Procter Gamble

Summer internships are often competitive, stressful and less than lucrative. But in the rarefied realm of the most superior of internships, there's free meals, social mixers and plenty of pay to be had. To hear interns tell it, working at Google is tops. A software engineering intern there lands an average of $6,463 a month, according to career site Glassdoor . Google interns reported getting good time in with higher-ups and opportunities to sit in on meetings; their experiences were the most satisfying compared to interns at other companies.

Publisher Conde Nast is creating video networks based on its Glamour and GQ magazines. The move is part of a broader expansion the company is making into television and digital under Dawn Ostroff, a former high-ranking television executive who has overseen programming at Lifetime and the CW Network. The Glamour channel, which will be available on the magazine's website as well as on YouTube, will include shows about makeovers and, of course, what guys want. The GQ offering will focus on fitness and fashion.

This is what potato chip politics looks like: Upset with the internal struggles of Kettle owner Diamond Foods, Pringles is abandoning its would-be buyer and running off with Kellogg Co. instead. Pringles, which is owned by Procter & Gamble and makes stacked potato crisps served out of a long canister, offered itself up to Kellogg's for nearly $2.7 billion in cash. The deal is expected to close this summer; Kellogg's said it would welcome Pringles' 1,700 employees. Two of Procter & Gamble's manufacturing facilities - in Tennessee and Belgium - are also included in the deal.

Summer internships are often competitive, stressful and less than lucrative. But in the rarefied realm of the most superior of internships, there's free meals, social mixers and plenty of pay to be had. To hear interns tell it, working at Google is tops. A software engineering intern there lands an average of $6,463 a month, according to career site Glassdoor . Google interns reported getting good time in with higher-ups and opportunities to sit in on meetings; their experiences were the most satisfying compared to interns at other companies.

Procter & Gamble Co. is combining its five units into three to focus on the most profitable businesses. The largest U.S. household-goods maker also is promoting two executives to vice chairman, making them possible successors to Chairman and Chief Executive A.G. Lafley. The three units are beauty care; health, baby and family care; and household care, which will include products in the food unit.

Procter & Gamble Co. said quarterly profit rose 15% as increased promotions boosted sales of Pampers diapers and Crest toothpaste. Its fiscal second-quarter net income climbed to $1.49 billion, or $1.06 a share, from $1.3 billion, or 93 cents, a year earlier, Procter & Gamble said. Sales rose 5.8% to $11.01 billion. This fiscal year's earnings will rise by 12% to 13%, the company said, higher than a previous forecast. Shares of Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble rose $1.

Procter & Gamble Co. and Japan's Kao Corp. will bid for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Clairol hair-care unit, which Bristol-Myers said last year it planned to sell, people close to the matter told Bloomberg News. Bristol-Myers is expected to get $4 billion to $5 billion for Clairol. Linda Ulrey, spokeswoman for Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, said the company doesn't comment on speculation. New York-based Bristol-Myers spokesman Charles Borgognoni declined to comment.

Procter & Gamble Co., the maker of Pampers and Luvs disposable diapers, has won patent-infringement claims against a rival that makes private-label diapers. A federal judge ruled that Paragon Trade Brands Inc. infringed P&G's two patents for improving the fit and comfort of disposable diapers. In a ruling, Judge Joseph Longobardi of Wilmington, Del., also rejected Paragon's patent-infringement claims against Cincinnati-based P&G.

Procter & Gamble Co. is expected to announce plans to slash its work force during a scheduled conference call with analysts today. The nation's largest household products maker could cut as many as 22,000 jobs from its work force of 110,000, according to a Wall Street Journal report that cited unidentified sources. The maker of Tide detergent and Crest toothpaste is looking to cut deeper after a 2-year-old plan to trim 15,000 jobs didn't bring anticipated cost reductions.

Procter & Gamble Co. has nixed its deal to sell its Pringles potato chips business to struggling Diamond Foods Inc., agreeing instead to a $2.7-billion all-cash offer from Kellogg Co. The transaction, which is expected to close this summer, will allow P&G to exit the snack-food business and gives cereal maker Kellogg a popular addition to its line of snacks. Pringles — stacked, crispy chips served out of distinctive long canisters — racked up $1.5 billion in sales last year and are sold in more than 140 countries.

The San Gabriel Valley entrepreneurs who brought Panda Express Chinese food to malls and airports throughout the country are now betting that Americans will want the same standardization in something a little less tasty — dry cleaning. Co-Chief Executives Andrew and Peggy Cherng, who built a fast-food empire of quick-serve Asian cooking, now want to bring the same chain-venue principle to clothes. The Cherngs' new Rosemead-based company, Panda Dry Cleaning, plans to open as many as 200 standardized shops nationwide in the next five years in conjunction with consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble.

Chef's kitchen: A Nov. 19 Home section article about the kitchen of Carla Corona and Patrick Costa said that Corona worked at M Street Café. The restaurant is M Street Kitchen. John Smale: In the Nov. 22 LATExtra section, the headline on the obituary on executive John Smale, who worked as an executive with Procter & Gamble and General Motors, misspelled the name of the consumer products giant as Proctor & Gamble.

John G. Smale, a self-effacing but tenacious executive whose brand-management savvy led him to the top of consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble before becoming chairman of General Motors and spearheading efforts to halt its slide toward bankruptcy, died Saturday at his home in Cincinnati. He was 84. The cause was complications from pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease, said Paul Fox, a Procter & Gamble spokesman. Smale served as P&G's chief executive officer from 1981 to 1990 in a career that spanned 43 years at the Cincinnati-based company.

Some smells are strong enough to break through even the stuffiest noses. You can have the cold of the century, but you'll still be able to sense a splash of Pine-Sol or a ball of wasabi. And no matter how clogged up you are, you can pick up the unmistakable scent of menthol. It feels soothing and oddly cool, almost like a nasal injection of Freon. Now that the cold and flu season has arrived, the smell of menthol is wafting through many homes. In a ritual that goes back more than a century, stuffed-up kids and adults are going to sleep with gobs of menthol ointments smeared over their chests.

Procter & Gamble Co. is trying out a cheaper version of Tide laundry detergent in a bid to churn up new sales. Tide Basic is hitting shelves in some 100 stores in the South and Southwest, Cincinnati- based P&G said Wednesday. Spokesman Kash Shaikh said it sells for about 20% less than the regular Tide powder. The Tide brand has more than $3 billion in annual sales, but it and other P&G products have lost sales as households tighten spending.

New Procter & Gamble Co. chief Bob McDonald sees a brighter future for the 172-year-old company through selling more diapers, detergent and shampoo in places like India and Africa. With ambitious plans to double sales and streamline the world's largest consumer products company, whose sales and earnings growth have slowed during the recession, McDonald is to move from chief operating officer to chief executive in three weeks.