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Marcia Silverman, Ogilvy PR CEO joins O&M India | Televisionpoint.com News

2006-01-03T01:55:00.000-07:00

Marcia Silverman, Ogilvy PR CEO joins O&M India Televisionpoint.com News: "Marcia Silverman, CEO, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, has been elected to the Ogilvy & Mather India Board. While this move was initiated to replace an outgoing director, the opportunity to draw on Silverman's talent for India serves to emphasise O&M's commitment to 360-brand communications in the way forward.

Piyush Pandey, Chairman and National Creative Director, O&M, said, 'Marcia is a PR professional of international standing, and her inclusion in the Indian Board is going to add a lot of experience to our thinking. We will use her expertise to give a fresh thrust to our ambitious plans in the world of public relations.'

'India's economic rise is coming on rapidly now, as is the influence it wields, so it will need to look beyond its own borders to manage perceptions in the West and in China, as it takes its place at the global table. I am delighted to help it do so with my colleagues from the Ogilvy family,' remarked Silverman.

Silverman has been with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide for 20 years now and is based in Washington DC, with responsibility for worldwide operations. This veteran has built the agency into a truly global and connected network of professionals, spanning 60 cities on six continents.

PR Week has recognised Silverman's contribution to the industry by profiling her as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in PR and as one of the 100 Most Influential PR Professionals in the 20th century. Prior to joining Ogilvy PR, Marcia was with the public relations division of JWT in New York."

Tyson CEO, Other Execs See Smaller Bonuses in 2005 - Ark. Business online media paper Arkansas News ebusiness biz in Arkansas

2006-01-03T01:53:00.000-07:00

Tyson CEO, Other Execs See Smaller Bonuses in 2005 - Ark. Business online media paper Arkansas News ebusiness biz in Arkansas: "Tyson CEO, Other Execs See Smaller Bonuses in 2005
1/2/06 12:00:02 PM
By Lance Turner, Arkansasbusiness.com Daily Report
John Tyson, the chairman and CEO of Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, received a smaller bonus in 2005 than in 2004, according to the meat processor's proxy, filed this week with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
According to the proxy, available here, John Tyson received a salary of about $1.1 million and a bonus of about $3.2 million for 2005. For 2004, he received a salary of about $1 million and a bonus of about $5.4 million.
In all, the CEO's total compensation reached about $5.5 million for the fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, down from $7.2 million in fiscal 2004.
While all executives received salary increases, most received smaller bonuses. Richard Bond, director, president and COO, received a bonus of about $1.4 million, down from $2.3 million in 2004. Greg W. Lee, chief administrative officer and president of Tyson's international division, received a bonus of $600,000, down from $1 million in 2004. Eugene D. Leman, senior group vice president of the fresh meats division, received a bonus of $258,000, down from $500,000 last year.
Only one executive, Dennis Leatherby, senior vice president of finance, treasurer and interim CFO, received a larger bonus for 2005 than 2004, taking home $280,000, up from $175,000 last year.
Shares of Tyson (NYSE: TSN) last closed at $17.10, down more than 1 percent. Markets are closed Monday to observe the New Year's Day holiday."

Microsoft CEO to meet with EU regulators

2005-10-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

Microsoft CEO to meet with EU regulators: "Microsoft CEO to meet with EU regulators

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Microsoft Corp.'s chief executive, Steve Ballmer, will meet with the European Union's antitrust chief next week, her spokesman said Friday, as the world's biggest software company appeals a March 2004 ruling by EU regulators.

"Neelie Kroes planned to meet Ballmer over breakfast Wednesday to discuss general antitrust issues, EU spokesman Jonathan Todd said.

Earlier this month, Kroes said her department had received new informal complaints about Microsoft, perhaps leading to the opening of a new case.

Microsoft said the meeting had no specific agenda.

"It is part of the regular dialogue between Microsoft and the commission on a range of policy issues," company spokesman Tom Brookes said.

Regulators from the European Union ruled last year that Microsoft had abused its near monopoly in desktop computer systems to illegally dominate the media software market and threaten the position of competitors selling office networking software.

The European Commission fined Microsoft 497 million euros ($599 million) and ordered it to share code with rivals and to offer an unbundled version of Windows without the Media Player software.

Redmond-based Microsoft is appealing the ruling but in the meantime has produced a Windows version without its bundled Media Player.

A question remains over Microsoft's promise to give rival software makers some cost-free, additional access to its software protocols -- the complex and closely guarded procedures that allow software programs to interact with operating platforms such as Windows.

Microsoft and EU regulators have not been able to agree on which material should be free and which codes should be paid for.

The EU spokesman also said Ballmer planned to meet with Siim Kallas, the European Commission's vice president in charge of administration.

The Central New York Business Journal

2005-10-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Central New York Business Journal: "CEO Johnson has settled into leadership position
by Kevin Tampone, Journal Staff

: LIVERPOOL — For Dale Johnson, working in the hospice world presents unique opportunities not easily found elsewhere. “It’s really the intersection of medicine and theology,” he says. “That’s an interesting neighborhood to be in. That, to me, is the fun part of it.”

"Johnson has been CEO of Hospice of Central New York since February. He brings a diverse background with him.

He graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in political science in 1974 and from SU’s College of Law in 1980. He worked for and was a partner at local law firms, including Costello, Cooney, & Fearon and Menter, Rudin, & Trivelpiece, until June 2000 when he went back to school for a master’s degree in public administration.

During his year studying for that degree at SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, he focused on the administration of non-profit organizations. He was drawn to the field after spending time serving on various boards while working as a lawyer.

“I just found that that was the part of what I was doing that I kind of got the biggest charge out of,” Johnson says. “I decided I wanted to do it full time.”

Johnson was executive director of The Samaritan Center from September 2001 until taking his current job.

In the hospice world, it’s important to fight the urge to “over-medicalize” the treatment of patients, Johnson says.

“You kind of have to fight to keep the heart in it,” he says. “That is really a set of challenges and opportunities and tensions that I’m not sure there’s any place else around that offers that same combination.”

In addition to revamping his organization’s information-technology system, Johnson is looking at other long-term projects. In fact, he helped create a new position on the Hospice staff to foster those long-term goals.

Among other things, the organization is conducting an internal study to determine whether it should open its own residential facility. Currently, Hospice provides all its services only in patients’ residences.

When looking at any major initiative, Johnson says, it helps to keep in mind that, as a non-profit group, the shareholders comprise the entire Central New York Community.

“We need to make sure that we are doing things that are valuable to the community generally,” he says. “We’re the only hospice in the area and so on the one hand, that could be a recipe for complacency.

“To my way of thinking though, what that means is that our deal with the community is that if we’re going to be the only one here, we have to behave like there are five other hospices down the street who are after the same patients we are.”

MercuryNews.com | 10/02/2005 | CEO sizes up Motorola, Silicon Valley

2005-10-02T11:58:00.000-07:00

MercuryNews.com | 10/02/2005 | CEO sizes up Motorola, Silicon Valley: "CEO sizes up Motorola, Silicon Valley

Ed Zander left Silicon Valley in 2004 to take the top post at Motorola. The Brooklyn-born executive likes being the boss but has found it isn't easy running a 65,000-employee company; he says it's been harder than he imagined to shake things up at Motorola."

At Sun Microsystems, Zander had served as No. 2 behind CEO Scott McNealy for six years. In 1999, he interviewed for but didn't get the top job at Hewlett-Packard, which went to Carly Fiorina. But he finally moved into the CEO chair in January 2004 -- at Motorola.

Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola was ailing when he joined, having moved too slowly on new trends such as camera phones. It lost share to rivals such as Samsung and Nokia. Now the company has shown earnings improvements for six quarters, and it recently cut a deal with Apple Computer to make the Rokr cell phone that plays iTunes music.

Last month, Zander was back in Silicon Valley. He answered questions at the Churchill Club's leadership conference at the Computer History Museum. A consummate salesman once known as ``fast Eddie,'' Zander brought a silver case full of the latest Motorola cell phones that he told the crowd to buy. Afterward, he spoke with Mercury News staff writers Dean Takahashi and Therese Poletti. Here are edited excerpts from the interview:

Q How is the culture at Motorola vs. Silicon Valley?

A It's pretty obvious. We all came out here as half Type A, half crazies that want to make money, do great things, with an emphasis on speed, a sense of urgency, kill. Chicago is a lot like the rest of the world where people think about what kind of picnic to go to this weekend. It's not to say we don't want to win. It's not to say people don't work hard in Chicago. It's more a balance of life. When you're trying to be competitive with people in other parts of the world, that makes things hard.

Q When you think of the wireless industry, is Silicon Valley relevant?

A If you look at mobile technology, it's the next big thing. It's funny, if you look at where the mobile companies are, they aren't in the valley. Not the big companies. Intel is here and they are doing WiMax. Cisco is here and they are doing Internet telephony. Google and Yahoo will provide content for mobile. The valley is going to play a role in wireless, but there's a lot going on elsewhere. The venture capitalists are here.

Q So the venture capitalists can fund start-ups here that get bought by the big wireless companies elsewhere?

A That's a whole other story. It used to be when I was younger here that you only thought about going public. What's happening with the VCs is that they're funding just as many companies as they used to. The funding numbers are hitting records. But not a lot of companies are going public. Will there be enough companies to absorb all the companies getting started? You have to think about your exit strategy. It's not a growth industry the way it was in the go-go days. It's good for us and for companies that are going to buy the start-ups.

Q What's the future of the valley?

A The valley is the valley. It's the cradle of a lot of new technologies. I saw that one of the big funds here, Sequoia Capital, is opening a fund in China. This area is the base of operations. They are putting money into things outside the valley. It's the initial start-up location, but even start-ups are hiring engineering resources around the world. As a company, you have to do that. The corporate headquarters of technology companies are here. The VCs and the leaders of companies are here.

Q How do you go about shaking up a big company like Motorola?

A It's hard. It's a lot harder than I imagined. I can see we are just getting started. I don't know if it was easier at Sun. We grew to about $20 billion, and one day I wake up and we had 20,000 employees. It's hard being thrown in at the top. I always think about whether it was easier growing organically at Sun.

