LexisNexis Business: Business

Geithner says bank overhaul must protect consumers

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:44:38 GMT

(WASHINGTON) Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Monday the administration will not accept a financial overhaul bill that does not provide strong consumer protection and restraints on risk-taking by large banks.

Geithner urged lawmakers to listen to the families and businesses that were harmed by the financ

AP Sources: Pay czar to widen compensation review

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:42:29 GMT

(NEW YORK) The Obama administration's pay czar is launching a review of compensation for 25 top executives at all financial firms that received federal bailout money, according to three people familiar with the plan.

Kenneth Feinberg can seek to renegotiate any pay deemed not in the public's interest but can't f

MGM studio says has received several rescue offers

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:40:32 GMT

(LOS ANGELES) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., an iconic Hollywood studio that has fallen on hard times, said Monday it has received several offers from suitors wanting to acquire it or keep it operating as a standalone company.

MGM said it will take several weeks to evaluate the offers, which came after six companies

Health care companies pull stock market higher

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:38:52 GMT

(NEW YORK) Drug and hospital companies led stocks higher Monday after House lawmakers ended months of uncertainty and approved the health care overhaul bill.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose about 44 points. Broader indexes also climbed.

Toyota shareholders sue over fallen stock price

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 11:01:21 GMT

(MIAMI) Toyota shareholders incensed over a sudden drop in the Japanese automaker's stock price are heading to court with lawsuits claiming company executives deliberately misled investors and the public about the depth of accelerator problems in millions of its vehicles.

At least three proposed class-action law

Letter: Lehman accounting tricks possibly illegal

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:59:58 GMT

(NEW YORK) A Lehman Brothers whistleblower warned his bosses that accounting gimmicks the bank used before its collapse may have been illegal, his lawyer said Friday.

Matthew Lee, a former Lehman senior vice president, was fired days after questioning the accounting tricks in a letter to his superiors, attorney

Bernanke: Keep Fed as watchdog of small US banks

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:58:30 GMT

(WASHINGTON) Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made a fresh pitch Saturday to retain oversight of small banks, contending that what the Fed learns from that role helps it assess the overall health of the entire U.S. financial system.

Bernanke, in a speech to the Independent Community Bankers of America's mee

Dodd asks for Justice investigation of Lehman

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:57:05 GMT

(WASHINGTON) Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd is asking Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the circumstances that led to the spectacular collapse of Lehman Brothers. Dodd's request comes in the wake of a post-mortem review of Lehman's finances that found Lehman used an accounting gimmick to hide its precarious condition…

(WELLINGTON, New Zealand) New Zealand's biggest fraudster exposed after a client saw a television documentary on disgraced U.S. financier Bernie Madoff has been sentenced to six years in prison.

Banker Stephen Versalko, 51, admitted stealing almost 18 million New Zealand dollars ($13 million) from customers of A

Viacom, YouTube air dirty laundry in legal battle

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:25:02 GMT

(SAN FRANCISCO) Viacom Inc. and Google Inc.'s YouTube site began airing each other's dirty laundry Thursday, providing a tantalizing peek at the wheeling and dealing that triggered a bitter battle over the copyright laws governing the Internet.

Review site Yelp under fire in business' lawsuits

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:23:01 GMT

(SAN FRANCISCO) Yelp, one of the most popular Web sites that let people post opinions about restaurants, shops and local services, is being sued by several small businesses that claim they've been pressured to advertise on the site in exchange for getting negative reviews squashed.

Yelp denies the claims, but ex

SEC boss: Agency examining companies

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:13:03 GMT

(WASHINGTON) The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed Wednesday that the agency is investigating several companies' actions in the run-up to the financial crisis of 2008.

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said "it would be safe to assume" that the agency is looking very closely at the cond

Ford Motor Co. shares hit five-year high

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:09:19 GMT

(DETROIT) Shares of Ford Motor Co. surged to a five-year high Wednesday after a ratings agency upgraded the automaker's debt and said Ford has the potential to improve its finances even further.

The Dearborn, Mich., automaker's stock hit $14.15 per share in afternoon trading, a 4.9 percent surge to levels not&he

Bernanke to wage fresh battle for Fed powers

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:22:56 GMT

(WASHINGTON) Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke plans to wage a fresh battle against Senate efforts to scale back the Fed's role in supervising the nation's banks.

In testimony prepared for a House hearing on Wednesday obtained by The Associated Press, Bernanke argued that the Fed factors in information it ge

Ex-exec testifies in KB Home fraud trial in LA

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:20:39 GMT

(LOS ANGELES) A former executive of KB Home testified Tuesday against former chairman and Chief Executive Bruce E. Karatz, who is accused of bilking shareholders out of millions of dollars by backdating stock options.

