The announcements are the latest from a lengthening queue of banks who have taken hits from a meltdown in U.S. subprime mortgages, which has set off a global liquidity crisis.

UBS said it would write down a net 4 billion Swiss francs ($3.4 billion) in its fixed-income portfolio and elsewhere, resulting in a third-quarter loss of 600 million to 800 million francs, its first quarterly loss in nine years.

UBS also said it would shed 1,500 jobs in its investment bank -- a sharp reversal of its recent buildup.

Citigroup, the world's largest bank by market value, said it was expecting a fall of about 60 percent in third-quarter net income.

Among the main culprits for the profit warning were $1.4 billion in pretax writedowns on funded and unfunded leveraged loan commitments.  

Qualcomm had been looking to fill the general counsel post, the top in-house company lawyer, after previous top lawyer Lou Lupin quit last month. The San Diego-based company, ensnarled in patent litigation with Nokia Oyj and competitor Broadcom Corp., suffered several litigation setbacks earlier this year.

In June, the International Trade Commission ordered an import ban on newer models of phones that run on Qualcomm chips because the chips infringe a Broadcom patent. The ruling, which threatened to prevent phone companies from introducing new models for the holiday season, was put on hold earlier this month by an appeals court.

In August, a federal judge ruled Qualcomm intentionally infringed Irvine, California-based Broadcom's patents and ordered Qualcomm to pay twice as much in damages as originally ordered.

Evidence

Another court ruled Qualcomm withheld evidence in a separate lawsuit and that former company attorneys could face possible fines or sanctions for what that judge called an "organized program of litigation misconduct."

Earlier this month, a federal appeals court revived a Broadcom antitrust lawsuit accusing Qualcomm of stifling competition for chips.

Qualcomm is also embroiled in nearly a dozen legal battles with Finland-based Nokia, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, over how much Nokia must pay to license Qualcomm's patents for the newest generation of phones with faster Internet access.

Earlier this month, the ITC said it would investigate patent-infringement claims by Nokia against Qualcomm.

After Lupin resigned in August for what Qualcomm called "personal" reasons, Carol Lam, previously the San Diego U.S. attorney, replaced him on an interim basis.

Apple

Rosenberg, 56, joins Qualcomm after working at Cupertino, California-based Apple for less than a year. He joined Apple last November after former General Counsel Nancy Heinen left in May 2006. She was sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission for her alleged role in improperly backdating stock-option grants.

Rosenberg, who will join Qualcomm Oct. 8, was previously general counsel at International Business Machines Corp.

Rosenberg will be replaced by Oracle's Cooperman, who will also hold the titles of senior vice president and secretary. Cooperman joined Apple Nov. 1 from Oracle.

"He has experience as a legal strategist in so many areas, including antitrust, regulatory and IP," said Qualcomm spokeswoman Emily Kilpatrick.

Apple spokeswoman Susan Lundgren declined to comment. Oracle's Bob Wynne didn't return a call seeking comment.

Texas Instruments Inc. is the biggest mobile-phone chipmaker.

Qualcomm shares rose 3 cents to $42.26 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading.

Disney announced in September 2006 that it was closing Mobile ESPN, eight months after its debut. The company initially remained optimistic about its Disney-branded service, which sold phones featuring Disney content and services aimed at children and their parents. However, Disney failed to make headway with the big-box retailers and find outlets to sell its phones and related services.

Disney will instead license its content to bigger carriers to sell. Earlier this year, it forged a partnership with Verizon Wireless, which is owned by Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, to sell ESPN sports news and video. Disney said yesterday it is considering offering some of its Disney-branded services through a partnership with a major carrier. Disney Mobile included services that let parents locate their kids as well as content such as ring tones and games with Mickey Mouse and other Disney stars.

Disney isn't the only company to stumble in the MVNO arena. Amp'd Mobile Inc. sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy-court protection this year, after its youth-focused service burned through $350 million in start-up funding.

Disney declined to comment on how much it had invested in its MVNOs or the cost of closing them. During a conference call in August 2006, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said the company was investing $150 million in Mobile ESPN in 2006. After announcing its closure last September, Disney Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs told an analysts conference that the cost of closing it would be about $30 million.

The world's largest retailer said it will make available for $4 drugs to treat glaucoma, attention deficit disorder/attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, fungal infections and acne. Fertility and prescription birth control will also be available for $9, Wal-Mart said.

Last year, Wal-Mart began selling certain generic drugs for $4 per monthly prescription in September and by the end of November had extended the program to all its U.S. pharmacies -- far ahead of schedule.

The company said $4 prescriptions now account for nearly 40 percent of all prescriptions filled in its Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Neighborhood Market pharmacies. It estimates that over the past year, the program has saved customers $613.6 million.

Earlier this year, it said it would open as many as 400 in-store health clinics in the next two to three years, and that number could jump to 2,000 in five to seven years.

The judge also dismissed claims against Thomas W. Jones, the former chief executive of Citigroup Asset Management, and Lewis E. Daidone, the former treasurer and chief financial officer of the Smith Barney family of funds.

"It is undisputed that defendants disclosed the amount of fees paid by the funds. Thus, plaintiffs were in possession of all material information, i.e., they knew the value of the funds," the judge said in a nine-page opinion.

The consolidated lawsuit alleged that Citigroup's asset-management business took most of the benefit of a discount from using an affiliated transfer agent for itself, pocketing more than $90 million, rather than passing on those savings to the mutual funds and their customers.

In February, another federal judge in Manhattan dismissed a similar case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Jones and Daidone. Citigroup itself settled the SEC's charges in May 2005 and agreed to pay $208 million to affected mutual-fund customers. In settling, the financial-services company didn't admit or deny wrongdoing.

A lawyer for the investors and a Citigroup spokesman didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment Wednesday.

Here're some back-of-the-envelope calculations. Vonage will have to pay some $69.5 billion in damages to Sprint. In addition, since spring, it's placed into escrow or issued a bond for some $90 million related to a patent-infringement case it lost to Verizon (a decision on an appeal is expected any day now). That adds up to $159.5 million. Plus, Vonage is obviously paying lots of legal fees. And Vonage is still losing money: It lost $34 million in the second quarter alone.

So, let's look at Vonage's cash. At the end of the second quarter, the company's cash and equivalents totaled $344 million, which included $66 million of restricted cash used as collateral for the Verizon bond. If we subtract from that the various royalty payments and jury awards/restructed cash, Vonage has about $184.5 million in cash and equivalents to work with.

Assuming Vonage continues to lose money at the current rate of $34 million per quarter, the company can last for a little over five more quarters.

This is a very rough estimate, of course: Vonage's expenses will rise as it starts making royalty payments to Sprint. The outcome of the Verizon case can tip the scales one way or another. Thanks to recent staff cuts, overall expenses may fall. But one thing is clear: Vonage will have less financial flexibility now, after the Sprint loss.