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The private-equity firms Leonard Green & Partners and TPG Capital have decided to buy Life Time Fitness in a transaction valued at more than $4 billion. It will be one of the biggest buyouts of the year.

According to a prepared statement, the investor group including LNK Partners and Life Time's chief executive officer, Bahram Akradi, will pay $72.10 a share in cash for the Minnesota-based company.

The price has reflected a 73% premium to the closing price on August 22, before Life Time said that it was considering its strategic options.

An analyst anticipated that Netflix, headed by CEO Reed Hastings, will have to spend an additional $1.5 billion on content this year in order to compete with its rivals. According to Evercore ISI analyst Ken Sena, competition could create problems for the company to 'sell' from 'hold'. Snapchat's new Discover platform, Apple's teaming with HBO Now and ABC's streaming of 'The Oscars Backstage' on Facebook could all hinder the company's development.

According to Sena, the extra expenditure on content will cut Netflix's free cash flow for 2015, to a negative $677 million, compared to an estimation of negative $97 million by Street.

A Santa Monica law firm filed a lawsuit against the ride service company Lyft late last week. The 22-page long complaint claims that the company failed to pay the promised bonuses to its new drivers and to the people who recruited them.

This lawsuit includes a recent promotion by Lyft that promised a $1,000 bonus to drivers in 15 major US cities they recruited by March 5.

The company sent an email to applicants on March 4 saying that some of the drivers might not qualify for the promotion because a background check could not be completed in time.

Attorney R. Rex Parris in a press release said, "Lyft took drivers for a ride by not providing timely background checks for new drivers making it impossible for them to give their first ride by the deadline imposed by Lyft".

On Monday, Sotheby's, premier auction house for fine art, antiques, books and other collectable memorabilia named Tad Smith as its new chief executive.

Ted is the head of the sports and entertainment group Madison Square Gardens (MSG). He will replace William Ruprecht, who led the company for almost 15 years prior to his resignation in November.

Mr. Ruprecht started as a typist in the rug department in 1980. Now, Tad would replace Ruprecht who fills the roles of chairman and chief executive.

However, Sotheby's said it had separated the roles of chairman and chief executive. Its board has elected lead independent director Domenico De Sole to take over as chairman. Smith will also join the company's board of directors.

On Monday, the online bulletin-board style social network Pinterest said that it has raised about $367 million in new capital. The company also stated that the funds were raised at $11 billion valuation, more than double of $5 billion during the last fund raising. According to Pinterest, the new capital will help the company to boost its global expansion plan.

In a statement, Pinterest stated that the company could raise an additional $211 million. The statement further said that the additional capital will be used for corporate purposes. "In 2014, international users grew more than 135%. Today, they are more than 40 percent of all users, up from just 28 percent in 2013", the statement stated.

This year, SeaWorld San Diego has beaten its record for sea lion rescues, as the state is heading towards a historic high for sea lion stranding.

The spokesman, Dave Koontz, said that till Monday, SeaWorld rescued 505 marine mammals, including 487 sea lions, and has surpassed its last record of 474 marine mammal rescues in 1983.

In the meantime, the National Marine Fisheries Service has reported that between January 1 and March 8, 1,600 sea lions have washed up on California beaches. It was equal to the total number that stranded in 2013 wherein federal fisheries officials declared an “unusual mortality event” for the species.

The fisheries service has said that of all, 720 are under care at marine mammal centers throughout the state.