Chris Brown returns to court for probation issues

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Brown, accompanied by Rihanna, briefly returned to court Wednesday to face allegations he failed to complete his community labor sentence for Rihanna's 2009 beating, but the judge asked for more information and scheduled another hearing in two months.

Rihanna blew Brown a kiss as he entered the courtroom, and they left together after the short proceeding in which Superior Court Judge James Brandlin set the next hearing for April 5.

Prosecutors alleged this week that investigators could not find credible evidence he completed his community labor.

A motion filed Tuesday also raised for the first time in Brown's felony assault case several incidents that prosecutors said demonstrate Brown has ongoing anger management issues.

Brandlin noted during the brief session that a prosecution filing did not request revocation of Brown's probation and he, therefore, would not revoke it.

They cited a Jan. 27 fight between Brown and fellow R&B star Frank Ocean, and a 2011 outburst in which Brown threw a chair through a window after he was asked about the Rihanna attack on "Good Morning America."

The filing represents a dramatic shift in the case against Brown, who was repeatedly praised by the judge overseeing his case for his completion of domestic violence courses and his community service work in his home state of Virginia. That changed in September, when prosecutors raised concerns about Brown's community service after he logged 701 hours in seven months — an amount that had previously taken him more than two years to achieve.

Los Angeles investigators traveled to Richmond, Va., to investigate Brown's service, which was only described in broad strokes by Richmond Police Chief Bryan Norwood, who was overseeing the singer's community labor.

"This inquiry provided no credible, competent or verifiable evidence that defendant Brown performed his community labor as presented to this court," Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray wrote.

Brown's attorney Mark Geragos blasted the court filing, saying the prosecutor ignored interviews "where sworn peace officers stated unequivocally that Mr. Brown was supervised and did all of the community service."

"I plan on asking for sanctions from the DA's office for filing in frivolous, scurrilous and frankly defamatory motion," he said Tuesday.

It will be up to a new judge to evaluate the prosecutor's allegations; Brown's case was transferred to Brandlin after a recent shuffling of judicial assignments.

After pleading guilty to the Rihanna attack, Brown was given permission to serve 180 days of community labor in his home state of Virginia, but only as long as he performed manual labor such as graffiti removal and roadside cleanup.

Given problems with documentation and statements from some witnesses who contradict Brown's claims of work, prosecutors asked Brandlin to order Brown to repeat his service in Los Angeles.

Brown spent one-third of the hours he logged in Virginia working night shifts at a day care center in rural Virginia where his mother once served as director and where the singer spent time as a child.

A detective who checked on Brown's work nine times at the Tappahannock Children's Center found the singer, his mother and a bodyguard at the center on each visit.

The records said Brown waxed floors or performed "general cleaning" at the center.

A professional floor cleaner contracted to work at the daycare center told investigators he had been cleaning the floors during the months Brown reported working at the facility.

"Claims that the defendant cleaned, stripped and waxed floors at that location have been credibly contradicted," prosecutors said in the filing.

Brown's mother, Joyce Hawkins, no longer had a formal role at day care center but had her own set of keys and coordinated her son's work at the facility, prosecutors said.

Murray stated in her filing that Norwood's report on Brown's service was "at best sloppy documentation and at worst fraudulent reporting."

Richmond police spokesman Gene Lepley declined to discuss the allegations.

"We believe it would inappropriate to comment on a matter that's before the court," Lepley said.

According to the motion, officials with Virginia's probation office told investigators that Brown's arrangement to be supervised by Norwood was "extremely unusual" and had not been approved by the agency. No one from Virginia's probation department oversaw Brown's hours, prosecutors said.

The motion noted that the only records the department has to indicate Brown was supervised were officers' overtime sheets. Five of 21 days that officers logged overtime for Brown were spent providing security for the singer's concerts.

The allegations are the latest pre-Grammy controversy for Brown, who was arrested shortly after the 2009 ceremony for his attack on Rihanna. He has since returned to the awards show by performing and winning an award in 2011 for his album "F.A.M.E."

