AIG (AIG) is getting a big slug of new capital a day ahead of what is shaping up to be a contentious annual meeting. The New York-based insurer said it raised $11.9 billion by selling 171 common shares and 72 million equity units that convert into common stock at a 20% premium to Monday’s closing stock price. The big sale shows strong demand for AIG’s shares: The company had said Friday it would raise just $7.5 billion in the first two legs of its capital raising plan, which is also to involve the issuance of $5 billion of so-called equity-rich fixed-income securities. But the new cash comes at a steep price to existing shareholders. AIG priced the common stock at $38 a share, a 14% discount to the stock’s trading price before the company unveiled its $7.8 billion first-quarter loss Friday morning.

The stock sale comes as former chief Hank Greenberg escalates his long-running battle with the company. Greenberg, AIG’s biggest shareholder, wrote in a letter to the board Monday that AIG is “in crisis” after two quarters of record-setting losses. He questions the company’s decision to dilute existing shareholders with the capital-raising plan, as well as AIG’s failure to make the case for the actions it has taken, including a bizarre increase in its dividend.

“AIG has not articulated why it has chosen to raise approximately $12.5 billion in the capital markets rather than pursuing other paths, such as the divestiture of non-core assets (several specific options spring to mind) or the infusion of capital from sovereign wealth funds or private equity funds – paths pursued by other large, diversified U.S. financial institutions,” Greenberg writes in a letter to the board and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. “Shareholders deserve to know how this decision was reached and what other alternatives were considered and evaluated.”

Greenberg, saying shareholders have lost $80 billion over the past year, says several big AIG investors have called him to express “deep concern” about the company’s path. Management led by CEO Martin Sullivan has suffered a “complete loss of credibility,” Greenberg writes, and he proposes that AIG delay Wednesday’s annual meeting to allow investors to digest the latest actions. But AIG’s board says it sees no need to postpone the event. Sounds like the meeting, which AIG will webcast starting at 11 a.m. EST Wednesday, could be quite a spectacle.

Warner Music (WMG) is suspending its dividend to conserve cash as physical sales of music continue to decline. The New York-based company lost $34 million, or 23 cents a share, from continuing operations for the second quarter ended March 31, compared with a year-ago loss of $27 million, or 19 cents a share. Revenue rose just 2% from a year ago to $800 million. The company said the 13-cent quarterly dividend it declared in February would be its last.

“Our board and our management believe it is sensible to maximize capital flexibility, given the vagaries of both the economy and recorded music market, by suspending our dividend to build cash reserves and reduce net debt,” said finance chief Michael Fleisher. “This action will give us the freedom to maintain our level of [artists and repetoire] investment, while enhancing shareholder returns over time.”

Warner said domestic revenue fell 14% from a year ago in the first quarter, while international revenue rose 20%, bolstered by a decline in the value of the dollar. Recorded music revenue rose 0.6% to $652 million, despite a 48% surge in digital music revenue to $155 million. Digital sales accounted for a third of domestic music sales for the quarter, Warner said. “Digital sales strength was primarily driven by growth in global online downloads,” the company said, “and to a lesser extent mobile.”

The struggles of the big music labels are well documented. Warner and EMI repeatedly discussed merging in 2006 and 2007 before breaking off talks. Since then, Warner shares have lost nearly half their value, as the industry struggles to devise a more lucrative alternative to Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes. While it seems clear that the labels will have to reinvent themselves, the right mix remains elusive.

Sun Microsystems (JAVA) posted a weaker-than-expected fiscal third quarter Thursday, as the slowing U.S. economy resulted in a year-over-year revenue decline. The Santa Clara, Calif., server company lost $34 million, or 4 cents a share, for the quarter ended March 30, reversing the year-ago profit of $67 million, or 7 cents a share. Revenue dropped 0.5% from a year ago to $3.27 billion. Analysts were looking for an 18-cent profit on sales of $3.38 billion. Shares fell 8% in after-hours trading to $14.95, following a 6% rise Thursday afternoon.

“The U.S. economy presented Sun with significant challenges in the third quarter, masking our progress in developing nations and economies across the world,” said CEO Jonathan Schwartz. He said the company posted “double digit year-over-year growth in India and Brazil, and triple digit year-over-year billings growth in our energy-efficient, Solaris-based Chip Multi-Threading systems.” The company explains that in the latest quarter, its sales did rise in 12 of the 16 areas in which it does business. Still, Schwartz may be going a little far when he claims that “the world is moving to open source innovation, and Sun continues to lead that revolution.”

