. agreed to sell the Los Angeles Dodgers to an investment group led by Boston real-estate developer Frank McCourt, both parties said Friday. Terms weren't disclosed, but McCourt, who previously failed in a bid to buy two other Major League Baseball teams, reportedly offered as much as $400 million. The deal must be approved by the other team owners. If it is, the sale will be the second of a Southern California franchise this year. In April, the defending World Series champion Anaheim Angels were sold by Walt Disney Co. for a reported $180 million.

The world's largest supplier of office products, Buhrmann NV, won approval from the European Union to sell its paper division for just under $1 billion to Australian rival Paperlinx Ltd. The deal will double the latter's operations, reports said. Buhrmann is based in Amsterdam; PaperlinX in Mt. Waverly, a suburb of Melbourne.