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The Chinese e-commerce giant will transfer the pharmacy business on its Tmall marketplace platform to Hong Kong-traded Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd. 0241, +65.19% in exchange for shares and convertible debt that would bring its stake in Alibaba Health to nearly 55% when fully converted.

According to Daniel Zhang, Alibaba Group chief operating officer, the integration of the online pharmacy business into Alibaba Health will place the company in a position to be able to execute a greater healthcare e-commerce strategy, such as entering the online prescription drugs market.

“China has not yet issued license to dispense prescription drugs online, but then you can actually see them going down that route, ” said Alexander Ng, a consultant at McKinsey & Co.

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Finnish telecommunications-equipment maker Nokia Corp. is in advanced talks to buy French rival Alcatel-Lucent SA, the companies said Tuesday, a deal that would create a new global networking behemoth to rival Sweden’s Ericsson and China’s Huawei Technologies.

The deal currently under consideration is a “full combination” that would entail Nokia making a public offer for Alcatel-Lucent stock, the companies said. The deal could still fall apart, they added.

It isn’t clear if the parties have agreed on a valuation. Alcatel-Lucent’s market capitalization stands at roughly €11 billion ($11.63 billion), while Nokia’s market capitalization is about €28 billion.

In response to the statement, Alcatel-Lucent’s shares rose 13% to €4.38 in morning trading in Paris, while Nokia shares fell 7.3% to €7.205.

A purchase of Alcatel-Lucent by Nokia could face a tricky political dance in France. French officials have promoted the idea of creating pan-European giants to compete globally, in the model of Franco-German aerospace firm Airbus. But Alcatel-Lucent is also a major employer and symbolic of French industry.

One French government official said that any deal involving Alcatel-Lucent would likely have to be structured to keep a significant French influence in the new company for the deal to pass muster in Paris.

A spokeswoman for Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron declined to comment.

The timing of any deal remains unclear, but the two companies will face shareholders in the next few weeks. Nokia holds its annual shareholder meeting on May 5, while Alcatel-Lucent is scheduled to hold its meeting on May 26.

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China looks set to report its worst quarterly growth since the financial crisis, according to a CNNMoney survey of economists.

Gross domestic product is forecast to have expanded by 7 percent in the first quarter of 2015 compared to the same period last year, according to the survey's median estimate.

That's quite a drop from the final quarter of 2014, when economic growth came in at 7.3 percent. Looking ahead, economists expect to see 6.8 percent annual GDP growth for this year, and even slower expansion at 6.5 percent in 2016.

The strength of China's economy is often difficult to judge at the beginning of the year because of the Lunar New Year holiday. But recent data have been so disappointing that experts are bracing for the worst.

Although survey estimates remain in line with the government's target of 7 percent, economists expect Beijing to take stimulus action if the economy slows much further, according to the survey. One of the biggest risks facing the Chinese economy continues to be a waning property sector.

"While we do not expect a dramatic slowdown, we think downward pressures on growth stemming from the weakness in real estate will remain in the coming months," wrote Louis Kuijs of RBS in a research note. "Against this backdrop, we think more macroeconomic easing steps will follow in the coming months to ensure that GDP growth will not fall too much below the target of 7 percent in 2015."

So far this year, the government has already tried to shore up the real estate sector, putting in place measures to boost property sales and battle slowing construction. But UBS economists Harrison Hsu and Wang Tao said the measures won't be enough to reverse the overall slowdown.

Other risks continue to loom, including capital outflow and massive local government debt.

Overall, analysts expect Beijing to consider interest rate cuts, a lower reserve requirement ratio, and further monetary easing to support the economy.

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Social games company Zynga has a new boss, but he looks strikingly similar to the old boss. That’s because he is the old boss: the company’s founder Mark Pincus.

Pincus stepped down as chief executive of the company behind FarmVille and Words with Friends in July 2013, hiring former Xbox executive Don Mattrick to replace him.

Although he remained at the company, Pincus withdrew from all operational duties in April 2014, saying at the time that “ultimately a ship is better with one captain putting a hand on the wheel”.

One year on, the captaincy is changing hands again. “Don is departing the company and I am returning to Zynga as CEO effective immediately,” wrote Pincus in an email to staff.

“I want to thank Don for his incredible efforts and leadership. He has laid groundwork that will benefit our players and company into the future.”

Under Pincus’ original tenure as chief executive, Zynga rose to become the dominant publisher of social games on Facebook, but struggled to make the most of its huge audience when casual gaming began to boom on mobile devices. Mattrick was brought in to change that.

While he has had some successes – in his email, Pincus cited the fact that 60% of Zynga’s “bookings” (money spent within its games) now happens on mobile, while its NaturalMotion subsidiary’s games have been installed more than 160m times – the company remains some way behind mobile rivals such as King, Supercell and GungHo Online.

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