Brown and Ocean are competing against one other for the Best Urban Contemporary Album category at Sunday's Grammys.

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AP writers Anthony McCartney and Ryan Pearson contributed to this report.

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Chicago sees surge in foreclosure auctions

More than 35,000 homes and small multifamily buildings in the Chicago area completed the foreclosure process last year, the highest number since the housing crisis began, and the vast majority of them became bank-owned.

An increase in foreclosure auctions was expected since lenders shelved many foreclosure cases while state and federal authorities investigated allegations of faulty foreclosure processes. Still, the heightened level of auctions — 35,244 in 2012, compared with 20,281 in 2011 — along with an increase in initial foreclosure filings, shows the local housing market has a long road to recovery, according to the Woodstock Institute.

"There's going to be pain in the housing market in the short term," said Katie Buitrago, senior policy and communications associate at Woodstock. "There's still high levels of filings. Five years into it, there is still work to be done to help people save their homes."

The Chicago-based public policy and research group is expected to release its report on 2012 foreclosure activity Wednesday.

The year-end numbers show that, with few exceptions, all Chicago neighborhoods and suburban communities saw high double-digit percentage gains in auctions last year. Across the six-county area, 91.3 percent of the foreclosed properties were repossessed by lenders. At the same time, notices of initial default sent to homeowners, the first step in the foreclosure process, increased by 2.9 percent last year, to 66,783.

Real estate agents have worried for more than two years about a glut of foreclosed properties — a shadow inventory — that banks would list for sale en masse and cause home values to plunge. That largely has not happened, but the vast number of distressed properties in the market has kept a lid on local home values.

On Tuesday, for instance, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's websites listed 2,415 Cook County homes for sale that the two agencies had repossessed.

Chicago-area home prices, including distressed sales, fell 2.3 percent in December from a year ago, housing analytics firm CoreLogic said Tuesday. Illinois was one of only four states to see home-price depreciation.

The increase in auctions "is a mixed blessing," Buitrago said. "We've been having a lot of trouble in the region with vacant properties that have been languishing for years. The longer they're vacant, the more likely they are to be a destabilizing force in their communities."

Woodstock found that within the city of Chicago, there were 20 communities where more than 1 in 10 owner-occupied one- to four-unit residential buildings and condos went through foreclosure from 2008 to 2012. Five of those neighborhoods are included in the city's 18-month-old Micro-Market Recovery Program, a coordinated effort to stabilize neighborhoods and property values hit hard by foreclosures and vacant buildings.

Also designed to benefit hard-hit areas are the recent establishment of a Cook County Land Bank and legislation waiting for Gov. Pat Quinn's signature that will fast-track the foreclosure process for vacant, abandoned homes while providing financial resources to foreclosure prevention efforts.

mepodmolik@tribune.com

Twitter @mepodmolik

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Te'o, Cutler make top five in poll of most-disliked athletes

Manti Te'o listens to a question during an off-camera interview with ESPN's Jeremy Schaap. (Reuters Photo / February 5, 2013)

4:15 p.m. CST, February 5, 2013

Forbes.com reports: The dead girlfriend hoax that engulfed Manti Te'o didn't do much for his popularity: The former Notre Dame linebacker placed second only to disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong in a survey that ranked America's most disliked athletes.

Both were new additions this year to list, as was Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who placed fourth.

Get the full story: Forbes.com

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Dell to go private in landmark $24.4 billion deal

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Dell will take Dell Inc private for $24.4 billion in the biggest leveraged buyout since the financial crisis, a deal that allows the billionaire chief executive to attempt a revival of his struggling computer company without Wall Street scrutiny.

The deal, which requires shareholder approval, would end a 24-year run on public markets for a company that was conceived in a college dorm room and quickly rose to the top of the global personal computer business - only to be rendered an also-ran over the past decade as PC prices crumbled and customers moved to tablets and smartphones.

