Media Digest (4/27/2011) Reuters, WSJ, NYT, FT, Bloomberg

Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) will buy Synthes for $21.9 billion (Reuters)

S&P cut the Japan sovereign rating outlook because of the earthquake (Reuters)

The Sony (NYSE: SNE) Playstation network was hacked and personal data was exposed (Reuters)

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) said it expect sales in the current quarter to be strong (Reuters)

Gold and silver rose ahead of Federal Reserve comments (Reuters)

News Corp (NYSE: NWS) hopes to receive bids over $100 million for MySpace (Reuters)

Congress has expanded its investigation of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) mobile tracking systems (Reuters)

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) still faces falling PC demand and a weak stock performance (Reuters)

Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) and ICE have begun to pressure NYSE (NYSE: NYX) shareholder to accept their bid (Reuters)

Sony continues to consider a deal with Sharp for its LCD business (Reuters)

Carlyle executives think that America’s position at the top of the deal world will erode (Reuters)

CEOs who received stock options during the credit crisis will, in many cases, make huge profits (WSJ)

BP plc (NYSE BP) profits rose on sales of assets (WSJ)

Google and Apple each gather and store data from personal computers (WSJ)

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) may spin out its Hadoop software unit (WSJ)

Sony will launch two Android tablets (WSJ)

The Environmental Protection Agency will limit the use of natural gas in drilling for shale (WSJ)

Home prices have dropped near the lows they hit during the recession (WSJ)

Google’s YouTube will move further into the movie rental business (WSJ)

Defense contractor earnings will be hurt by US budget cuts (WSJ)

Some options traders are concerned about the end of QE2 (WSJ)

Railroad and truck companies have begun to suffer because of high fuel prices (NYT)

The Greek deficit is above the level predicted when it received bailout funds (NYT)

EU telecommunications companies may charge Google more for the data it moves over the web (FT)

Douglas A. McIntyre