News In Brief

TV guide is being acquired by Gemstar International Group of Pasadena, Calif., a pioneer in interactive program schedules, the companies said. The stock deal is valued at $8.6 billion. With a circulation of about 11 million, Tulsa, Okla.-based TV Guide is the nation's top-selling weekly magazine. News Corp. sold TV Guide last year to United Video Satellite Group, which adopted TV Guide's name.

A published report that DaimlerChrysler executives are considering the relocation of the company's headquarters to Detroit is "speculation," a spokesman for the auto-maker said. The German magazine Der Stern said such a move, while politically difficult, was possible because of weak share prices of DaimlerChrysler stock since last November's high-profile merger. The stock has lost one-third of its value, and - as a percentage of shareholders - US investors have dropped from 44 before the merger to between 20 and 25. The loss of Stuttgart-based DaimlerChrysler would be a blow to German pride, since it is the nation's largest company.

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