How do you get things done? How do you get around? At the same time, you have to produce numbers. You don't get a free lunch.

Q Do you have any advice for Sun Microsystems?

A I don't want to give advice to Scott (McNealy, CEO of Sun). I have my plan in my place. He has his plan in his place. No one plan fits all. I have fond memories of Sun. I'm hoping they can get it in gear.

Q How did you start working with Apple on the Motorola Rokr cell phone for music?

A Steve (Jobs, Apple CEO) and I started talking, and I said it would be great to bring iTunes to this mobile device. This device holds 100 songs. Apple restricted the number. That's just a beginning.

Q Is the cell phone like a PC where you are trying to cram all kinds of functions into one device?

A That's a good question. I argue with my staff. I think of the world where one day I will just have one phone number. I turn on a device and the carrier recognizes that as the only one I am going to use.

On a Saturday morning I go for a jog with my Rokr. I use another when I go to a nice dinner and want to look cool. At work, I have a different one. People will have multiple products.

There's one school of thought that says there will be converged devices. There's another school of thought that says there's one device for kids, one for the elderly. The question is how many devices do you want to carry around?

Q Which next-generation cell phone network is going to win?

A The incumbent -- because of all the money being spent outside the U.S. -- is 3G networks. Having said that, there are alternatives. Our 3G phone hits the market in the fourth quarter. It's small. Last year, the 3G phones were clunky. It will enable applications like video. People are exploring things such as WiMax (which transmits high-speed data through radio waves as far as 10 miles). Alternate networks will drive new applications, especially for WiMax in rural areas. It's not one winner.

Maybe this is politically incorrect in Silicon Valley, but it is not clear that the PC is or should be the center of the home."

Online Casino News.com - All The Gambling, Sports and Casino News for the Internet Gambler

2005-08-03T00:26:00.000-07:00

Online Casino News.com - All The Gambling, Sports and Casino News for the Internet Gambler: "The CEO of Cassava Enterprises, owner of online casino 888.com, is set to make $60 million when the company floats on the London Stock Exchange next month. This happens just several months after the world�s largest Internet poker company, PartyGaming, floated on the London Stock Exchange in June, awarding the board massive pay outs.

Cassava Enterprises� initial public offering (IPO) is expected to be worth over $1.5 billion, which in turn will provide an estimated $70 million in gross earnings. HSBC has been hired to counsel the Internet gambling operator on the matter in a hope to follow in PartyGaming�s footsteps."

Technology Research CEO Kendall Resigns - Forbes.com

2005-08-03T00:24:00.000-07:00

Technology Research CEO Kendall Resigns - Forbes.com: "Technology Research CEO Kendall Resigns
08.02.2005, 10:25 AM

Technology Research Corp., a maker of electrical safety products, said Tuesday that Jerry T. Kendall has resigned from his positions as president, CEO and a director, effective immediately.

The company said Chairman Robert S. Wiggins has agreed to reassume the duties of CEO and president until a new chief executive has been hired.

Technology Research shares, which a year ago traded at a high of $8.55, fell 11 cents, or 2.6 percent, to a new 52-week low of $4.06 in morning trading on the Nasdaq. On Monday, the company reported a 57 percent drop in fiscal first-quarter earnings, as product mix and higher-than-expected costs hurt bottom-line results. "

heise online - Nokia CEO leaving as of June 01, 2006

2005-08-03T00:23:00.001-07:00

heise online - Nokia CEO leaving as of June 01, 2006: "Nokia CEO leaving as of June 01, 2006
Nokia CEO Jorma Ollila, who has been at the helm for many years, is stepping down on June 1, 2006. The world's largest cell phone group announced today in Helsinki that he will be succeeded by the former director of the cell phone division and CFO, 52-year-old Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo. 54-year-old Ollila will be staying on the supervisory board at Nokia.
Nokia president Pekka Ala-Pietil� also took the occasion to announce his retirement effective February 01, 2006. He stated he was leaving for personal reasons. According to a Nokia press release, Kallasvuo will be appointed Chief Operating Officer and President on October 1 before becoming CEO. (Craig Morris) "

John H. Platts, retired Whirlpool chairman and CEO, dies at 88

2005-08-03T00:23:00.000-07:00

John H. Platts, retired Whirlpool chairman and CEO, dies at 88: "John H. Platts, retired Whirlpool chairman and CEO, dies at 88
August 2, 2005, 5:39 PM
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- John H. Platts, Whirlpool Corp.'s chairman and chief executive from 1971-82, has died. He was 88. "

Platts died Tuesday. The cause and location of his death were not immediately available.

He guided the Benton Harbor-based appliance maker during a time in which it was facing increased foreign competition and the U.S. economy was struggling with higher oil prices and double-digit inflation, Whirlpool said in a news release.

"John steered us through some difficult times and expanded our production capacity to help position Whirlpool for future opportunities," said Jeff Fettig, the company's current chairman, president and CEO. "The Whirlpool of today, the global leader of the home appliance industry, owes a great deal of gratitude to John Platt's leadership."

Platts joined Whirlpool in 1941 at the company's St. Joseph Division as an assemblyman on the wringer-washer line. He quickly moved into management, eventually becoming manager of laundry sales to Sears, Roebuck & Co. before being promoted to general manager of the Evansville (Ind.) Division.

He was made a vice president in 1959 and, a year later, he became vice president of the refrigeration group. He became president and joined the board of directors in 1962, Whirlpool said.

Platts was president until becoming chairman and CEO in 1971. He remained on the board until 1988, six years after his retirement from Whirlpool.

Funeral arrangements were pending at Starks & Menchinger Family Funeral Home in St. Joseph.

The World Today - Telstra CEO pledges commitment to the bush

2005-08-03T00:22:00.000-07:00

The World Today - Telstra CEO pledges commitment to the bush: "Telstra CEO pledges commitment to the bush"

ELEANOR HALL: After his straight talking speech in Lismore last night, Telstra's new boss Sol Trujillo has been out and about in regional Australia this lunchtime, discussing the state of telecommunications services in the bush.

Mr Trujillo announced that Telstra was considering a range of new technologies to assist country people. And he also fielded some questions about his comments last night in which he described the Federal Government's regulation of Telstra as belonging to the last century.

Lisa Millar is travelling with the Telstra boss and she joined me by mobile phone from a cattle station in Blackall.

ELEANOR HALL: So Lisa, Sol Trujillo's certainly been making waves since he started at the helm of Telstra.

What's he been saying to rural people today?

LISA MILLAR: Just giving the message really that he is committed to trying to assist people and he's interested in listening to their concerns.

We're on a property about 30 minutes out of Blackall, a cattle property, where there are probably a couple of dozen people who are talking to the Telstra boss at the moment.

He's looking at some new technologies, including using mobile phone technologies to turn on and off water pumps and to open gates and the like. He's looking at this new technology but is also (inaudible) of listening to people's concerns.

It certainly (inaudible) visit he's actually only going to have barely three hours on the ground at this cattle property before he heads off but he says that's enough time to get a sense of what people in the bush want to say to him.

ELEANOR HALL: Now, his speech last night was particularly explosive. What sort of reaction is he getting from people there in Blackall to that?

LISA MILLAR: Well, I guess people are surprised that he is not afraid to pick a fight with the Federal Government. It was one of the stronger speeches that anyone can remember from a Telstra CEO.

Most of it he's said in private before to senior ministers in the Federal Government but he's clearly determined to say it in public.

The fact that he's going to insert himself so firmly in the political debate has people wondering… not wanting to make a decision on what kind of term he might have, but rather to give him six to nine months. I think there is a sense of anticipation that they have someone here with some very strong views.

In fact the National Party State President, Queensland State President Bruce Scott was in the audience at the speech last night and the first he heard of Sol Trujillo's decision to back the trust fund was when he revealed it during his speech, and he was clearly pleased and surprised but there was certainly a sense of anticipation and people were pleased, wondering perhaps (inaudible) this person might have some answers for people in the bush.

ELEANOR HALL: Now Lisa, of course, you're on, presumably, a Telstra line there, it's a fairly ropey mobile line.

What's next on the agenda for Sol Trujillo? Is he being bombarded about services to the bush, improving those mobile services?

LISA MILLAR: Well, the Telstra people have been very proudly telling me how good the CDMA mobile is that I am using at the moment. So they won't be pleased to hear that it's ropey.

They will be talking to him about what kind of services they're getting here. He will head off to Brisbane this afternoon to meet with Telstra staff and to address a fairly large staff meeting away from the cameras before he meets with the Queensland Premier Peter Beattie for a short discussion this afternoon before flying back to Sydney.

ELEANOR HALL: Lisa Millar, thanks very much for that.

HoustonChronicle.com - Blockbuster CEO's warning puts a dent in stock price

2005-08-03T00:21:00.000-07:00

HoustonChronicle.com - Blockbuster CEO's warning puts a dent in stock price: "Blockbuster CEO's warning puts a dent in stock price
Associated Press
DALLAS - The chief executive of Blockbuster warned Tuesday that the movie-rental company's second quarter was hurt by weak DVD releases that have cast doubt about the rest of the year. The company's shares plunged."

The warning by John Antioco in a presentation to Blockbuster investors came a week before Dallas-based Blockbuster, the largest U.S. movie-rental chain, is scheduled to release second-quarter financial results.

Blockbuster shares fell 53 cents, or 6.2 percent, to close at $8.09 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

"Overall industry decline and continued poor theatrical performance had a negative impact on the second quarter and has created uncertainty about the balance of the year," Antioco said.

He said Blockbuster is "taking aggressive actions" in the second half of the year to cope with continued weakness in the rental industry.

Blockbuster has had a tumultuous year, capped by a successful proxy fight led by financier Carl Icahn, who criticized the company for spending too much. Icahn and two allies won seats on the board but retained Antioco as CEO and chairman.

