Briefly . . .

Former penny stock promoter Robert E. Brennan was sentenced to nine years and two months in prison Thursday for bankruptcy fraud and obstructing justice. Brennan, 57, became widely known in the 1980s through television commercials for his former flagship brokerage, First Jersey Securities Inc., in which he stepped off a helicopter and urged viewers to “come grow with us.” . . . McDonald’s Co. Japan listed on Tokyo’s Jasdaq exchange this week in the company’s first initial public offering outside the United States. Shares of the fast-food burger chain were priced at $38 a share--$3.24 above the price announced last week. Regular trading in the shares starts today. McDonald’s Japan’s biggest shareholder is McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) at 50%. Hopes have been high that the IPO will lure more individuals back to Japan’s slumping stock market--and individual investors to McDonald’s.