Monday morning headlines

How Northrop won: Both the LAT and NYT examine the stunning Air Force decision to award its aerial tanker contract to the team of Northrop- European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co. Lots of factors were at play, among them Northrop's contention that the Airbus tanker made more sense for the Pentagon's shift from Europe to the Middle East and the Pacific. That's because the larger tankers could fly longer distances and stay "in station" to refuel U.S. fighters and bombers for a longer period. Also, the argument that Boeing would have provided more American jobs is not that clear cut (large manufacturing projects typically involve operations in many parts of the world, regardless of which company wins). Here's more from the NYT:

Boeing, the heavy favorite to win the contract, having built earlier tankers, promised a new boom but did not build a prototype. One analyst who followed the contest said that Boeing, based in Chicago, seemed arrogant and offered a plan that Air Force officials thought would deliver only 19 tankers by 2013 compared with 49 by the Airbus team. “The Boeing team was not responsive and often was not even polite,” said Loren B. Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., based on conversations he said he had with defense officials. “Somehow that all eluded senior management,” Mr. Thompson said. “They were not even aware there was a problem.”

Web companies watching you: They're using your search requests to predict what content and advertisements you most likely want to see. So anybody who searches for iron supplements, airlines, hotels and soft drinks may see ads for those products later on. Consumers haven't complained, but that might just be because they're unaware of what's going on. From the NYT:

“When you start to get into the details, it’s scarier than you might suspect,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy rights group. “We’re recording preferences, hopes, worries and fears.” But executives from the largest Web companies say that privacy fears are misplaced, and that they have policies in place to protect consumers’ names and other personal information from advertisers. Moreover, they say, the data is a boon to consumers, because it makes the ads they see more relevant.

Warnings on Amgen drugs: New labels say that the company's Aranesp anemia drug and Johnson & Johnson's Procrit drug can increase death and speed up tumor growth in patients with early breast cancer and cervical cancer. On Thursday, the FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee will review safety data for the drugs, and could recommend further label changes. In other Amgen news, and FDA medical officer said that a proposed drug to treat a rare blood-platelet illness was effective but carried risks of contributing to other blood disorders. (DJ)

Countrywide stock is down: Word of an FBI investigation is clearly not helping the Calabasas-based mortgage giant. In early trading, shares are off nearly 6 percent, to $4.77.

Pointing fingers at New Century: The OC subprime lender was among the first mortgage companies to collapse from the housing downturn, and now a 500-page bankruptcy examiner's report could shed new light on what happened. Plaintiffs lawyers will be looking closely for the role of New Century's auditors, KPMG. New Century announced in February 2007 that it would have to restate earnings, but didn't detail what went wrong in the company's finance department. The Recorder reports that the company's audit committee wasn't told about accounting changes at the company.

Diller, Malone go to court: The two media moguls will duke it out in a Delaware court over whether IAC/InterActiveCorp. can proceed with Diller's plans to divide the company into five pieces. Malone's Liberty, which owns 30 percent of IAC's equity but nearly 62 percent of its voting stock, contends such a plan would dilute its control of IAC. (NY Post)

Late night audiences dwindling: Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien carried the February sweeps, but perhaps the bigger news was a dropoff in viewers. Leno was down 23 percent year to year and Letterman was off 22 percent, though the sweep period included some writer-less hours of Leno's "Tonight" show. At least part of the audience declines in late night can be attributed more folks using DVRs. (Variety)

Haim Saban looks for digital deals: the L.A.-based billionaire has formed an investment group that will inject capital into digital media companies at various development stages. Craig Cooper has been named managing director of the investment group. L.A. has seen a rapid expansion of digital startups in recent years. (THR)

L.A. seeks feedback on airports: Results from an online customer satisfaction questionnaire will be included in an examination of operations at LAX and three other regional airports. The city awarded a $680,000 contract to Los Angeles-based KH Consulting Group to oversee the survey. A final report is set for release this summer by City Controller Laura Chick. (Daily Breeze)