ActiveGrid CEO Sees LAMP, XML as �Next-Gen� Apps Platform [OETrends.Com]

2005-07-08T23:00:00.000-07:00

ActiveGrid CEO Sees LAMP, XML as �Next-Gen� Apps Platform [OETrends.Com]: "ActiveGrid CEO Sees LAMP, XML as �Next-Gen� Apps Platform
Posted on: 07/08/05
by Vance McCarthy
ActiveGrid Inc.�s campaign for helping Open Source LAMP-based tools and platforms to play a growing role in enterprise app development is getting a boost from some of the biggest names in LAMP, including Red Hat and Novell (Linux), Covalent (Apache), MySQL AB (MySQL), and Zend (PHP scripting language). "

ActiveGrid has reached strategic partnerships with each firm to map out plans for technical co-development, marketing, support and other streategies important to further seeding Open Source solutions into the enterprise IT – particularly the appdev and deployment sectors.

ActiveGrid founder and CEO Peter Yared described the goal of these LAMP partnerships this way:
"By partnering with the key LAMP players, ActiveGrid is able to integrate the LAMP stack into a cohesive platform for enterprise customers. The strategic relationships we are announcing today will enable ActiveGrid to collaborate on LAMP-based technology innovation and streamline mission-critical customer support by resolving technical issues directly with the principals behind each component of the LAMP stack."

ActiveGrid’s offerings, slated to be released late this year, is comprised of a visual toolset (Application Builder) and LAMP-based Open Source deployment platform designed to expand using commodity hardware (Grid Application Server). The two components are designed to work together, and aim to make it easier for commercial developers (Java, C, C++, ASP/.NET) to easily create, scale, and deploy native XML enterprise applications – using grids of commodity computers. Pre-release versions of the company's Open Source offerings are available for download from ActiveGrid’s website.

Why ActiveGrid’s Yared Says
It’s Time for the Next Shift
"ActiveGrid’s vision is based on a shift away from conventional languages like Java and C, to Open Source, native XML, and grid computing. The reason, Yared says, is that enterprise managers, architects and even devs, are beginning to see that the current way of building and updating apps is just too costly and time-consuming.

Yared points to ActiveGrid’s Application Builder as the model for how to cure what ails today’s traditional apps development woes. The ActiveGrid Applications Builder marries procedural and declarative coding help devs apply caching and asynchronous communications to applications as properties – not hard-coded attributes.

The tool provides an Open Source visual development environment, which marries XML and Python technologies to enable devs to graphically and iteratively create, test, debug and even deploy apps from the same environment. The tool also provides wizards and other graphical abstractions to build apps and/or services that need to interact with other resources, and integrates a Web server, database, and debugger to let devs run demo apps, test, and perform iterative development against their early codesets.

A key, Yared said, to ActiveGrid’s Application Builder dual capability is the tool is based on Python (the wxPython GUI framework) for Python. Another key: Application Builder’s ability to make deployment patterns not just declarative but also adaptive. As a result, a session-replication feature, for example, can be activated selectively based on traffic or customer priorities.

Through the Python GUI, devs can build applications and/or services that will comply automatically with a variety of web services and XML data flow standards. Among the key technologies supported are: BPEL (Business Process Execution Language) to define application flow, XML Schema to represent data sources, XPath to specify queries, and XForms to define dynamic Web pages. All logic is automatically encapsulated as Web Services, which can be written in Python, PHP, Perl, or Java.

To get a more in-depth look at how LAMP and XML develop/deploy environments could improve the lot of many legacy developers, including Java/J2EE, Open Enterprise Trends spoke in-depth with Yared, who served as CTO for Sun’s application server unit prior to founding ActiveGrid.

Open Enterprise Trend Interview
with Peter Yared, CEO/Founder
ActiveGrid Inc.

OET: What does ActiveGrid’s approach grid do to push adoption of Open Source, or the LAMP stack in the enterprise?

Yared: In Open Source and with LAMP, we’re not just talking about mission-critical Linux. We’re saying there needs to be a complete develop-to-deployment framework for applications. Our idea of ‘grid” is all about developer agility. Once a developer builds an application using declarative XML schema [approaches and tools], all the code can be encapsulated as a web service. From that, the developer gets two benefits:

1. One, developers can deploy their application seamlessly across an extensible infrastructure -- from one to 100 machines. That’s because the developer is not hard-coding to a platform or cluster, so the infrastructure can adapt; and
2. Developers can change the application easily
OET: It sounds like ActiveGrid is using Open Source/LAMP to form a new apps platform to make it easier to update and even integrate legacy apps (Java, C, or even VB/ASP apps). Is that right?
Yared: What we’re doing is building a next gen application server, releasing the server and the [application] builder. Then, we’re tying together three (3) emerging trends in the enterprise: (1) an applications grid on commodity machines, (2) Open Source LAMP ,and (3) XML to make it easier for devs to build apps. For us, the key differentiator is that the development and deployment are decoupled. So, I can take a variety of enterprise backends, including commercial and Open Source software, and make a new application that ties these together

OET: So, are you saying there are a lot of CIOs and even developers out there getting J2EE fatigue?

Yared: We shift computing architectures every 5-10 years, from mainframes, to minis to client/server and to the Internet. Now, we are in the beginning of a new shift to a grid architecture. With each shift transaction volumes have increased. People are already doing all their numeric computations on the grid, and provisioning apps on the grid. The next step, which is coming now, is to do ‘transactions grids’ which can run mainstream applications on large clusters of machines. This is where ActiveGrid’s opportunity lies, in the move to what we call the ‘transaction grid’ and bringing Open Source platforms to mainstream app development and deployment.

OET: Hmm, so you don’t need Java’s platform independence?

Yared: That’s the irony. You know you’re running on Linux ‘x86, you don’t need platform portability at the language level anymore. We all spent a long time in Java to make sure developers were no longer locked into an operating system or chipset. That was what made Java successful. When it took off in 96-97-98 when it moved from the browser to the server, you weren’t locked in to Solaris or HP-UX or AIX or whatever. Linux does the same thing. So, if you know what operating system you are running on, in this case Linux, do you need layer in between? We think the answer is no. So, developers should be very comfortable running C++ again.

OET: And how does your approach change the way developers and architects work today?

Yared: The first thing to recognize is there is a shift away from running heavyweight application servers on larger machines, especially for “Greenfield” projects. The Java community is starting to grasp this. No one at the design point says they want to run on 4 8-way [CPU] servers anymore. It’s expensive, hard to build applications for, and hard to deploy. And, in the end you end up with really complicated software [because] EJBs are hard to do correctly.

OET: So, is that where ActiveGrid comes in? To offer devs a lighter-weight alternative to conventional, and complex J2EE app development?

Yared: In the future, the way to build is lightweight servers that scale horizontally. Many in the Java community, for instance, have switched away from using J2EE and are now using Spring or lately Hibernate.

With our approach, developers develop through XML schema and deploy separately and we see this as a pretty cool way to build quickly and deploy easily. So, our approach lets developers or architects take a variety of enterprise backend systems , including SAP, all sorts of J2EE EJBs from BEA or IBM and make a new app that ties all these together. You can run it locally, or deploy to an ISP or a datacenter. We will make it such so that decision can be left to IT, but all the capabilities to support that decision are pre-packaged.

OET: But today, aren’t there plenty of Java standards, and even Java standards for web services to help developers?

Yared: That’s the problem, in fact. There are too many. Today, there are Java web service standard to many different things, but there are still many different [standards]. . When you want to go to a database, you use JDBC, going to a transaction monitor, you use JTA, go to a legacy system, you use JCA. And, the web service things are even worse. We see the integration developer using XML. And, that’s it – only XML. It’s XML in and XML out. All data sources should look like a web service and represented as an XML schema. In ActiveGrid, all that done in declarative XML. All schema and the data sources are accessed in the exact same way.

OET: So, ActiveGrid’s platform approach is to make light-weight servers using Open Source/LAMP not just mission-critical, but deploy-ready?

Yared: That’s a key point, There is a shift underway that we call “traditional development cycle” versus a “services-driven” development cycle. In traditional appdev, applications get written by Java and mostly by hand, and devs have to pick out the exact server architecture they want ( and whether it will include stateless session beans, Hibernate or whatever. Then, they hand-code to that [architecture] directly. With ActiveGrid’s approach, developers can be 10X faster than J2EE, and that means changes and updates they need to do to their code can be done in much less than the year or 2 it can take today. And, we can make updates 10x less expensive than J2EE because integration and deployment costs are greatly reduced.

What’s interesting when you talk to the business people or upper management, they want to lightweight servers on commodity machines. They are seeing some pretty heavy-duty mission-critical apps using this approach, from companies like Google and E-Trade, and they want those kind of benefits from commodity hardware and software too.

OET: Is your approach that we should treat the app server like the way the Java treated the mainframe?

Yared: A lot of tools and services companies that advising to get the nirvana of SOA you have to re-architect plan where you re-service your tightly coupled assets. That’s unrealistic. You never Java-ized the mainframe; you just figured out how to get [requests for data and rules] there and back.

We know customers have J2EE applications they haven’t touched at 2 years. When they need to update their apps, they will build new ones with all those old ones, and use adaptive transactions. ActiveGrid makes it so you don’t have to call the backend all the time. You have your existing J2EE server and you open a web services ‘pipe’ into it. It will get millions of requests, so that won’t scale. To address that issue, we let you set policy – such as ‘responses from this EJB are good for 15 hours,’ and so on.

OET: Would you compare your abstraction approach to BEA Weblogic Workshop, which also uses a code generator, in conjunction with workflow abstractions?.

Yared: BEA’s approach put all that as metadata within Java files, rather than storing a BPEL file. With ActiveGrid, we give developers a graphical development environment, and the difference is now they are editing [standard-compliant code] they used to build by hand. This means whenever developers want to add code, they can.

OET: So, BEA’s approach was too proprietary?

Yared: It was exactly that. BEA’s whole value prop was ‘Use our server because it’s standard,’ and then sell their tool, which was not standard. So, they started off on the wrong foot. But among Java developers, I can tell you a lot of Java developers it takes

OET: How easy have you made it for developers not used to thinking in that way to invoke such situational features?

Yared: We’ve tried to make our ActriveGrid developers tool familiar to developers, so they can be up and running in 15 minutes. So, it looks like a PowerBuilder approach so our tool has a built-in web service, database, demos and a variety of patterns so they can begin projects using iterative development. There is a reason why people stopped using 4GLs, it was very proprietary, difficult to learn and somehow all that promised reuse never showed up.