Prosecutors contend that Karatz, 64, illegally backdated stock-options. A stock option allows a

Toyota dismisses account of runaway Prius

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:37:25 GMT

(SAN DIEGO) Toyota Motor Corp. dismissed the story of a man who claimed his Prius sped out of control on the California freeway, saying Monday that its own tests found the car's gas pedal and backup safety system were working just fine.

(TOKYO) A massive global recall, mounting legal bills and a battered reputation add up to a very expensive problem for Toyota.

How expensive? Depends who you ask.

With new developments emer

InfoGroup's ex-CEO paying $7.3M to settle with SEC

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:33:37 GMT

(WASHINGTON) The founder and former CEO of database provider InfoGroup Inc. agreed Monday to pay more than $7.3 million to settle federal regulators' charges he siphoned off nearly $9.5 million from the company to finance a lifestyle that included jet travel to Africa and Europe, homes around the U.S. and 20…

Subscribers to (WASHINGTON) Combining Obama administration and Republican priorities, the leading Senate author of a sweeping rewrite of the nation's financial regulations is looking for consensus with a proposal that neither side of the political spectrum is ready to embrace.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking

Calvin Klein parent to buy Tommy Hilfiger for $3B

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:34:20 GMT

(NEW YORK) Two iconic American clothing labels preppy Tommy Hilfiger and classic Calvin Klein are coming together under one roof after Phillips-Van Heusen said it will purchase Tommy Hilfiger for about $3 billion in cash and stock.

The deal adds a prominent brand to Phillips-Van Heus

KKR to list shares on NYSE

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:11:21 GMT

NEW YORK- (AP) KKR & Co. LP, the parent of private equity giant Kohlberg Kravis Roberts said Friday that it plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

KKR originally sought a U.S. public listing in July 2007, hoping to raise up to $1.25 billion, after compet

Dollar slides as concern about Greek debt subsides

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:08:54 GMT

NEW YORK- (AP) The dollar weakened slightly Friday as concerns about Greek debt woes subsided. Economic reports were mixed in the

The 16-nation euro rose to $1.3759 in afternoon trading inn New York from $1.3673 late Thursday. The British pound gained to $1.5184 from $1.5047

Shareholders OK Black & Decker, Stanley Works deal

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:06:33 GMT

TOWSON, Md.- (AP) Shareholders approved a nearly $3.5 billion stock buyout Friday, clearing the final hurdle for Stanley Works to acquire Black & Decker.

The two are set to form a new compan

WaMu reaches settlement with JPMorgan, FDIC

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:04:08 GMT

WILMINGTON, Del.- (AP) Washington Mutual Inc. has tentatively resolved disputes with JPMorgan Chase & Co.

EU urges US to join in action against speculators

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:16:07 GMT

NEW YORK- (AP) Stocks ended mixed after a new round of mergers and acquisitions raised some hope for the economy.

Financial shares are up Monday after insurer American International Group Inc. reached a deal to sell one of its major foreign divisions to MetLife Inc. for $15.5

Arrow Energy gets $3 billion takeover bid

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:24:23 GMT

SYDNEY,-(AP) Arrow Energy Ltd., a major owner of natural gas assets in northern Australia, said Monday that a company jointly owned by Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina has sent it a takeover bid worth $3.3 billion Australian dollars ($3 billion).

Nearly half of Shell's production of oil and equivalents comes from…

Private equity firm CCMP buys InfoGroup for $460M

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:20:50 GMT

OMAHA, Neb.- (AP) Private equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors said Monday it plans to buy database provider InfoGroup Inc. for roughly $460 million cash.

The companies said the total value of the

Kellogg CEO Mackay's pay falls 22 percent in 2009

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:18:03 GMT

PORTLAND, Ore.- (AP) Kellogg Co. Chief Executive David Mackay received compensation valued at roughly $7.8 million in fiscal 2009, down 22 percent from his 2008 pay, according to an Associated Press calcul

Business events scheduled for the coming week

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:12:32 GMT

SUNDAY, March 7

(AP) PARIS Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou meets with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss 's financial crisis.

MONDAY, March 8

KANSAS CITY, Mo. H&R Block Inc. releases financial results.

BASEL, EU central banker Jean-Claude Trichet briefs after a meeting of the Bank

GE's CEO declines bonus for 2nd year

LexisNexis Corporate & Securities Law Center Staff — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:09:58 GMT

(AP) General Electric Co. said Friday that Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt did not receive 2009 bonus, the second straight year he gave up extra pay as the industrial and financial conglomerate struggled with one of its worst years on record.

GE's board of directors agreed to Immelt's request not to grant…

NEW YORK- (AP) The following is a list of initial public offerings planned for the coming week. Sources include Renaissance Capital, Greenwich, CT and SEC filings.

Week of Mar. 8

AVEO Pharm