The bid by Lehman’s Neuberger Berman team trumped a previous bid by two private equity firms, Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman.

The shake-up at the world’s largest publisher of consumer books includes the resignations of two top executives.

General Electric said that it expects fourth-quarter profit to be at the low end of its previous guidance and warned that restructuring and other charges were likely to top $1 billion after taxes.

Boeing’s second-largest union voted to approve the company’s four-year contract offer, avoiding a second damaging strike at the plane maker’s Seattle-area plants.

Yahoo and MSN.

Japan’s Nikkei average tumbled 4.6 percent, dragged down by Honda Motor Co. and other exporters on a stronger yen as fears deepened about the global economy.

Stocks tumbled in Europe and most of Asia on Monday, as investors banked profits from last week’s rally and focused on a gloomy economic outlook.

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low-cost airline, offered to buy Irish rival Aer Lingus for $970.4 million — just half the price of its bid in 2006 which was blocked by European regulators.

To the Editor:.