Top U.S. booksellers Barnes & Noble Inc <BKS.N> and Borders Group Inc <BGP.N> will pay a price for coming late to market with electronic book readers, analysts said.

Among the earnings stories for Tuesday, Nov. 24, from AP Financial News:

Barnes & Noble Inc. and Borders Group Inc., the nation's two largest brick-and-mortar book sellers, both posted quarterly losses Thursday and forecast a difficult holiday season, saying competition from discount chains and online retailers is stiffening.

By Phil Wahba

Barnes & Noble Inc. and Borders Group Inc., the nation's two largest brick-and-mortar book sellers, both posted quarterly losses Tuesday and forecast a difficult holiday season, saying competition from discount chains and online retailers is stiffening.

What follows is a roundup of corporate earnings reports for Tuesday, Nov. 24.

With nightmares of Christmas 2008 markdowns dancing in their heads, retailers have slashed inventories to some of the leanest levels in recent memory.

Barnes & Noble Inc said on Friday it had sold out of its newly-launched Nook electronic readers due to high demand -- a pre-holiday miscalculation that analysts said could boost sales of rival Amazon.com Inc's market leading Kindle.

Sony Corp said on Wednesday that early demand for its latest electronic reader was higher than expected in advance of the holidays and shipment delays could result.

American Express will acquire AOL co-founder Steve Case's Revolution Money Internet-based payment platform for $300 million, the credit card company and network said Wednesday.

Taking a page from its original playbook, Wal-Mart launched a full-fledged price war with Amazon.com and a nation of book retailers, lowering prices on certain hardback titles to $9.

An online book special offered by Wal-Mart Stores is turning into a full-fledged price war with Amazon.com.

The Federal Trade Commission has launched a sweeping crackdown on 50 million bloggers and their hidden ties to makers of products they review.

The man accused of masterminding the largest identity theft in U.S. history agreed to plead guilty to related charges, according to court papers filed in Boston federal court Friday.

David Pogue looks at Barnes & Noble's answer to the Kindle, and finds it lacking.