Our tool is service-oriented from the ground-up, so when you are editing a web page flow, for example, you are automatically making a BPEL file. When you are bringing in any datasource, including SQL databases, it is internally represented as an XML schema (.xsd file), UIs are in XForm and queries are in XPath. .

OET: What type of developers are you targeting?

Yared: We’re targeting the 80% in the midriff in the corporate developer team. It’s the people who used to do COBOL, went to PowerBuilder and now may be using Java. Among the developers we’ve talked to who are working deep inside the infrastructure to build and deploy apps, they are very happy about the idea of running on a much smaller machine.

OET: You mentioned E-Trade earlier. Is that the new pattern for quick development/quick deployment? And, if so, what is it they’re doing that is getting the attention of the architects and business execs you’re talking to?

Yared: E-Trade just switched their infrastructure to use 160 commodity [Linux] machines running Tomcat, and they didn’t even buy maintenance. So, today, I think the challenge is that a lot of folks are trying to build mission-critical applications for these low-cost, light-weight [Linux] servers using the same methods and approaches they used to build applications for their heavy-weight servers, and so it’s not just the deployment [environment] that’s a cost issue. It’s also in the application development. Unless the dev changes their approach to application development for light-weight [Linux] servers, they will still face 2-year development cycles and lost of expense.

OET: That sounds simple enough. But it is always easy to figure out how granular the components of a lightweight app should be?

Yared: It is self-evident. That’s because you start to think of services the way you used to think of database calls. In a database, you would never call a database with ‘get me the first name,’ then ‘get the last name’ and then ‘get the address line 1’. Instead, you would say, ‘get me the data on this person.’

So, for developers, services are really not that unfamiliar because they are not that different from what they’ve used in the past. The real problem is that developers are coding to Hibernate. And, it’s Hibernate that says ‘get first name’ and then ‘get last name’ etc.

OET: So, what you’re saying is that Hibernate the new target devs are building to – and not building native component apps, which could be more intuitive?

Yared: That’s exactly it! Hibernate is an extension of the past, and Hibernate belongs to that yesterday column. Hibernate is a better way to do object/relational mapping, but it’s really juts band-aids. It’s dealing with development in the old way. Java developers have a huge list APIs, and now they are going to all more. It’ll make the ‘EJB stack’ look more like the yellow pages more than the whitepaper.

OET: So, how to devs escape from this growing complexity to get on the road to composite apps?

Yared: At the end of the day, there is not a single high-level tool for J2EE that is useable or clean. They are all either code generators or generate proprietary metadata, There is nothing that’s clean. So, there is no high level development tool. That means you have people hand coding to these [Java] APIs, and that limits the number of people that can build these kind of new [composite] apps.

OET: There are a lot of vendors trying to define grid, IBM for hardware and Oracle for database software. How does ActiveGrid think of the “grid”?

Yared: Grids are an infrastructure for applications – business process and applications change management. It’s not just hardware clusters or grid, like IBM will sell you a bunch of Linux machines. With an applications infrastructure grid, Amazon, for instance, can put up a new store in a month and it takes everyone else 2 years.

OET: So, it’s the design and tooling that is just as important as the underlying ‘grid’ infrastructure?
Yared: Exactly so. That is why we also did a developer toolset. We like to say that with a grid, developers can build apps rapidly, like with PowerBuilder, deploy scalability like Google, and serve with dozens of differentiations, like Starbucks does with coffee.

OET: Talk a little more about that Starbucks part of your vision?

Yared: OK. Adapt applications across a grid can be customized to meet a business need based on who an application is interacting with. . So, for example. lets say I have web order entry system. And, guess what? Just when an important customer is online, that’s when one of your servers hangs and loses the order. The customer calls your CEO and says ‘You just lost my order.” So, you as IT in trying to fix it might suggest turning on session replication, which exacts 3 times the performance hit, or suggest that the server infrastructure be scaled up. The CEO says to you: ‘Why can’t you just turn on session replication for Jim?’ or for any high-value customer. The key is that with adaptive applications, you can do different things for different people, all based on policies that can be run at runtime.

OET: What about how architects are reacting to your approach?

Yared: This is the first time that no matter what level in the org we talk to -- the CIO, the Chief Architect, the mid-level architect or even the developers who do the coding – we can offer the same exact message about simplifying development and deployment. And all these groups have given it the thumbs up.

OET: Really. No resistance?

Yared: (Laughs)> Well, they don’t all like it for the same reason. But, but they all give it the thumbs up. Everyone wants to move to large clusters of commodity machine. They all get it, and understand the value. Commodity machines running Open Source hardware are cheaper, and they also would like to do more Open Source development if they knew the rules and knew their commodity hardware can support their applications needs. And, we’re showing with our grid approach that LAMP can meet more of those needs than they originally think.

OET: And how do these developers, architects and CIOs see ActiveGrid contributing to moving from tightly-coupled to loosely-coupled ways of building – and deploying—apps?

Yared: To put it succinctly, it’s very hard to deal with loosely structured data when you have a strongly typed language. Also, every Java thing that works with a web service generates a bunch a classes. And, the minute the web service changes, even a little bit, developers have to go generate a whole new bunch of classes and re-deploy their application. The whole point of web services is that they change a lot, and people we talk to understand the need to have tools and a platform that can accommodate those changes in a cheaper and quicker manner.

OET: So what are some of the “transitional” technologies that ActiveGrid offers to get enterprise devs from Point A to Point B, or from tightly-coupled to loosely-coupled development?

Yared: We support Java. We call our environment ‘service-oriented, language neutral’. It’s actually the same message that Microsoft has [with the CLR].

OET: Speaking of .NET, what does ActiveGrid have in common with Microsoft?

Yared: What Microsoft says is if you’re doing control flow, do it in Basic. If your doing heavy computation do it in C and if you’re doing business logic do it in J++ or their Java derivative. It’s very rational, actually. And, that’s a lot like what we say. We say when you’re doing text processing or flow control do it in PHP. When you’re doing heavy computational stuff use C++.

With CLR, Microsoft lets developers call from one language to another. But, in a service-oriented world I don’t care what Salesforce.com is written in because I know I can communicate with them because they use web services technologies, like WSDLs and so on. Similarly, I don’t care what the Google or the Amazon APIs are written in because I know I will be able to communicate with them.

OET: How do your tools work, for identifying assets, as well as any new programming?

Yared: For the most part, wizards walk you through it, using the IP address, MySQL configurations, etc. And, developers build an app through flows and such. The minute you need to do code, every bit of code you do will be a service. This is straight-forward, so now you are dealing with services and tying them together. Examples might be: How do I get from this web page to another web page; or Now that I am getting data from SAP [ERP software applications] what do I need to put out.

OET: Does ActiveGrid support security?

Yared: We define a service as XML in and XML out, so when you are talking to customer that wants to do an end-to-end cert check over SSL, we are doing that based on policy at runtime. We also have plug-ins to an identity server, and let you set a policy for an individual service.

OET: How does ActiveGrid help avoid performance bottlenecks?

Yared: We do is data-caching. An example is Sabre the online travel system. Initially they only serviced travel agents. Then they bought Travelocity, and set up a transaction grid of 15 machines that would pull down their fair matrix every hour. ActiveGrid is setting up data caching patterns like that and productizing them for other users to use.

The CEO as psychopath

2005-07-08T22:54:00.000-07:00

The CEO as psychopath: "The CEO as psychopath
Egocentric, ruthless and coldblooded people are plentiful in corporate boardrooms, psychologists say."

WASHINGTON — Finally, a business magazine has asked a question on many folks' minds: "Is Your Boss a Psychopath?"

The magazine is Fast Company and its answer to that question is: Yes, your boss might very well be a psychopath. After all, many of America's legendary titans of industry exhibited symptoms of psychopathy — folks such as Henry Ford, Armand Hammer, even Walt Disney.

Psychopaths are people who are amoral, ruthless, pathologically selfish and utterly unburdened by qualms of conscience. You find a lot of these folks in prisons. You can also find them in corporate boardrooms, the magazine reports.

"I always said that if I wasn't studying psychopaths in prison, I'd do it at the stock exchange," Canadian psychologist Robert Hare told Fast Company.

Hare, 71, is one of the world's foremost experts on psychopaths. He developed the "Psychopathy Checklist," which has been used to diagnose psychopaths for 25 years, and the "P-Scan," which is widely used by police departments to screen out psychopaths among recruits. Hare sees similarities between the psychopaths he has studied — Mafia hit men and sex offenders — and the corporate crooks behind the Enron and WorldCom scandals.

"These are callous, coldblooded individuals," he says. "They don't care that you have thoughts and feelings. They have no sense of guilt or remorse."

Hare's view is supported by two studies, including the research of British psychologists Belinda Board and Katarina Fritzon, who administered personality tests to 39 high-level executives and found them to be egocentric, exploitative and lacking in empathy — in short, "successful psychopaths."

Whether this boss-as-psychopath theory is sound science is, of course, debatable. But the folks at Fast Company have taken this serious idea and run with it, producing an entertaining eight-page package that includes a goofy quiz on how to tell whether your boss is psycho and a cover portrait of C. Montgomery Burns, the beady-eyed evil capitalist from "The Simpsons" whose credo is "What good is money if it can't inspire terror in your fellow man?"

Best of all are the deliciously nasty mini-portraits of "Bosses From Hell," a category that includes many of America's most famous executives, past and present:

• Ford: "used shadowy henchmen to run 'secret police' who spied on employees … cheated on his wife with his teenage personal assistant and then had the younger woman marry his chauffeur as a cover."

• Hammer: "bribed his way through the oil business. Laundered money for Soviet spies…. Then promoted himself for the Nobel Peace Prize."

• Disney: "a dictatorial boss who underpaid his workers … made anti-Semitic smears … cooperated with Sen. Joseph McCarthy."

• "Chainsaw" Al Dunlop: "His divorce was granted on grounds of 'extreme cruelty.' That's the characteristic that endeared him to Wall Street, which applauded when he fired 11,000 workers at Scott Paper, then another 6,000 (half the labor force) at Sunbeam."

