Procter Gamble Co

The federal government signed off on Procter & Gamble Co.'s $57-billion acquisition of razor and battery maker Gillette Co. after requiring the companies to sell only a handful of their product lines. The companies said the deal would close today after the Federal Trade Commission's approval. The agency is requiring the companies to sell Gillette's Rembrandt teeth whitening products and Right Guard men's antiperspirant and deodorant business.

Procter & Gamble Co., the world's No. 2 household products company and largest advertiser, said it will reorganize its business along product lines, rather than geographical regions, to boost sales and bring new products to markets faster. The maker of Tide detergent, Crest toothpaste and Pampers diapers disclosed the plan in its annual report. The change is meant to help P&G meet its goal of doubling its business in 10 years, Chief Executive John E. Pepper and President Durk I.

The pitchman calls himself Jackie Moon, but he is unmistakably Will Ferrell in character as the 1970s basketball player from his upcoming comedy "Semi-Pro," complete with Afro, headband and short shorts. Everyone sweats six liters a day, he explains, glowering into the camera from a locker room.

Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras will resign in late March, the agency said Thursday, to handle antitrust issues for Procter & Gamble Co. Majoras will join the consumer products manufacturer as vice president and general counsel June 1, a company spokeswoman said. During her tenure at the FTC, the agency cleared P&G's $57-billion acquisition of rival consumer products company Gillette.

Pringles, Procter & Gamble Co.'s salty snack stacked in a tube, are not potato chips, a London judge ruled Friday in a tax dispute. Pringles don't fulfill the legal definition of "potato crisp," the British term for "chip," allowing them to be sold tax-free in Britain, Justice Nicholas Warren at the High Court in London ruled. Under the law, most food is exempt from Britain's 17.5% sales tax.

Procter & Gamble Co. is combining the Gillette razor and Braun household-appliance units it acquired in 2005 with a P&G division to improve product development and marketing. The move, effective July 1, will eliminate the Gillette business unit by making Gillette and Braun part of the global beauty and healthcare division, a spokesman said. The Cincinnati-based company is also moving the Duracell unit into its household care division.

Procter & Gamble Co., the largest U.S. consumer-goods maker, will double the concentration of Tide and other liquid laundry detergents as the company produces smaller containers to meet customer demand. Switching to half-size jugs in North America starting in September will cut transportation and warehouse costs and reduce plastic that goes into landfills, the Cincinnati-based company said.

Get ready to pay more for Pampers diapers, Charmin toilet paper, Ivory soap and Olay skin care products. Procter & Gamble Co. said Tuesday that it would raise prices 5% or more on certain products over the next several months as it passes along some of its rising costs for oil and raw materials. P&G's chief rival, Colgate-Palmolive Co., said it would consider price hikes as well, but it did not name any products that might be affected except for Hill's pet food.

Procter & Gamble Co. said Friday that the addition of Gillette Co. helped its second-quarter earnings jump 29% and that profit would be better than expected for the rest of its fiscal year because of strong demand for its wide array of products. The news sent P&G stock to a new 52-week high, and one portfolio manager said the strong report should end any investor worries that P&G bit off too much by buying the razor and battery maker.

Procter & Gamble Co. said James Kilts, well known in the consumer industry for revitalizing brands and brokering strategic mergers, would step down as head of the company's Gillette unit July 1 and then retire Oct. 1. Kilts, who became a vice chairman of Procter & Gamble when it bought Gillette last year, will work on integrating Gillette into the company in the three months before his retirement.