Can we interest you in 55,000 square feet of prime retail space in the middle of Union Square? The Virgin Megastore is closing its doors in late May/early June and The Related Cos. hasn't lined up a new tenant yet. (Nordstrom was supposed to move in, but it later backed out.) But the space can now be yours for $15 million a year, down from the $25 million Related was seeking just a few months ago. Don't mind the bankrupt electronics store next door. It will be gone in no time! [NYP]

♦ Citigroup is in talks to buy a regional bank, says the WSJ. Which bank it is they're planning to acquire isn't clear. [WSJ]
♦ The bailout of AIG that was originally going to cost $85 billion and was later revised to $123 billion? Yea, well, now it's $150 billion. [WSJ, Bloomberg]
♦ October was another down month for hedge funds: Since the beginning of September, the average fund has shed 10 percent. [NYP, Bloomberg]
♦ The man who may go down as the hedge fund industry's big winner in 2009: Jim Chanos, whose Ursus fund is up 50 percent so far this year. [NYP]
♦ Asian stocks rallied on Monday after China announced a $586 billion bailout package. [Bloomberg]

Microsoft-owned ad agency Avenue A/Razorfish has a new product out that's supposed to solve the problem of how easily Web users ignore banner ads. AdLife ads run at the size of a regular banner, but include social features like customer reviews, a feedback button, and of course, user-generated content. AdLife is going through a three-month test right now with publishers WashingtonPost.com, USAToday.com and CircuitCity.com participating. If all goes well and clickthroughs pick up, expect Microsoft to push the product on any agency hoping to advertise on its network. As Avenue A/Razorfish exec Shiv Singh naively put it to AdWeek: "It would be unfair in the long term for it to be totally closed." Singh's title: "global social media lead," which tells us everything we need to know.

Microsoft can't convince customers that they need the new version of Office anymore, so they'e begun to sell it as software-as-a-service, bundled with security software. "Security is basically the No. 1 thing that gets attached with a PC," said Microsoft group product manager Bryson Gordon. The product, code-named "Albany" and now known as Equipt, will cost PC buyers an extra $20 a year over the $49 per year price Microsoft charges for its OneCare antivirus software. Why don't they just let users download the software? That might seem easier, but retailers like Circuit City move a lot of Xboxes and Windows PCs, and the software giant can't afford to leave them grounded as computing moves to the cloud.

• Microsoft is in talks with Time Warner, News Corp., and several other potential partners to launch a new bid to take over Yahoo. [WSJ]
  

The video-rental store is doomed, and even Blockbuster has figured that much out. That's why CEO Jim Keyes is trying to buy Circuit City for more than $1 billion? Blockbuster has become the RadioShack of its time, saddled with too many stores which are too small, selling the wrong thing. It jumped on the business of selling DVDs, instead of renting them, right as disc sales peaked and started to drop. Now, it hopes to sell, via Circuit City's larger outlets, subscriptions to its online video services alongside the devices used to play them. The vision is inspired by Apple, which sells iPods, Apple TV set-tops, and music and video through iTunes. Apple's iTunes movie rentals are a direct threat to Blockbuster's remaining rental business, and Apple is rumored, too, to be getting into the business of music subscriptions. One small problem: It's not clear how Circuit City helps Blockbuster.