Internet service provider United Online (UNTD) is branching out in a most unexpected direction. The Woodland Hills, Calif.-based operator of the NetZero and Juno ISPs and the Classmates and MyPoints online loyalty marketing services is buying FTD (FTD), the Downers Grove, Ill., flower company. The deal is worth $456 million in cash, stock and United Online notes. Though United Online says the deal is worth more than $15 a share to FTD shareholders, FTD shares were up just over 1% in midafternoon trading Wednesday at $13.69.

An Internet company buying a flower company smacks of desperation, a la telco Level 3’s (LVLT) March 2002 purchase of a big software reseller in a bid to stay in compliance with its debt covenants. That isn’t stopping United Online chief Mark Goldston from offering up the hard sell, though.

“As one of the premier branded marketing companies in the U.S., United Online anticipates being able to further enhance a world-class brand name, FTD, and build upon the fine work done by FTD’s management team in creating a highly profitable business,” Goldston says. “This transaction will meaningfully diversify our revenue base within a large global market experiencing significant migration to the Internet.”

But it isn’t just the expanded revenue base that makes this deal smell so sweet to Goldston. “After spending many years marketing major retail brands in the fragrance, cosmetic and other image product industries and managing consumer retail businesses,” he says, “I am especially looking forward to working with the thousands of FTD affiliated florists and the potential for developing specific programs designed to further invigorate the FTD florist channel and increase the number of orders delivered to that trade channel.” So Goldston is clearly hoping this will be the rare acquisition that drives, ahem, organic growth.

Now Canadians can have the iPhone too. Toronto-based Rogers Communications (RCI), the biggest wireless service provider north of the border, said Tuesday that it has reached an agreement with Apple (AAPL) to bring the iPhone to Canada. The phone’s sole North American distributor until now has been AT&T (T), which last week reported stable demand for the high-priced, much sought-after smartphone in the first quarter of 2008. Rumors that Apple was about to roll out the iPhone in Canada have been swirling in tech circles this year.

The announcement comes just a week after Fortune’s Scott Moritz reported that efforts to bring a competitor to the iPhone onto the market have hit snags. The release of Waterloo, Ontario-based Research in Motion’s (RIMM) Meteor phone has been pushed to August from June, wrote Moritz, citing people close to RIM and Meteor distributor AT&T. Of course, any delay in competing offerings stands to benefit iPhone peddlers like Rogers.

“We’re thrilled to announce that we have a deal with Apple to bring the iPhone to Canada later this year,” said Rogers Communications CEO Ted Rogers. “We can’t tell you any more about it right now, but stay tuned.”

The commodities boom has been good to Archer Daniels Midland (ADM). The Decatur, Ill., grain processor posted a 42% rise in fiscal third-quarter profit Tuesday, as sales surged 64% from a year ago, driven by soaring prices of agricultural goods. ADM made $517 million, or 80 cents a share, for the quarter ended March 31, up from the year-ago $363 million, or 56 cents a share. The latest quarter profit beat analysts’ estimate by a dime a share, and sales - which jumped to $18.7 billion from $11.4 billion a year earlier - outpaced the Wall Street consensus by more than $5 billion.

“ADM’s third-quarter performance demonstrates the ability of our balanced operations, global network and solid balance sheet to deliver strong results amid fluid markets,” said CEO Patricia Woertz, one of only 12 Fortune 500 women CEOs. ”Volatility in commodity markets presented unprecedented opportunities. Once again, our team leveraged our financial flexibility and global asset base to capture those opportunities to deliver shareholder value.”

For the first nine months of the year, ADM said increased selling prices resulting primarily from sharp rises in commodity prices accounted for approximately 85% of its sales increase, while higher sales volumes - principally vegetable oil and meal, feed grains and wheat - accounted for the rest.

The slowing economy isn’t hurting Corning (GLW). The maker display glass for televisions and computers posted a strong first quarter and guided to more of the same for the second quarter, citing robust demand for liquid crystal display televisions. The Corning, N.Y., company made $1.03 billion, or 64 cents a share, for the quarter ended March 31, up from the year-ago $717 million, or 45 cents a share. Excluding a gain tied to the bankruptcy of its Pittsburgh Corning affiliate, Corning made 44 cents a share in the latest quarter, two cents better than the Wall Street estimate.