Dell executives said on Tuesday that the company will stick to a strategy of expanding its software and services offerings for large companies, with the goal of becoming a full-service provider of corporate computing services in the mold of the highly profitable IBM. They downplayed speculation that Dell might spin off the low-margin PC business on which it made its name.

Dell did not give specifics on what it would do differently as a private entity to convince skeptics who say it missed the big industry shift to tablet computers, smartphones and high-powered consumer elections devices such as music players and gaming consoles. Sources with knowledge of the matter said Dell's board had considered everything from a recapitalization to a breakup of the company before going the leveraged buyout route, but did not elaborate.

"A private Dell is likely to more aggressively cut costs, in our view. But we think merely restructuring only postpones the inevitable, creating a value trap," said Discern Inc analyst Cindy Shaw. "Dell needs to do more than reduce its cost structure. It needs to innovate."

The deal will be financed with cash and equity from Michael Dell, cash from private equity firm Silver Lake, a $2 billion loan from Microsoft Corp, and debt financing from a consortium of banks. The price of $13.65 per share represents a 25 percent premium over Dell's stock price before news of a pending deal leaked in January.

The company will now conduct a 45-day "go-shop" process in which others might make higher offers.

"Though we were hoping for a higher price, we trust that the Dell board has properly done its job by conducting a process open to any third party offers and reviewing all strategic options," said Bill Nygren, who manages the $7.3 billion Oakmark Fund and $3.2 billion Oakmark Select Fund, which have a $250 million position in Dell. "Should we hear evidence to the contrary, we'll raise a ruckus."

Some of Dell's rivals took pot shots at the deal, in unusually pointed comments that reflect how bitter the struggle is in a commoditized PC industry that has wrestled to reverse a decline in sales globally.

Hewlett-Packard Co, which itself has suffered years of turmoil in the face of challenges in the PC business, said in a statement that Dell's deal would "leave existing customers and innovation at the curb," and vowed to exploit the opportunity.

Lenovo, which consists largely of the former IBM PC unit, referred to the "distracting financial maneuvers and major strategic shifts," of its rival while emphasizing its own stability and strong financial position.

Dell was regarded as a model of innovation as recently as the early 2000s, pioneering online ordering of custom-configured PCs and working closely with Asian component suppliers and manufacturers to assure rock-bottom production costs. But as of 2012's fourth quarter, Dell's share of the global PC market had slipped to just above 10 percent from 12.5 percent a year earlier as its shipments dived 20 percent, according to research house IDC.

Michael Dell returned to the company as CEO in 2007 after a brief hiatus, but has been unable to engineer a turnaround thus far. Dell's focus on corporate computing in recent years has yet to yield results - and critics note competing successfully against incumbents, including IBM and HP, will not be easy no matter what the corporate structure.

Sales of PCs still make up the majority of Dell's revenues. Analysts say continued restructuring to focus on the corporate market may entail job cuts and more costly acquisitions. The company has acquired several large software and services companies in recent years as it seeks to reconfigure itself as a broad-based supplier of technology for big companies.

"We recognize this process will take more time," Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden told Reuters. "We will have to make investments, and we will have to be patient to implement the strategy. And under a new private company structure, we will have time and flexibility to really pursue and realize the end-to-end solutions strategy."

Gladden said the company's strategy would "generally remain the same" after the deal closed, but "we won't have the scrutiny and limitations associated with operating as a public company."

Michael Dell, who has quietly built a highly successful investment firm even as the fortunes of his namesake company have waned, will contribute his 16 percent share of Dell's equity to the deal, along with cash from his MSD Capital. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Credit Suisse and RBC Capital Markets will offer debt financing.

Shares of Dell were up 1.2 percent at $13.43 in morning trading.

RECORD BUYOUT

Analysts said Dell could be more nimble as a private company, but it will still have to deal with the same difficult market conditions. IBM's famously successful transition from hardware vendor to corporate IT partner took place while it was trading on public markets.

