Harold Maass of The Week The Best of Today's Business

NEWS AT A GLANCE

CBS buys tech news site CNet

CBS agreed to buy technology-oriented online news provider CNet Networks for about $1.75 billion, or $11.50 a share. The all-cash offer is a 45 percent premium on CNet's closing price yesterday. (AP in Yahoo! Finance) CBS said the deal will make it one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the U.S. CNet sites include CNET News, GameSpot, ZDNet, TV-dot-com, and mp3-dot-com. (MarketWatch) "There are very few opportunities to acquire a profitable, growing, well-managed Internet company like CNet Networks," said CBS chief executive Les Moonves. Some CNet shareholders, led by Jana Partners, have been pushing for changes they say will make CNet more profitable. (Fortune in CNNMoney.com)

GE looks to sell appliance unit

General Electric is preparing to auction off its appliance unit for $5 billion to $8 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. GE's appliance business, which dates back to 1907, made the company a household name. (AP in Yahoo! Finance) But today the appliance unit, hurt by high metal prices and the housing slump, brings in only about $7 billion of GE's $173 billion in annual revenue. (MarketWatch) Since 2002, GE has sold off $75 billion in businesses, including its plastics unit, and bought about $50 billion in faster-growing sectors like aviation. Appliances "isn't a piece of business at this point that has got much more incremental opportunity for GE," said analyst Nicholas Heymann at Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc. (Bloomberg)

Barclays takes $3.3 billion in writedowns

Barclays PLC, Britain's third-largest bank, said its quarterly profit fell from a year ago, dragged down by $3.3 billion in new credit-related writedowns at its Barclays Capital investment bank. The writedown was partly offset by $1.4 billion in gains due to changes in the value of its debt. (MarketWatch) Barclays said its investment bank was still profitable in the quarter, as were its other units. But it said it wasn't ruling out a rights issue to replenish its depleted capital. "Hats off to them for being in a position where they are not forced into this," said analyst Alex Potter at Collins Steward, but it might reduce uncertainty if the bank decides to "bite the bullet now" and recapitalize. (Reuters)

Sweet home, Carolina

For the second year in a row, North Carolina captured the top spot on Relocate-America-dot-com's list of the 100 best places to live in the U.S., athough Charlotte took top billing this year while last year's winner, Asheville, dropped to No. 7. San Antonio, Texas, was runner up. More than 2,000 places were nominated this year. The site's editors consider a number of factors, including growth, education and job situations, crime rates, and housing market when making the rankings. Audience input is weighed, too. "North Carolina is very active on our radar," said Steve Nickerson of real estate firm HomeRoute, which runs the site. "It continues to get a flood of interest from all over." (MarketWatch)

BEST COLUMNS OF THE DAY

Sex and the City and the entertainment business

The way the film offshoot of HBO's "Sex in the City" is being marketed says a lot about "the future of film and television," says John Gapper in the Financial Times. First, the fact that the film premiered in London, not New York -- where it is set -- shows that "the world is bigger than the U.S.," and more specifically, that Europe is "where the money is." Second, despite the Internet, "paid for is bigger than free," as HBO can attest, after paid programming like "Sex in the City" helped make it "one of the most powerful forces in entertainment." Also, with DVD sales and rentals earning far more than movies, TV shows are being geared more toward adult viewers long "under-served by film studios."

Planning for the summer vacation

"Sure, gas and food prices are high," but you can still afford to "get away" this summer, says Marshall Loeb in MarketWatch. It just might take some planning and saving. Day trips and playing "tourist in your home town" are cheap and easy alternatives to fly-away vacations. If you are going to fly, save up by putting off dining out for your trip -- cooking at home saves "a lot of money." Lodging has "a huge impact on your vacation budget," so use a site like Kayak to find cheap rooms, or consider hostels, dorm rooms, and campgrounds. Look at going to off-season spots, like ski resorts. And price out the whole vacation -- great transportation and hotel deals don't help "if you're going to blow your budget when you get there."

GOOD DAY FOR: Reference checks, after Ask-dot-com bought a library of online sites included Dictionary-dot-com, Thesaurus-dot-com, and Reference-dot-com. The price for Lexico Publishing, which owns the sites, wasn't disclosed. Ask says that focusing on basic Internet queries will help it better compete with Google and other search giants. (AP in Yahoo! Finance)

BAD DAY FOR: Weak stomachs, as a growing number of municipalities are dealing with water shortages by recycling wastewater for household taps. Los Angeles is the latest to turn to wastewater recycling, called "toilet to tap" by critics. Strong resistance has sunk earlier efforts, but with droughts and rising populations, "demand is growing, and supply is pretty much staying static," says Wade Miller at the WateReuse Association. (The Wall Street Journal)

NOTED: Credit Agricole, France's third-largest bank, replaced the head of its Calyon investment bank and said it will sell $7.8 billion worth of assets to deal with losses tied to the U.S. subprime meltdown. Credit Agricole was the hardest hit of France's banks, and the changes show a reassertion of authority by the regional banks that control it. "They are in the middle of a revolution," said CM-CIC Securities analyst Pierre Chedeville. (Bloomberg)

This column was written by Peter Weber of TheWeekDaily.com.