Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken N V

Dutch firm Philips Electronics said it was preparing to mass-produce a slim, book-sized display panel onto which consumers could download newspapers and magazines -- then roll it up and put it away. The 5-inch display, which can show detailed images, can be rolled into a pen-sized holder. If connected to a mobile phone, it also can be used to download Web pages, a book or e-mail.

PolyGram chief Alain Levy resigned Monday after receiving an estimated $10-million buyout from PolyGram's parent corporation, Philips Electronics of the Netherlands, sources said. The settlement comes after weeks of negotiations during which Levy had alleged that Philips breached his contract when it initiated negotiations to sell its 75% of PolyGram to Seagram Co. last month without his knowledge.

PolyGram President Alain Levy is alleging that Philips breached his contract when it agreed last month to sell its 75% interest in the music giant to Seagram Co., sources said Monday. According to those sources, Philips violated the terms of Levy's contract in various ways, not the least of which was by not informing him of plans to sell the company until the weekend before Seagram began its due diligence in early May.

Philips Electronics stunned the entertainment world in May, when the Dutch conglomerate decided to sell PolyGram--the world's largest music company and home to such popular acts as Hanson, Sheryl Crow and U2--to Seagram Co. for $10.4 billion. But nobody was more surprised than PolyGram's then-chief Alain Levy, who had been kept in the dark before discovering that Philips, 75% owner of PolyGram, was in talks to sell the company out from under him.

The much-hyped bidding war over music giant PolyGram won't happen, as potential suitors that included former super-agent Michael Ovitz dropped out Monday. That leaves Seagram Co. clear to announce a deal within days--following a series of board meetings this week by PolyGram and its Dutch parent, Philips Electronics, sources said. Before the estimated $10.5-billion agreement can be consummated, it must be approved by the supervisory and management boards of both PolyGram and Philips.

British music giant EMI Group ended talks Friday with Seagram Co. after failing to receive a purchase bid. The move comes as negotiations between Seagram and Philips Electronics are said to be heating up over a possible acquisition of Philips' PolyGram worldwide entertainment empire. Officials at Seagram and PolyGram had no comment Friday, but sources said a deal is in the works and could be consummated within weeks. Seagram Chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr.

Philips Electronics and Lucent Technologies Inc. said they will merge their consumer telecommunications equipment operations, a move that will create the world's largest supplier of phones, with $2.5 billion in annual sales. Philips will own 60% of the venture, to be called Philips Consumer Communications, and Lucent will own 40%. The new venture will give Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent, the equipment division spun off by AT&T Corp.

Nine of the world's biggest electronics and entertainment firms said Friday that they had agreed on a technical format for digital videodiscs, clearing the way to create a multibillion-dollar market. The firms have said digital videodisc players, a next-generation playback technology for text, sound and images, may replace traditional videocassette recorders and CD-ROM drives for personal computers early in the next century.