There is little history to suggest whether going private makes such a transition easier. Freescale, formerly the semiconductor division of Motorola, was taken private in 2006 for $17.6 billion by a group of private equity firms including Blackstone Group LP, Carlyle Group and TPG Capital LP. Analysts say the resulting debt load hurt its ability to compete in the capital-intensive chip business. Freescale cut just under 5 percent of its work force last year as it continued to restructure.

The Dell deal would be the biggest private equity-backed, leveraged buyout since Blackstone Group LP's takeout of the Hilton Hotels Group in July 2007 for more than $20 billion, and is the 11th-largest on record.

The parties expect the transaction to close before the end of Dell's 2014 second quarter, which ends in July. News of the talks first emerged on January 14, although they reportedly started in the latter part of 2012. Michael Dell had previously acknowledged thinking about going private as far back as 2010.

Microsoft's involvement in the deal piqued much speculation about a renewed strategic partnership, but the software company is providing only debt financing and Dell said there were no specific business terms attached to the transaction. Dell has long been loyal to Microsoft's Windows operating system, which has been at the heart of its PC business since its inception.

Microsoft's loan will take the form of a 10-year subordinated note that will be the "closest thing to equity," with roughly 7 percent to 8 percent interest, a source close to the matter told Reuters.

Banking sources said the debt financing package for the deal will total between $11 billion and $12 billion to back the leveraged buyout. The final size of the financing depends on what portion of the company's existing notes remain outstanding, sources added. The banks are expected to begin reaching out to other lenders to begin syndicating the loans as early as Tuesday.

J.P. Morgan and Evercore Partners were financial advisers, and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP was the legal adviser to the special committee of Dell's board. Goldman Sachs was financial adviser, and Hogan Lovells was legal adviser to Dell.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was legal adviser to Michael Dell. BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Credit Suisse and RBC Capital Markets were financial advisers to Silver Lake, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP was its legal adviser.

(Additional reporting by Greg Roumeliotis; Writing by Ben Berkowitz and Edwin Chan; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Leslie Gevirtz)

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World Peace suspended, Howard out for Lakers

NEW YORK (AP) — Forward Metta World Peace has been suspended for one game because he hit Detroit's Brandon Knight in the face, and the Los Angeles Lakers also will be without Dwight Howard again when they face the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.

World Peace grabbed Knight around the neck and struck him in the jaw with the knuckles of his mostly open hand on Sunday with 1:43 left in the first half of the Lakers' 98-97 win over the Pistons.

Howard missed that game with a sore right shoulder that remains painful. He says he will miss his third straight game.

Pau Gasol will start at center in Howard's place, and the Lakers will have to move someone into World Peace's starting forward spot.

The former Ron Artest was also suspended seven games in April after an elbow to the head of Oklahoma City's James Harden. He is notorious for his 86-game suspension in 2004 for his role in the brawl with Pistons fans in Detroit.

World Peace also served a seven-game suspension in 2007 for his no-contest plea on a domestic violence charge.

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit

NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.

With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until there's a ruling on their lawsuit seeking to block it altogether. The measure would bar many eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.

"It would be a tremendous waste of expense, time, and effort for our members to incur all of the harm and costs associated with the ban if this court decides that the ban is illegal," Chong Sik Le, president of the New York Korean-American Grocers Association, said in court papers filed Friday.

City lawyers are fighting the lawsuit and oppose postponing the restriction, which the city Board of Health approved in September. They said Tuesday they expect to prevail.

"The obesity epidemic kills nearly 6,000 New Yorkers each year. We see no reason to delay the Board of Health's reasonable and legal actions to combat this major, growing problem," Mark Muschenheim, a city attorney, said in a statement.

Another city lawyer, Thomas Merrill, has said officials believe businesses have had enough time to get ready for the new rule. He has noted that the city doesn't plan to seek fines until June.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials see the first-of-its-kind limit as a coup for public health. The city's obesity rate is rising, and studies have linked sugary drinks to weight gain, they note.

"This is the biggest step a city has taken to curb obesity," Bloomberg said when the measure passed.

Soda makers and other critics view the rule as an unwarranted intrusion into people's dietary choices and an unfair, uneven burden on business. The restriction won't apply at supermarkets and many convenience stores because the city doesn't regulate them.