No wonder Hare has created a test to screen potential chief executives for psychopathic behavior before they're hired. "We screen police officers, teachers," he says. "Why not people who are going to handle billions of dollars?"

Well, Alan Deutschman, who wrote the Fast Company story, suggests one good reason why not: Companies would use the test not to weed out psychopaths but to hire them.

Xinhua - English

2005-07-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

Xinhua - English: "BEIJING, July 8 -- China's vice premier Huang Ju has discussed energy cooperation with the CEO of Exxon Mobil Corporation, Lee Raymond.

At a meeting Thursday in Beijing, the vice premier highly praised the cooperation between Exxon and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation.
He said China's entry into the World Trade Organization had given enterprises from China and the US more opportunities for cooperation.
He hoped that Exxon Mobil could cooperate further with Chinese energy companies.
Lee Raymond expressed his admiration for China's economic development, especially its achievements in energy.
He said his corporation is keeping a close eye on Chinese companies and hopes for further cooperation."

75% of Companies Disregard CEO Exit Plans

2005-07-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

75% of Companies Disregard CEO Exit Plans: "75% of Companies Disregard CEO Exit Plans
Friday July 8, 7:18 am ET
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Formal exit plans are integral when developing succession plans, yet only 25% of US companies consider it a major component, according to Grant Thornton's Succeeding at Succession. For example, Richard Grasso's exit as chairman from the New York Stock Exchange could have been handled more smoothly and with less controversy with proper planning, according to analysts at Cutting Edge Information.
Succession planning should permeate the corporate culture. When a company moves beyond simply thinking about a succession plan and actually begins building one, it moves ahead of the game. A recent report by Cutting Edge Information concludes that succession planning not only improves bottom line results, but also enhances operational performance and extends company continuity.
The tool Home Depot uses is called job preference process (JPP). With JPP, employees are encouraged to take charge of their own development and assessment. The company uses this technique to maintain a large pool of applicants for key positions. Home Depot has executives review the entire organization twice a year and identify key backups for each manager, director and executive.
'One of the primary ways these companies' reputations show through is in how aggressively other companies target their rising stars,' said Jason Richardson, CEO of Cutting Edge Information. 'Organizations less skilled in leadership development will pay a top price for good leaders, and they know which companies to look to for managers and executives.'
Cutting Edge Information's report, 'Succession Planning for Results,' profiles several top-notch companies that demonstrate exemplary succession planning. Among these developers of leadership are companies such as General Electric, Xerox, Boeing, Pfizer, and Bank of America.

Berkeley Daily Planet

2005-07-08T22:51:00.001-07:00

Berkeley Daily Planet: "Medical Center Looks to Texas for Next CEO By MATTHEW ARTZ
Seeking to restore stability to Alameda County�s much criticized public hospital system, hospital trustees are negotiating with Dr. Samuel Ross of Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Tex., to become the system�s next CEO.
Although a deal to hire Ross, Parkland�s senior vice president and chief medical officer, hasn�t been sealed, the two sides are in exclusive negotiations, said Alameda County Medical Center Board President Dr. Ted Rose."

The medical center includes Oakland’s Highland Hospital, which serves most of Berkeley’s trauma and emergency cases. Also in the public hospital network, required to treat the uninsured, are San Leandro’s Fairmont Hospital, John George Psychiatric Pavilion and three outpatient clinics

Last year, with the medical center facing a $50 million deficit and having fired its ninth chief executive in 11 years, county lawmakers turned over management to Nashville, Tenn.-based consultant Cambio Health Solutions.

With Cambio’s management contract set to expire on Aug. 7, the absence of a new leadership team was one of several criticisms lodged at the board of trustees in a Alameda County Grand Jury report released in May.

The grand jury also charged that the board, despite receiving $70 million from a county sales tax increase, appeared unable to balance its budget, make tough decisions on layoffs and service reductions, curtail the power of unions and reduce borrowing from the county.

“The grand jury report was bogus, a real hatchet job,” said Brad Cleveland of SEIU, Local 616.

Kay Eisenhower, the chair of pro-labor Vote Health, challenged the timing of the report, released nearly two months before the annual grand jury report. She said insiders believed the early release was timed to complicate the search for a new CEO and keep Cambio in charge of the hospital.

Eisenhower also said the grand jury foreman was a former associate of County Sheriff Charles Plummer, who, she said, first recommended the county bring in Cambio.

“It’s suspicious when last year a doctor was murdered, there was a $50 million deficit and the hospital was threatened with decertification, but the grand jury report came out as scheduled, but this year, there is a balanced budget, no threat of decertification, but the grand jury feels the need to issue its report in May,” she said.

Cleveland said that Plummer had written the grand jury a series of letters critical of the medical center and that some of the letters “looked suspiciously similar” to the grand jury report.

A case in point, he said, was the grand jury’s findings that on any day 25 percent of employees are on paid leave. He said that figure came from Cambio reports, relayed from Plummer to the grand jury, that combined vacation and sick days with medical leave.

“It was interesting that misinformation provided by Cambio was picked up by the sheriff and ended up in the grand jury report,” he said.

The trustees, preparing a formal response due to the grand jury Monday, also challenged the report.

“A lot of their information was outdated,” said Board President Dr. Ted Rose. “We knew in March we were heading towards a balanced budget.”

Last week, with the help of $70 million from the sales tax hike approved by voters in 2004, the board passed a budget with a projected net income of $253,028 without laying off workers or reducing services.

Public hospitals in the state have been hard hit by lower fees paid by Medicare and Medi-Cal and an increase in low-income residents without insurance. Rose said between 40 and 50 percent of the medical center’s patients were uninsured.

He added that the board wanted to steady the hospital’s finances through running a more efficient operation rather than cutting staff.

“The question is, how do you reduce staff without reducing services,” he said.

Rose also defended agreements with unions signed last year that gave workers 3 and 5 percent raises as necessary to retain skilled employees.

County Supervisor Keith Carson said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the medical center’s future, but cautioned that it had to make further service and billing reforms so it wouldn’t be so dependent on the sales tax increase.

“Given the depth of the challenges, they need to make structural changes,” he said. “I haven’t seen that yet.”

As far as the medical center’s preferred new leader, Ross could not be reached for comment on his possible appointment to the helm of the county hospital system. A native Texan, he has been a mainstay for the past 12 years at Parkland, best known as the facility President John F. Kennedy was rushed to after being fatally shot.

Ross has degrees in medicine and medical management from the University of Texas. When he was promoted to his current position in 2003, Parkland CEO Dr. Ron Anderson said of Ross: “His interest in community outreach, indigent health care and public health has led to increased patient volume and revenues and more than $3 million in grant programs for community clinics.”

Hartstein named president and CEO of John Hancock Funds - 2005-07-08

2005-07-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

Hartstein named president and CEO of John Hancock Funds - 2005-07-08: "Hartstein named president and CEO of John Hancock Funds
Boston Business Journal
John Hancock Funds, the mutual fund unit of Toronto's Manulife Financial Corp., has named Keith Hartstein president and CEO, replacing James Shepherdson, who is leaving to join New York-based Axa Financial Inc. "

Hartstein, who joined Hancock Funds in 1990, steps up after being executive vice president for retail sales and marketing. He takes over July 18. Axa spokesman Jeff Tolvin could not say what job Shepherdson will have at Axa when he starts in August.

Shepherdson was named president and CEO of John Hancock Funds in June 2004. He was promoted from within, replacing Maureen Ford Goldfarb, who'd run the unit since January 2000. She left the company after Manulife's (NYSE: MFC) deal for Hancock closed in April 2004.

Shepherdson signed on at Hancock in March 2003 to oversee the company's nonproprietary annuity business.

As of June 30, Hancock had $33.4 billion in assets under management.

Reuters Business Channel | Reuters.com

2005-07-08T22:48:00.000-07:00

Reuters Business Channel | Reuters.com: "UPDATE 2-Mobilcom, freenet agree 1.15 merger ratio, new CEO"

By Boris Groendahl

FRANKFURT, July 8 (Reuters) - German telecoms group mobilcom (MOBG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and its Internet offshoot freenet.de (FRNG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) agreed on a planned merger on Friday and unexpectedly picked the head of freenet to be the chief executive of the combined company.

Shareholders will receive new shares in the merged firm at a ratio equivalent to 1.15 mobilcom shares for each freenet share, freenet said in a statement. The companies have not yet said how many new shares will be issued.

Freenet Chief Executive Eckhard Spoerr will become mobilcom CEO from Sept. 1, freenet added, and he will head the combined company, which will be Germany's second-biggest provider of mobile and fixed-line phone services.

Mobilcom CEO Thorsten Grenz will leave the company by Aug. 31. He is credited with steering mobilcom out of an acrimonious row with former shareholder France Telecom (FTE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and was the driving force behind the merger, while freenet's Spoerr had been publicly sceptical of the deal.

Shares in mobilcom closed up 6 percent at 18.67 euros, while freenet closed up 5.5 percent at 21.53 euros as investors cheered a big step forward to seal the deal.

The closing prices imply a ratio of 1.15. Adjusted for the 0.35 euro dividend freenet plans to pay in August, the ratio would be 1.13, according to Reuters calculations. The exchange ratio is still subject to approval by an independent auditor.

GRENZ'S ACHIEVEMENTS

But some analysts said Grenz's departure might unsettle mobilcom's second-tier management, which had been faithful to the prim former McKinsey consultant and dismissive of Spoerr's brash management style.

"The mobile service provider business has proved its potential recently," said Bankhaus Metzler telecoms analyst Christopher Watts. "If it starts faltering now, it could undo what Grenz has achieved."

Mobilcom said in March it planned to reintegrate freenet, of which it already owns 50.4 percent, to save the combined firm hundreds of millions of euros in taxes by using mobilcom's huge tax-loss carry-forwards against freenet's profits.

Both mobilcom and freenet will hold extraordinary shareholder meetings this summer, which must approve the merger. Mobilcom's biggest shareholder, Texas Pacific Group, has already said it supports the deal.

Mobilcom's deal follows similar moves by larger rivals Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) of Germany and France Telecom (FTE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), both of which are reintegrating Internet arms they had spun off during the telecoms bubble.

