Verizon to buy Yahoo’s core business assets

Yahoo! Inc.’s yearslong fight to survive as a stand-alone company will draw to a close today.

Verizon Communications Inc. will announce plans to buy Yahoo’s core assets for a bit more than $4.8 billion before the market opens, said two people with direct knowledge of the situation who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The deal includes Yahoo real estate assets, while some intellectual property is to be sold separately, the people said. Yahoo will be left with its stakes in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Yahoo Japan Corp., with a combined market value of about $40 billion.

A transaction stands to finally seal the fate of web pioneer Yahoo after months of speculation and pressure from investors including Starboard Value LP. The deal will add the company and its millions of daily users to Verizon’s growing stable of media properties, and is also likely to end the reign of Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer, who tried and failed to reinvent Yahoo as an independent company.

Feds to guarantee car-charging site loans

WASHINGTON >> The White House says that commercial charging stations for electric vehicles will be eligible to receive loan guarantees from the federal government as the Obama administration works to increase the number of stations. There are 16,000 currently in place.

The White House says that up to $4.5 billion in loan guarantees will be made available through the Energy Department. Under the program, the federal government assures a private lender that it will step in to repay the outstanding balance on a loan if a company defaults.

Wal-Mart asks suppliers to nix 8 chemicals

NEW YORK >> Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it’s asking its suppliers to eliminate eight chemicals from household and personal care products.

The world’s largest retailer said the list includes such chemicals as formaldehyde and a solvent called dibutyl phthalate.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had pledged three years ago to be more transparent about disclosing the types of ingredients in the products on its shelves. In April the company said it achieved a 95 percent reduction by weight in the use of eight priority chemicals, but had not named them.