While the dispute plays out in court, "the impacted businesses would like some more certainty on when and how they might need to adjust operations," American Beverage Industry spokesman Christopher Gindlesperger said Tuesday.

Those adjustments are expected to cost the association's members about $600,000 in labeling and other expenses for bottles, Vice President Mike Redman said in court papers. Reconfiguring "16-ounce" cups that are actually made slightly bigger, to leave room at the top, is expected to take cup manufacturers three months to a year and cost them anywhere from more than $100,000 to several millions of dollars, Foodservice Packaging Institute President Lynn Dyer said in court documents.

Movie theaters, meanwhile, are concerned because beverages account for more than 20 percent of their overall profits and about 98 percent of soda sales are in containers greater than 16 ounces, according to Robert Sunshine, executive director of the National Association of Theatre Owners of New York State.

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Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

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Prosecutors move to revoke Chris Brown's probation

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors have asked a judge to revoke Chris Brown's probation, saying there is no credible evidence he completed his community service sentence for beating Rihanna, and citing several other incidents that they say point to anger management issues.

The motion filed Tuesday by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office focuses heavily on issues with Brown's community labor in Virginia, citing numerous discrepancies and claiming the R&B singer essentially was unsupervised.

Brown's attorney Mark Geragos blasted the filing, telling The Associated Press that it was frivolous and defamatory and he planned to seek sanctions against prosecutors.

The prosecution's motion also notes several incidents in which Brown has lost his temper, including throwing a chair through a window after a "Good Morning America" interview in which he was asked about his beating of Rihanna on the eve of the 2009 Grammy Awards. The report also cites Brown's Jan. 27 fight with R&B singer Frank Ocean, including Ocean's claim that Brown threatened to shoot him in the brawl over a parking space.

Sheriff's officials have said they are unlikely to seek charges against Brown for the recent fight with Ocean, since Ocean has posted online that he does not intend to seek criminal or civil penalties. Ocean told investigators that Brown shouted that he and his entourage "can bust on you too," which authorities wrote was a street slang term for shooting someone.

Brown is due in court Wednesday for a probation hearing.

"The motion filed by the DA's office is shameful and a disgrace," Geragos said. "In essence, it calls everyone a liar in the Richmond Police Department and the Virginia Probation Department."

He claimed prosecutors ignored interviews "where sworn peace officers stated unequivocally that Mr. Brown was supervised and did all of the community service."

"I plan on asking for sanctions from the DA's office for filing in frivolous, scurrilous and frankly defamatory motion," he said. A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office declined to comment on Geragos' statements.

Brown's time serving community service in Virginia has been under scrutiny for months, and Tuesday's motion asked a judge to order the singer to repeat his entire 180-day service sentence in Los Angeles. Brown had been given permission to perform cleanup and manual labor duties in Virginia, but LA prosecution investigators found no evidence that he completed his work as ordered.

Richmond, Va., Police Chief Bryan Norwood was supposed to be supervising Brown and submitted paperwork last year indicating the singer had completed his sentence. But prosecutors cite numerous shortcomings and possible misstatements in those records, which show the singer performing double shifts in the city and at a day care center where his mother once worked.

"This inquiry provided no credible, competent or verifiable evidence that defendant Brown performed his community labor as presented to this court," Deputy District Attorney Mary Murray wrote.

The records submitted by Norwood are "at best sloppy documentation and at worst fraudulent reporting."

Richmond police spokesman Gene Lepley declined to discuss the allegations.

"We believe it would inappropriate to comment on a matter that's before the court," Lepley said.

According to the motion, officials with Virginia's probation office told investigators that Brown's arrangement to be supervised by Norwood was "extremely unusual" and had not been approved by the agency. No one from Virginia's probation department oversaw Brown's hours, the filing states.

The motion notes that the only records the department has to indicate Brown was supervised were officers' overtime sheets. Five of 21 days that officers logged overtime for Brown were spent providing security for the singer's concerts.