Mobilcom and freenet plan a statutory merger, a German legal mechanism in which auditors set the exchange ratio. It is often used to avoid paying a costly premium to the share price.

InformationWeek > Borland CEO Resigns > Borland CEO Resigns On Preliminary Second-Quarter Results > July 8, 2005

2005-07-08T22:46:00.000-07:00

InformationWeek > Borland CEO Resigns > Borland CEO Resigns On Preliminary Second-Quarter Results > July 8, 2005: "Borland CEO Resigns On Preliminary Second-Quarter Results July 8, 2005 "

Borland Software Corp. president and CEO Dale Fuller resigned Thursday as preliminary second-quarter results for the development-tools supplier proved disappointing. He will be succeeded by Scott Arnold, currently executive VP and chief operating officer, who will serve as interim CEO.
Preliminary results for the second quarter ended June 30 show revenue in the range of $65 million to $67 million, and a net loss of 24 to 26 cents per share, Borland said. The company's previous statements indicated it would report revenue of $70 million to $73 million with a loss of 19 to 21 cents per share.

The company said results were weaker than expected, particularly in Europe, where exchange-rate issues and poor sales closure rates resulted in lower-than-expected revenue. Borland's software-deployment products, which help manage applications as they're implemented throughout a company, fell short of expected license revenue.

The company said it will report its final second-quarter results on Aug. 2.

The company's board of directors has formed an executive committee to name a permanent replacement for Fuller.

"I would like to thank Dale for his six years of service and his leadership during the initial stages of Borland's transition," board chairman William Hooper said in a prepared statement. Borland is transitioning from a language-e and development-tool vendor into what it calls a provider of application-life-cycle-management software. Fuller will stay on as a member of the board.

Hooper added, "While we are disappointed with the second-quarter results, we continue to see positive developments in demand for the company's application-life-cycle-management products. ... The board has confidence in Scott Arnold and the executive team's ability to manage the near-term challenges in the business."

Morgan Stanley CEO gives up $25 mln pay guarantee

2005-07-08T22:41:00.000-07:00

Morgan Stanley CEO gives up $25 mln pay guarantee: "Morgan Stanley CEO gives up $25 mln pay guarantee
By Jonathan Stempel
Reuters
Friday, July 8, 2005; 10:09 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - John Mack, the new chairman and chief executive officer of Morgan Stanley, on Friday told employees he will no longer accept a guaranteed minimum of $25 million a year of pay, and instead will tie his compensation to the investment bank's performance."

Mack announced his decision after he had earlier this week signed a five-year contract that linked his compensation to that received by CEOs of four big Wall Street rivals.

Under that contract, he would have received a minimum of $25 million in both 2005 and 2006 had Bear Stearns Cos.' James Cayne, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Henry Paulson, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s Richard Fuld and Merrill Lynch & Co.'s Stanley O'Neal averaged that much.

"I don't want anyone to think that I am entitled to something that others are not," Mack said in the letter. "That is why I have decided ... that I will amend my employment agreement. No guarantee. No industry benchmark."

Mack, saying he had received questions in the last day about his own compensation, added: "This business is built on trust."

Reuters obtained a copy of the letter. A spokesman for Morgan Stanley confirmed the letter's contents.

Mack, named CEO on June 30, is trying to restore morale and improve performance after his predecessor, Philip Purcell, announced his retirement under pressure from shareholders, and amid a wave of defections of senior bankers.

Last year, the four other CEOs averaged about $28.2 million in compensation, regulatory filings show. Cayne's compensation totaled $24.7 million, Paulson's $29.8 million, Fuld's $26.3 million, and O'Neal's $32 million, the filings show.

The median U.S. household salary from 2001 to 2003 was $43,527, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"It is not clear whether Morgan Stanley shareholders should be happy," said Jesse Fried, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley and executive compensation expert.

"The devil is in the details," Fried added. "Shareholders are better off when CEOs are paid $100 of equity instead of $100 of cash because equity provides better incentives. But Mack may be giving up $100 of cash for equity compensation that is worth much, much more, in which case the additional incentives may come at too high a price."

On Thursday, Morgan Stanley said it had awarded Purcell a severance package worth more than $113 million. It also said Stephen Crawford, named co-president in March, would be paid at least $16 million in each of fiscal 2005 and 2006, or receive $32 million if he were to resign within the next 30 days.

In his letter, Mack said he would not second-guess compensation and personnel decisions made by others before he joined the company.

Report: MBNA CEO's payout to top $125M - Jul. 5, 2005

2005-07-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

Report: MBNA CEO's payout to top $125M - Jul. 5, 2005: "MBNA CEO's payout to top $125M

Report: Bruce Hammonds cut perks at the credit card giant. He'll cash in when BofA deal closes.
July 5, 2005: 7:57 AM EDT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - It's been quite a topsy-turvy month for Bruce Hammonds, the chief executive of credit card giant MBNA Corp. He survived a harrowing helicopter crash in Manhattan's East River. He brokered MBNA's $35 billion sale to Bank of America Corp. and kept a job for himself as head of the combined company's credit card division.
And now, according to Tuesday's edition of The Wall Street Journal, the 57-year-old is entitled to pocket more than $125 million once the Bank of America-MBNA deal becomes official.
The bulk of the money due Hammonds is in the form of restricted stock and stock options that can be exercised in the event of a change of control, which is what will happen to MBNA (Research) once Bank of America receives the regulatory and shareholder approvals it needs to close the deal, as early as the fourth quarter of this year. "

Once complete, Bank of America (Research) will become the country's largest credit card issuer.

At first glance, the generous payout to Hammonds seems incongruous. Since taking the helm at MBNA at the end of 2003, Hammonds cut corporate perks. The Journal reported that Hammonds froze executive salaries and reduced stock awards, sold the corporate golf course, and promised a "less flamboyant" look for the company.

Turns out, Hammonds' reputation for belt-tightening and his looming $125 million payday aren't necessarily inconsistent.

Hammonds, a part of the management team that started the company in 1982, received large amounts of restricted stock at a time when he was not CEO and MBNA was known among corporate governance advocates to be overly generous with its executive compensation.

The stock grants had a 10-year vesting period and stipulated that they would vest immediately upon a change of control at the company, according to the Journal.

Hammonds held $56 million worth of restricted stock at year-end 2004, the newspaper reports. Stock options make up most of the remainder of his compensation and can be sold once the Bank of America deal becomes final.

In 2004, Hammonds earned salary and bonus of $3.5 million, down from $4.6 million the year before.

Hammonds, through a spokesman, declined the Journal's request for comment.

CareFlite Announces New President/CEO

2005-07-05T16:03:00.000-07:00

CareFlite Announces New President/CEO: "CareFlite Announces New President/CEO
Tuesday July 5, 1:01 pm ET
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas, July 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The CareFlite Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of James C. Swartz as the company's new President/CEO effective today. CareFlite's air ambulance service was established in 1979 to serve the communities of North Central Texas."

"I am very excited about having the opportunity to join the CareFlite team," Swartz said. "CareFlite is a symbol of emergent care in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and a respected community asset that so many people trust and rely upon during times of medical emergencies. I am grateful for the confidence placed in me by the board of directors to lead CareFlite into the future."

Swartz has an extensive background in the air ambulance industry and aviation operations. For the past seven years, he has been program director of Aeromed Arizona, a Tucson based fixed wing air ambulance service. During his tenure, he successfully led the program's effort to achieve CAMTS (Commission on the Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems) accreditation. He also served on the AAMS (Association of Air Medical Services) Government Relations Committee, and committees in Arizona and New Mexico, helping rewrite the air ambulance regulations in both states.

"Jim's experience and background are going to benefit CareFlite and our community," said Lillie Biggins, chairperson of the CareFlite Board of Directors and vice president of clinical operations at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital. "His knowledge and enthusiasm will play an important role in continuing CareFlite's pledge to be there for our community when minutes and experience matter."

Serving the community since 1979, CareFlite, the only nonprofit and CAMTS accredited, full service medical transportation provider in North Central Texas, provides emergency medical helicopter transport to more than 100 counties within a 150-mile radius of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and fixed wing air ambulance service nationwide. Other CareFlite programs include ground ambulance service, specialty care ground transport, 911 emergency services, continuing education programs, and a community service bicycle team.

CareFlite is sponsored by Baylor Health Care System, Methodist Health System, Texas Health Resources, JPS Health Network, Parkland Health and Hospital System, and Medical Cities of Dallas.

For more information, please call Camille Crim, director of marketing, 972-339-4217, or visit www.careflite.org .

business.iafrica.com | company news Edcon CEO pockets R7.9m

2005-07-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

business.iafrica.com | company news Edcon CEO pockets R7.9m: "Edcon CEO pockets R7.9m

Tue, 05 Jul 2005
The CEO of clothing and general goods retailer Edgars Consolidated Stores (Edcon), Steve Ross, has sold 28 000 Edcon shares for a total of R7.9-million for 'financial planning purposes', the company revealed in a statement on Tuesday.
Ross sold the shares at a price of 282.17 rand per share on Monday.
According to Edcon's 2005 Annual Report, Ross held a total of 500 000 Edcon share options as at April 2, 2005, exercisable within five years. This is down from 800 000 in 2004.
The CEO's 2005 remuneration package, comprising salary and benefits, totaled R10.36-million, a five percent rise from R9.86-million in 2004. "

USATODAY.com - CEO: Northwest may go bankrupt without labor concessions

2005-07-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

USATODAY.com - CEO: Northwest may go bankrupt without labor concessions: "CEO: Northwest may go bankrupt without labor concessions
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) � Northwest Airlines shares sank further on Tuesday, as its chief executive said the airline must get labor concessions by the end of 2005 or face the possibility of bankruptcy.
But he also said a pay cut offer by mechanics was inadequate, and flight attendants have repeated their opposition to cuts. Northwest shares sank 24 cents, or 5.4%, to close at $4.19 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. They're down from a high of $11.83 in December.
'If we are unsuccessful in realizing labor cost restructuring, we are going to have to consider the Chapter 11 bankruptcy option,' chief executive Doug Steenland said Tuesday in a speech to Minneapolis business leaders.
Steenland's comment was similar to a statement made by Northwest in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday afternoon.
Northwest has been seeking $1.1 billion in labor cost savings from its workers, and on Tuesday Steenland repeated that Northwest wants those savings by the end of 2005. In response to a follow up question, Steenland declined to say whether that meant Northwest would file for bankruptcy after the end of the year.
Northwest pilots have already taken a pay cut. The airline said it wants $176 million from mechanics. Mechanics said they've offered $143.5 million � but Northwest says it really only amounts to $87 million. And Steenland said their offer would have their pay snap back to previous levels after two years. Both sides have made strike preparations.
Flight attendants, meanwhile, have offered no concessions at all. 'The flight attendants are not in a position where they're going to give anything at this point,' Professional Flight Attendants Association vice president Jeff Gardner said after listening to Steenland's speech.