“This was a tremendously strong quarter for Corning,” said CEO Wendell Weeks. “Display glass demand remains robust and we continue to operate our LCD glass substrate facilities at full capacity. The global consumer appetite for LCD televisions continues to grow.” Weeks said Corning now expects the global LCD glass market to grow at the upper end of its previously targeted 25% to 30% range.

The company said it expects the strong demand to translate into better-than-expected results for the second quarter. Corning expects to make 47 to 50 cents a share on sales of $1.71 billion to $1.75 billion. Analysts were looking for a 43-cent profit on sales of $1.67 billion. “Global demand for LCD televisions and laptop computers remains strong going into the second quarter,” said finance chief James Flaws. “We continue to closely monitor the U.S. retail market, but we have not seen any indication that the U.S. slowdown is impacting our LCD glass business.”

Corning ranks No. 12 among Fortune’s 20 most profitable big techs.

Ford (F) jumped after billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian’s Tracinda Corp. said it would tender for 20 million Ford shares at $8.50 apiece, a 13% premium to Friday’s close. Kerkorian, who already owns 4.7% of Ford, has a long history of auto investments: He bought into Chrysler’s turnaround in the mid-1990s and later backed the automaker’s sale to Daimler (DAI) in a merger that was unwound last year after years of subpar results. His decision to boost his Ford stake to 5.6% reflects his confidence in the efforts of Ford chief Alan Mulally to put the automaker on firmer footing. Ford swung to a surprising $100 million first-quarter profit last week, as Mulally’s cost-cutting efforts began to bear fruit.

“Tracinda has been following Ford closely since the company released its fourth quarter 2007 results which indicated that Ford’s management was starting to achieve highly meaningful traction in its turnaround efforts,” Tracinda’s press release read. “Last week this was reinforced by Ford’s first quarter 2008 results, achieved despite the difficult U.S. economic environment. Tracinda believes that Ford management under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally will continue to show significant improvements in its results going forward.”

Ford shares rose 10% in early trading Monday, jumping 75 cents to $8.25.

The Starbucks (SBUX) turnaround is going to take some time. The Seattle-based coffee company warned Wednesday afternoon that it expects second-quarter earnings to fall short of Wall Street’s expectations due to “the sharp weakening in the U.S. consumer environment.” Shares of Starbucks, which have dropped 45% over the past year, dropped an additional 10% in late trading after a brief halt for the release of the bad news.

Starbucks said it expects to make 15 cents a share for the quarter ended March 30, down from 19 cents a year ago and shy of the 21-cent Wall Street analyst estimate. The latest quarter includes a 3-cent-a-share charge tied to the company’s plan to close underperforming stores, unveiled earlier this year. The company said it expects revenue to rise 12% from a year ago, compared with the 16% expected rise forecast by estimates. Starbucks said same-store sales fell from a year ago, as customer traffic softened, especially in markets hit hard by the housing bust, such as California and Florida. Starbucks declined to offer full-year earnings guidance, but said it expects its earnings to be ”somewhat lower” than the 87-cent profit it turned in last year. Analysts were expecting a dime a share more.

“The current economic environment is the weakest in our company’s history, marked by lower home values, and rising costs for energy, food and other products that are directly impacting our customers,” said CEO Howard Schultz, who returned earlier this year to lead the company’s turnaround efforts after a spell of weak results under the departed Jim Donald. However, he still believes in what he calls the Starbucks Experience. “Underscoring my optimism is our customer research, which shows that while our customers are reducing the frequency of their visits to our stores - due to the economic pressures they are feeling - they are not substituting their Starbucks Experience with coffee products from others.”

What is Warren Buffett thinking about Europe? We may soon find out. The billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) chief will visit the Continent next month to scout out possible acquisitions of family-owned companies, Bloomberg reports.

Angelo Moratti of Italian oil refiner Saras and Eitan Wertheimer of Israeli metalworker Iscar - a company Berkshire purchased in 2006 in its first overseas buyout - are arranging the trip, which comes as the Oracle of Omaha tries to figure out what to do with $40 billion in cash on Berkshire’s balance sheet. Buffett said in Berkshire’s 2007 annual report that big acquisitions are necessary to keep returns up to par. “Though our managers may be the best,” he wrote, “we will need large and sensible acquisitions to get the growth in operating earnings we wish.”

Buffett has shown he prefers to buy into companies in which the owners are fully involved in operating the business, a preference that will no doubt help determine his itinerary next month. “The purpose of the trip is to meet family-owned companies, owners of family companies, the typical European dynasties,” Moratti tells Bloomberg.