One-third of Brown's hours were logged at a daycare center where the singer spent time as a child and where his mother once served as director, an analysis performed by The Associated Press in September showed.

The center is an hour's drive from Richmond, and the prosecution motion says a detective checked on Brown on only nine occasions when he was working there. Each time, the singer was found at the center, accompanied by his mother and a bodyguard but no law enforcement personnel.

The hours Brown recorded as working at the center were done overnight when children were not present. Some of the records stated Brown waxed floors or did "general cleaning."

"Claims that the defendant cleaned, stripped and waxed floors at that location have been credibly contradicted," the prosecution motion states. A professional floor cleaner contracted to work at the daycare center told investigators he had been cleaning the floors throughout the months Brown reported working at the facility.

Brown's mother, Joyce Hawkins, no longer had a formal role at the Tappahannock Children's Center but had her own set of keys and coordinated her son's work at the facility, the motion states.

The filing also alleges Brown violated his probation with several violent outbursts that haven't resulted in arrests or charges. In addition to the fight between Brown and Ocean, the motion cites a 2012 incident in Miami in which Brown was accused of taking a woman's cellphone and the March 2011 incident in which Brown threw a chair through a window after appearing on "Good Morning America."

Brown and Ocean are both nominated for the Best Urban Contemporary Album category at Sunday's Grammys. Ocean, who has said his first love was a man, told authorities that someone may have shouted a gay slur during the fight, but he wasn't sure.

Ocean suffered cuts on his right index finger and minor cuts to his left temple.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP .

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Deficit hits 5-year low, but cuts drag economy

WASHINGTON -- The federal deficit will drop to less than $1 trillion for the first time in five years, but massive spending cuts that have improved the budget outlook are also slowing the economy, according to a report released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget office.

The nonpartisan arbiter of federal budgets said the combination of new tax revenue from the "fiscal cliff" deal as well as looming cuts that kick in March 1 will push the deficit down to $845 billion for fiscal 2013. Deficits have topped $1 trillion in recent years.

The projections will fuel the coming budget debates, which started Tuesday as President Obama was calling on Congress to steer around the coming budget cuts.

The budget office said the cuts will contribute to an economy that lags in 2013. The unemployment rate likely will remain above 7.5% through the year. It predicted that the gross domestic product will be well below its potential, growing by just 1.4%, more than half a percentage point slower than would happen if the spending cuts were averted.

At the same time, the nation's debt load is expected to fluctuate but ultimately rise to record levels this decade, largely because of increased spending on healthcare and the federal safety net for older Americans with the aging of the baby boom population.

Additionally, the outlook shows how difficult it will be for House Republicans to accomplish their goal of balancing the budget in 10 years with potentially deep austerity measures.

Even though revenue is rising and spending is decreasing, the overall budget outlook remains stark. By the end of the decade, public debt is set to rise to 77% of GDP, a decade of highs on par with debt levels in World War II.

"The projected path of the federal budget remains a significant concern," the CBO wrote.

Follow Politics Now on Twitter and Facebook

Lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

Twitter: @LisaMascaroinDC

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Super Bowl ratings down from a year ago

NEW ORLEANS—

Sunday's close Super Bowl contest between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers failed to beat last year's game in total viewers, CBS Corp said on Monday.

An average of 108.41 million viewers tuned in, compared with 111.3 million a year ago when the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots on NBC. CBS said it was the third-most-watched program in television history, behind last year's Super Bowl and 2011's match-up between thePittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers, which garnered 111 million viewers.

CBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether a 35-minute partial electrical blackout in the third quarter of the game affected ratings. Advertisers paid $4 million on average for a 30-second spot during the game.

Late Sunday, CBS said in a statement that "all commercial commitments during the broadcast are being honored."

 Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters on Monday an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the disruption. He said there was no indication that Beyonce's halftime show had anything to do with the outage.