Northwest has told flight attendants it wants $148 million in savings, PFAA spokesman Peter Fiske said. But he said they have not formally exchanged pay offers.

In the SEC filing on Friday, Northwest said its "financial viability primarily depends on" labor cost cuts and a change in pension laws that would allow it to spread out payments to its underfunded pension. Northwest said current pension law would require it to pay $800 million in 2006 and $1.7 billion in 2007 to its pension.

"Failure to obtain pension funding relief will also cause the Company to consider Chapter 11," it wrote in the filing.

Not so fast, said Prudential analyst Bob McAdoo.

Strike talk is common in the airline industry, he wrote in a note to investors on Tuesday, and he believes Northwest will get labor cuts. "We would be surprised if there is any resolution to the labor issues in the very near future," he wrote.

"It is unlikely Northwest will seek bankruptcy protection anytime in the near future," he wrote. "Its labor negotiations, whether successful or not, will likely to drag on well into 2006. Its troublesome catch-up pension payments do not occur until 2006." And even if it fails on both pension reform and labor costs, more cheaper oil would probably be enough to keep Northwest out of Chapter 11, he wrote.

Oil prices have surged above $60 a barrel recently. Steenland said Northwest's costs increase by $50 million a year for every dollar increase in a barrel of oil.

Northwest is looking for other ways to make more money, Steenland said. It recently stopped giving away even pretzels on domestic flights in favor of a bag of trail mix that it sells. Steenland also noted a new fee for luggage service.

Mack scores $25 mln payday at Morgan Stanley - Financial - Financial Services - Company Announcements - Newsmakers

2005-07-05T15:55:00.000-07:00

Mack scores $25 mln payday at Morgan Stanley - Financial - Financial Services - Company Announcements - Newsmakers: "Mack is Morgan's $25 million man
Contract: CEO will not be lowest paid on the Street"

Mack, whose contract runs through 2010, will receive no less than the lowest-paid among the CEOs of Goldman Sachs, Lehman Bros. (LEH: news, chart, profile) , Bear Stearns & Co. and Merrill Lynch & Co., the filing said.

Morgan Stanley (MWD: news, chart, profile) is also giving Mack 500,000 shares of restricted stock. A fifth of those shares are vested, and another 20% will vest annually through the final year of his contract.

Under terms of the deal, Mack will also receive retirement benefits as if he had not been ousted in 2001. That year Mack lost a power struggle with Philip Purcell, the CEO he replaced last week. See full story.

Merrill's (MER: news, chart, profile) Stan O'Neal was the best-paid executive among the major Wall Street firms in 2004, earning a combined $32 million in salary, bonuses and stock compensation.

It was a year in which raises were the rage. And that included Purcell, who pocketed a 45 percent raise, which bumped him to $22 million in compensation.

Goldman Sachs (GS: news, chart, profile) chief Henry Paulson earned $29.8 million. And Lehman Bros. chief Richard Fuld earned $26.3 million.

The exception was at Bear Stearns (BSC: news, chart, profile) , where chairman and CEO James Cayne received $24.7 million in salary, stock options and bonuses, down from the $27 million he earned in 2003. Bear Stearns' profit rose nearly 15 percent during the year.

Thomas Cook CEO says in talks to sell Aldiana - Forbes.com

2005-07-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

Thomas Cook CEO says in talks to sell Aldiana - Forbes.com: "Thomas Cook CEO says in talks to sell Aldiana
07.05.2005, 04:52 AM

FRANKFURT (AFX) - Thomas Cook AG's chief executive Wolfgang Beeser told Focus Money magazine that the company is in talks to sell its loss-making holiday resort operator Aldiana.

'Yes, there are (talks),' the CEO told the magazine, but added that a final decision yet to be taken.

'We are examining all options, and this includes keeping Aldiana (as part of Thomas Cook),' he said.

Beeser rejected speculation that Thomas Cook is to sell its loss-making French operations, pointing out that the company has gone to great lengths to improve the business.

'We have the French operations under control,' he told the magazine.

A spokesman for Thomas Cook, which is a 50-50 joint venture between Deutsche Lufthansa AG and KarstadtQuelle AG, said in May that the company was examining various options to divest Aldiana, including a possible sale. "

Etihad appoints new CEO | Travel and Aviation

2005-07-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

Etihad appoints new CEO | Travel and Aviation: "Etihad appoints new CEO
United Arab Emirates: Tuesday, July 05 - 2005 at 16:26
Etihad Airways has appointed Robert W Strodel as its new chief executive officer. Born in Austria, Strodel was founder and managing director of Lufthansa Cargo India in 1996 until starting his own global aviation consulting services in Germany in 2001. He comes to the role after heading Etihad's cargo and mail divisions."

Oragenics Names Zahradnik Acting CEO - Forbes.com

2005-07-05T15:46:00.000-07:00

Oragenics Names Zahradnik Acting CEO - Forbes.com: "Oragenics Names Zahradnik Acting CEO
07.05.2005, 05:54 PM

Biotechnology company Oragenics Inc. on Tuesday named Robert T. Zahradnik as acting president and chief executive to replace Mento A. Soponis, who has retired from the post.

Zahradnik, a co-founder and director of Oragenics, will fill the position while the company searches for a permanent replacement. Before joining Oragenics in 1996, Zahradnik worked for Johnson & Johnson in various research and development positions.

Oragenics said Soponis will remain a member of the board.

The company's primary product is a special oral rinse used to prevent tooth decay. Oragenics shares closed 3 cents lower to $1.82 on the American Stock Exchange. "

Toys R Us CEO, COO to Resign After Sale Closes

2005-06-23T00:04:00.000-07:00

Toys R Us CEO, COO to Resign After Sale Closes: "Toys R Us CEO, COO to Resign After Sale Closes
John Eyler and Christopher Kay will step down as soon as the retailer goes private.

From Reuters

NEW YORK � Toys R Us Inc. on Tuesday said Chairman and Chief Executive John Eyler and Chief Operating Officer Christopher Kay had resigned from the retailer, which is being bought by an investment group.

The company said the resignations would go into effect as soon as the company went private. "

Toys R Us in March accepted a $6.6-billion takeover offer by private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Bain Capital and real estate group Vornado Realty Trust. Toys R Us shareholders are scheduled to vote on the agreement Thursday, and the deal is expected to close in July.

Richard Markee, Toys R Us vice chairman and president of Babies R Us, will act as interim CEO while the company searches for Eyler's successor, the retailer said. Markee has also served as president of the company's U.S. toy stores.

Eyler joined the company as president and CEO in January 2000 after running upscale toy retailer FAO Schwarz for several years.

One of Eyler's challenges was to balance Toys R Us' low-price crusade with a campaign to make consumers see toys — and toy shopping — as "special" instead of a commodity.

During his tenure, Eyler was instrumental in developing Toys R Us' experimental Geoffrey store format, which combines toys, baby products and clothing under one roof. He also oversaw the company's move into grocery stores and its strong growth internationally as well as at the Babies R Us and online units.

Shares of Toys R Us fell 6 cents, or 0.2%, to $26.36.

Ameritrade acquiring TD online unit - Financial - Banks - Financial Services - M&A

2005-06-23T00:02:00.000-07:00

Ameritrade acquiring TD online unit - Financial - Banks - Financial Services - M&A: "Ameritrade acquiring TD unit
Ameritrade CEO to head up combined firm"

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Online broker Ameritrade said Wednesday it's buying Toronto Dominion's U.S. online unit in a deal valued close to $3 billion in cash and stock that will give TD a large stake in the combined company.

The deal, which will immediately boost earnings and save the combined company hundreds of millions of dollars, had been widely expected as excess capacity, falling commissions and the need to build assets in order to generate fees drive consolidation in the industry.

Ameritrade (AMTD: news, chart, profile) shares ended the day up $3.05, or almost 21%, at $17.87. The stock added another 14 cents in after-hours trade.

Executives from both companies said in a conference call with analysts and investors, said the deal will create a company that offers services to customers seeking only the basic online service to the more costly "hand holding" service offered through a combined branch network of advisers.

"Building our own branch system is one thing," said Ameritrade Chief Executive Joe Moglia said. "Inheriting one is another."

Moglia and Toronto-Dominion Bank Chief Executive Ed Clark also hinted that the combined company would be ready to pounce on an acquisition.

E-Trade Financial Corp. (ET: news, chart, profile) which made an unsolicited bid for TD Waterhouse amid the talks, may be a target. With a $5 billion value in the market, E-Trade will be about half the size of TD Ameritrade, the combined company.

"Don't assume consolidation is over," Moglia said.

In exchange for the U.S. brokerage business of TD Waterhouse U.S.A., TD Bank Financial Group (TD: news, chart, profile) will receive about 32% ownership in TD Ameritrade.

Ameritrade shareholders will receive a special cash dividend of $6 a share, to be funded with additional Ameritrade debt, excess cash and from capital contributed to TD Waterhouse U.S.A. by TD Bank Financial Group prior to closing.

Also as part of the deal, TD Bank Financial Group will buy Ameritrade's Canadian brokerage operations for $60 million cash.

Ameritrade CEO Joe Moglia will run the combined company.

Fox-Pitt Kelton analyst David Trone lauded the Ameritrade/ TD Waterhouse combination.

