SUPER DEAL: Walt Disney Co. will provide Netflix Inc. programming based on four characters from Disney’s Marvel unit. Netflix has committed to at least four series and a miniseries to be shown exclusively on its streaming video service. The programming will feature Marvel characters Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist and Luke Cage.

ACQUISITION: Toll Bros. Inc. has agreed to buy Shapell Homes for $1.6 billion in cash, which will expand the Horsham, Pa., luxury homebuilder’s business in California. The unit of Beverly Hills-based Shapell Industries has built more than 70,000 -homes since 1955, and it owns about 5,200 plots in Los Angeles, Orange County, Carlsbad and the Bay Area. The deal will give Toll a total of 9,200 lots in the state.

GIFT: The family foundation of billionaire L.A. retail developer Rick Caruso and his wife, Tina, has announced a $5 million commitment to an educational program in the Watts section of Los Angeles. The Caruso Family Foundation initiative will be coordinated through Operation Progress, a non-profit program aiding at-risk youth. The Caruso money will pay for a seven-fold increase in the program’s tutors, weekend mentors and college scholarships.

RETIRING: William Dean Singleton, 62-year-old founder and chairman of the company that owns the Daily News of Los Angeles and the Daily Breeze, plans to retire in coming weeks, citing health concerns. Singleton is chairman of MediaNews Group of Denver, which owns the Los Angeles New Group. It also owns the Long Beach Press-Telegram, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News and Whittier Daily News. A report in the Denver Post said Singleton’s decision to retire was based partly on a long battle with multiple sclerosis

DELAY: Millennium Partners said it won’t seek building permits for the controversial Millennium Hollywood towers next to Capitol Records until two lawsuits over the project are resolved. One lawsuit, filed by community members seeking to halt the project, alleges that City Hall officials did not know how close the Millennium site was to the fault and yet granted the skyscrapers a series of approvals.

DOLE GOES PRIVATE: David Murdock has completed his acquisition of Dole Food Co. and has taken the Westlake Village fresh fruit and vegetable company private. Dole’s 90-year-old chairman and chief executive, who controlled 40 percent of the stock, paid investors $13.50 a share. The L.A. billionaire took the company private once before in 2003, but relisted Dole in a $1.1 billion second initial public offering in 2009.

GONE: Deadline Hollywood founder Nikki Finke has left the website that she built into a must-read for the entertainment industry. Finke departed after repeated clashes with Variety owner Jay Penske, who purchased the site in 2009. She has started a Hollywood news and gossip website that will compete with Deadline and Variety. Penske agreed to release Finke from a contract that ran through 2016.

MERGER UPDATE: Saehan Bancorp shareholders have approved its merger with Wilshire Bancorp. The banks expect the stock-and-cash deal, valued at more than $105 million, to close by Nov. 20. Wilshire announced in July that it had agreed to buy Saehan, a competing Koreatown bank that had been seeking a cash infusion or other strategic partnerships since the recession. The combined company will have approximately $3.5 billion in assets.

OVERSEAS EXPANSION: Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. has announced two acquisition-related deals in China and Brazil. The Pasadena company said that its Shanghai subsidiary signed an option agreement with Suzhou Han’s Chemical Engineering Co. that gives Jacobs the opportunity to acquire the business, which has licenses that would enable Jacobs greater access to chemical and petrochemical jobs in that country. Jacobs said it also acquired an interest in Guimar Engenharia, an engineering services company in Rio de Janeiro.

EARNINGS: DirecTV reported third quarter net income of $699 million, 42 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 6 percent to $7.9 billion. … Live Nation Entertainment Inc. reported net income of $43.8 million, 29 percent lower. Revenue rose 15 percent to $2.26 billion. … Activision Blizzard Inc. reported net income of $56 million, 75 percent lower. Revenue fell 18 percent to $691 million. … Oaktree Capital Group reported net income of $42.9 million, 33 percent higher. Revenue rose 19 percent to $362 million. … J2 Global Inc. reported net income of $27.8 million, 15 percent lower. Revenue rose 37 percent to $128 million.