CBS said earlier on Monday that the telecast earned an average overnight household rating of 48.1 in Nielsen's metered markets, up 1 percent compared with last year's Super Bowl. CBS said the rating excludes the blackout, which occurred just after the start of the second half, between 8:45 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. Nielsen's "metered markets" represent the top 56 U.S. TV markets.

The highest-rated period during Sunday's Super Bowl occurred from 10:30 p.m. to 10:47 p.m., when the game came down to the wire and the Ravens were able to hold off a furious second-half comeback by the 49ers to win 34-31. CBS said that over those 17 minutes, an average of 113.92 million viewers were tuned in.

The Super Bowl, which determines the NFL champion for the 2012 season, is broadcast live in more than 180 countries and in more than 30 different languages. The commercials during the game regularly net a record amount of ad revenue for the network that broadcasts the game in a given year.

Analysts said stand-out commercials included Chrysler's Jeep ad featuring a patriotic salute to U.S. troops and narration by Oprah Winfrey, an Oreo ad asking viewers to vote cookie or creme, and a scantily clad male Calvin Klein model.

Bluefin labs, a firm that tracks social media activity, said viewers produced 30.6 million social media comments, up from 12.5 million last year. The most talked about ad on social media was the Dodge Ram Trucks "Farmer" commercial, followed by Taco Bell's "Viva Young" spot featuring senior citizens behaving badly, Bluefin said.

The Super Bowl also gives the network that airs it an unprecedented promotional platform for its other programming, with the time slot immediately after the game among the most coveted in television. This year CBS chose to showcase its new crime drama "Elementary," a post-modern take on "Sherlock Holmes," in that time slot.

Just under 21 million viewers stuck around after the game to watch "Elementary," making it the lowest-rated post Super Bowl show in 10 years. Part of the blame for the weak rating can be cast on the game's 35-minutes blackout, which pushed "Elementary's" start time to after 11 p.m. on the East Coast.

Last year, NBC's "The Voice" scored 37.6 million viewers in the post-Super Bowl slot. ABC's airing of "Alias" in 2003 garnered only 17.3 million viewers.

"Elementary" averages around 10 million viewers during its normal airings.

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Dell closer to buyout as price talks narrow: source

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dell Inc moved closer to a nearly $24 billion buyout deal, with price negotiations narrowing to $13.50 to $13.75 a share in what would be the biggest leveraged buyout since the financial crisis.

Talks between Dell, the world's No. 3 computer maker, and a consortium led by its founder and chief executive, Michael Dell, to take the company private were in the final stages on Monday, a person familiar with the matter said.

An outcome is expected soon, the person said, cautioning that no final agreement had been reached and negotiations could still break down.

Dell shares fell 2.6 percent to $13.27 in afternoon trading.

Microsoft Corp, which provides its Windows software for Dell computers and is also part of the investment consortium, is expected to invest around $2 billion in the deal, while private equity firm Silver Lake is expected to put in about $1 billion, the source said.

Michael Dell is expected to roll over his roughly 16 percent stake and put in some of his own money so he has control of the company, the source added.

Dell and Silver Lake declined to comment and Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for a comment.

The $13.50 to $13.75 per share price range being negotiated translates into an equity valuation for Dell of between $23.5 billion to $23.9 billion.

The $13.75 per share is a premium of about 23 percent to the average of $11 per share Dell traded before news of the deal talks broke and is far below the $17.61 that the shares were trading a year ago."

Dell has steadily ceded market share in PCs to nimbler rivals such as Lenovo Group and is struggling to re-ignite growth. That's in spite of Michael Dell's efforts in the five years since he retook the helm of the company he founded in 1984, following a brief hiatus during which its fortunes waned rapidly.

Any deal that Michael Dell negotiates would need the approval of a majority of the shareholders. Deals that involve the considerable stake of a founder who is also the chief executive of the company are also likely to come in for extra scrutiny over whether the board exercised its fiduciary duty.

Dell has formed a special committee to take a close look at any potential deals on the table, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters earlier.

(Reporting by Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Additional reporting by Poornima Gupta; editing by Carol Bishopric and Kenneth Barry)

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