PRESS DIGEST-New York Times business news - Aug 13

Aug 13 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- The five countries with shorelines on the Caspian Sea agreed on Sunday to a formula for dividing up the world's largest inland body of water and its potentially vast oil and gas resources. The leaders of Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, which the Kremlin said in a statement "reflected a balance of interests" of the seashore nations. https://nyti.ms/2wavx8L

- Atop three columns of flame at 0331 am Eastern time, NASA's Parker Solar Probe lifted toward space on Sunday. The launch was the second attempt to carry the spacecraft, which NASA touts will "touch the sun" one day, into orbit after a scrub early on Saturday. https://nyti.ms/2waxP7R

- Venture capital money going into ad tech start-ups is falling sharply, helping push a wave of consolidation. Financing reached a high of $2.92 billion in 2015, but this year, it is on pace to be less than half that, according to CB Insights, a financial research firm. https://nyti.ms/2w2jB8H (Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)