Business Briefing

AIG chief’s pay package is approved

American International Group Inc. said it would go ahead with a previously announced pay package for new Chief Executive Robert Benmosche of $7 million in cash and stock.

Benmosche, former CEO of MetLife Inc., took the helm at AIG in August. He will receive an annual salary of $3 million in cash and $4 million in AIG common stock under the pay agreement.

AIG is under government scrutiny after receiving a bailout package worth up to $182.5 billion from the government in exchange for an 80% stake in the company.

INTERNET

Facebook move hints at stock sale

Facebook has created a dual-class stock structure designed to preserve control over the company by founder Mark Zuckerberg and other existing shareholders.

The social network said it had no plans to go public “at this time,” but the move could be interpreted as laying the groundwork for it.

Google Inc.’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, created the dual-class structure to keep voting control over that company before it went public in 2004. Their Class B shares hold 10 times the voting power as the company’s regular Class A stock.

TRADE

Duties lowered on Chinese pipe

The Commerce Department revised the trade-weighted average duties on imports of steel pipe from China to 13.2% from the 21.3% set in September.

The U.S. International Trade Commission will decide in January whether to approve the change. Until then, importers of the pipe -- which is used in oil wells -- are to pay the revised tariffs.

The duties, imposed to counter Chinese government loans, tax breaks and other subsidies, will range from 10.36% to 15.78%, the Commerce Department said.

ACQUISITIONS

Adconion Media purchases Joost

The struggling online video start-up Joost has been sold to a Santa Monica online advertising company.

Adconion Media Group said it bought Joost’s assets, including the technology behind Joost’s video platform and the Joost trademark, for an undisclosed sum.

Adconion retained about 12 Joost employees, a majority, and said it would continue operating Joost.com as an entertainment site.

Sprint completes Virgin takeover

Sprint Nextel Corp. said it had completed its $483-million acquisition of Virgin Mobile USA, boosting its presence in the market for customers who pay for cellphone service month-to-month.

The announcement came after Virgin Mobile shareholders approved the deal, which will pay them $5.50 in Sprint stock for each Virgin Mobile share. Sprint already owned 13.1% of Virgin Mobile, which has 5.2 million subscribers.

TECHNOLOGY

EU drops probe of Qualcomm

European Union antitrust regulators dropped a monopoly abuse probe into wireless chip maker Qualcomm Inc. after mobile phone companies withdrew complaints about high royalty fees.

Companies including Broadcom Corp., NEC Corp., Nokia and Ericsson backed off complaints they made in October 2005 that Qualcomm broke agreements among patent holders to keep costs at reasonable levels for key WCDMA patents used in third-generation phones.

-- times wire reports