"For Ameritrade, it looks like the company has chosen a merger with TD Waterhouse that has superior strategic benefits, in the form of diversifying the business away from active traders and into the investor space, at the expense of fewer cost synergies," Trone said in a note to clients.

Speculation about the deal for Ameritrade to buy the online brokerage unit of Toronto Dominion has been swirling around the market for weeks, amid a confirmed bid by E-Trade (ET: news, chart, profile) to buy Ameritrade.

Some analysts had suggested that a takeover by E-Trade would make more sense for Ameritrade from a purely financial standpoint than a deal with TD Waterhouse, but Ameritrade has resisted any plans to surrender control of its business.

An E-Trade spokeswoman declined to comment.

In early trading, Ameritrade had climbed by more than 5% as investors thought the company could be in play. However that sentiment faded by the afternoon.

"An E-Trade/Ameritrade combination would have created a company with large cost synergies, but represented a 'doubling down' in the active trader space," Trone said.

The deal comes as brokers face price cuts, slack investor interest in the stock market and lower commissions threaten margins.

Jaret Seiberg, a financial services analyst with the Stanford Washington Research Group, predicted that a deal would pass regulatory muster but that the Justice Department may ask the companies for extra information. Ameritrade and TD Waterhouse would corner a combined 42% of the online brokerage market, Seiberg said.

Scott Talbott, vice president of government affairs at the Financial Services Roundtable, said the deal should be good for consumers and that buyouts and mergers are a normal part of the business.

"It's a relatively new industry, so you're going to see expansion and contraction," Talbott said in an interview.

Federal regulators will have to approve the acquisition. A Justice Department spokeswoman had no comment. A new entity would have to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but the SEC would not get involved in approving or rejecting a merger like this one.

Shares of E-Trade Financial Corp. added 84 cents, or 6.5%, to close at $13.75. Toronto-Dominion shares rose 54 cents, or 1.2%, to $44.15.

News from PC Magazine: Google's CEO Confirms Work on Online Payment Service

2005-06-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

News from PC Magazine: Google's CEO Confirms Work on Online Payment Service: "Google CEO Confirms Work on Online Payment Service
06.21.05

By Matt Hicks
Google's top executive confirmed on Tuesday that the company is planning to expand into broader online payment services but said it will not compete with a PayPal-like service.
In a company-issued statement, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said the company does not plan to offer what he called a 'person-to-person stored-value payments system.'"

One of the main features of PayPal, a division of eBay Inc., is the ability for consumers to store balances in order to make e-commerce payments.

Following a story by the Wall Street Journal published on Friday, speculation ran rampant about Google offering a PayPal competitor.

Instead, Schmidt said that Google is looking to expand its current online payment services, which is largely used to handle payments from advertisers and to Web publishers in Google's popular online advertising programs.

Schmidt stopped short of offering details about Google's next online payment plans or when the Mountain View, Calif., company will introduce a broader service.

"The payment services we are working on are a natural evolution of Google's existing online products and advertising programs, which today connect millions of consumers and advertisers," Schmidt said in the statement. "We are building products in the area to solve new problems in e-commerce."

Google earlier this year disclosed plans to handle more e-commerce transactions, specifically for its video-search service.

When Google launched its video submission program in April, Jennifer Feikin, director of Google Video, told Ziff Davis Internet News that that the company would let content owners charge a fee for video playback on Google. Google would then earn a small revenue share from video playback fees.

Google also has moved into digitizing books and other print content through its Google Print program. Though officials have not said whether Google will offer paid access to those copyrighted works, it could be another area ripe for online payments.

M&T Bank's Wilmers Steps Down As CEO - Forbes.com

2005-06-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

M&T Bank's Wilmers Steps Down As CEO - Forbes.com: "M&T Bank's Wilmers Steps Down As CEO
06.22.2005, 09:58 AM

M&T Bank Corp. said Wednesday that Robert G. Wilmers has stepped down as president and chief executive officer, though he will remain chairman of the financial company.

The firm appointed company insider Robert E. Sadler Jr. to succeed Wilmers and also named him the CEO of its company's main banking unit, M&T Bank. Wilmers will take over Sadler's role as chairman of that business.

The 71-year-old Wilmers had been chairman, president and CEO since 1983. Sadler, 60, had been chairman of the M&T bank unit since 2003 and president of the business from 1996 to 2003.

M&T shares rose 74 cents to $107.14 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. "

C&D Technologies Appoints Graves CEO - Forbes.com

2005-06-22T23:59:00.001-07:00

C&D Technologies Appoints Graves CEO - Forbes.com: "C&D Technologies Appoints Graves CEO
06.22.2005, 06:34 PM

C&D Technologies Inc. said Wednesday that it named Jeffrey Graves president and chief executive to replace George MacKenzie, effective July 5.

MacKenzie, a director, had served in both roles on an interim basis since the March 24 resignation of former president and CEO Wade H. Roberts Jr.

Graves, 44, previously served as CEO of Kemet Electronics Corp., a manufacturer of capacitor technologies. Before that, Graves worked in various management positions at General Electric Co., Rockwell International Corp. and Howmet Corp.

Prior to Roberts' departure, the company fell to a third-quarter loss of $7.4 million, or 29 cents per share, down from profit of $4.2 million, or 16 cents per share, a year earlier. C&D also posted losses in its subsequent fourth and first quarters.

As the new head of the company, C&D said Graves will focus on top-line growth, acquisition integration and production improvement.

The company's shares closed up 18 cents, or 2.3 percent, at $8.19 on the New York Stock Exchange. "

Sony OKs firm's first foreign CEO - 06/23/05

2005-06-22T23:59:00.000-07:00

Sony OKs firm's first foreign CEO - 06/23/05: "Sony OKs firm's first foreign CEO
Welsh-born chief hopes to turn around a company that has lost more than half its stock value in five years."

TOKYO -- Sony shareholders on Wednesday approved Howard Stringer, the Welsh-born head of the company's entertainment arm, as its new chief executive, making him the first foreigner to head the Japanese electronics, music and movie conglomerate.

Stringer, 63, a dual British-U.S. national, has helped turn Sony Corp.'s music and movie business into one of its few bright spots in recent years. He replaces Nobuyuki Idei, who led the Tokyo-based company for a decade.

The vote came at a shareholders meeting in Tokyo, packed with more than 6,000 people at a Tokyo hotel.

During the two-hour meeting, Stringer, Idei and other executives were questioned by investors about how Sony planned a comeback at a time when its stock price has plunged to less than half of what it was five years ago.

Stringer reassured investors that he planned to engineer Sony's revival and work to deliver global stature to the company even though he may be a foreigner.

"I am first and foremost a Sony warrior," he said. "This is our destiny, and this is our responsibility."

Stringer faces an enormous challenge in turning around Sony, which has been hit with losses in its consumer electronics business amid competition from cheaper Asian rivals. It has been weighed down with restructuring costs while getting beaten in key growing sectors, such as portable music players such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod.

America West�s CEO faces test in takeover - Aviation - MSNBC.com

2005-06-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

America West�s CEO faces test in takeover - Aviation - MSNBC.com: "America West�s CEO
faces test in takeover
Doug Parker plots survival of
airline in US Airways merger
After securing a $429 million government bailout loan that probably saved America West airlines from bankruptcy, CEO Doug Parker has succeeded in improving worker morale and changing the airline's reputation as a carrier that delays flights, loses luggage and leaves customers waiting."

TEMPE, Ariz. - Eleven days after taking over as chief executive of America West Airlines in September 2001, Doug Parker had to abruptly shift his focus from improving the carrier’s poor reputation among customers to fighting for its survival.

The night before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Parker and his new management team celebrated their plans for the carrier over drinks, only to wake up the next day to find that the already ailing airline industry had sunk into deeper turmoil.

After securing a $429 million government bailout loan that probably saved America West from bankruptcy, Parker succeeded in improving worker morale and changing the Tempe-based airline’s reputation as a carrier that delays flights, loses luggage and leaves customers waiting.

Now, the 43-year-old Parker will be tested by America West’s plan to take over Arlington, Va.-based US Airways and stitch together two geographically distinct airlines into one designed to better compete with lower-cost rivals. Analysts say Parker will face difficulties combining the two carriers’ work forces and capturing an estimated $600 million in savings from the merger.

Even though America West is the acquirer, the US Airways name will survive and be used when the nation’s seventh- and eighth-largest carriers are combined to create the No. 6 airline. Two trips through bankruptcy court reorganizations apparently were not enough to tarnish the more recognizable US Airways name.

“We will leapfrog ourselves from one of these airlines that’s doing OK but still struggling to one that is well positioned for the future and has the critical mass, I think, to be around forever,” said the gravelly voiced Parker, who will serve as chief executive of the combined company.

Under Parker’s leadership, America West cut costs and overhauled prices, but perhaps his biggest accomplishment was repairing employee morale, which suffered under his predecessor, William Franke.

Many attribute his success to his low-key, genuine manner. Parker has a reputation for candor, chatting up crews while on flights and eating lunch with pilots in between training sessions at the company’s headquarters.

“He is in private what he is in public,” said Bill McGlashen, president of the America West Association of Flight Attendants. “There isn’t a persona change.”

McGlashen noted that before America West got the first airline bailout loan following the terrorist attacks, Parker told federal officials he could not ask his employees for concessions and got them instead from vendors.

Some of Parker’s favorable reputation with employees may be due to having worked at unionized airlines before, noted McGlashen.

After receiving his MBA from Vanderbilt University in 1986, Parker worked in a series of management positions at American Airlines before moving to Northwest Airlines in 1991. He spent four years at Northwest as vice president and assistant treasurer and as vice president of financial planning and analysis before he joined America West in 1995 as chief financial officer.

Jim Bradford, dean of Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management and a friend of Parker’s, said Parker has a disarming, everyman quality that appeals to employees at all levels.

“He is not a CEO with an entourage and an ego to match,” said Bradford.

Kris Garrett, whose sons attend school with Parker’s children, said Parker works hard to be inconspicuous at his boys’ baseball games. “I see him trudging through the dirt, carrying batting equipment,” said Garrett, regional CEO for JP Morgan Chase. Parker and his wife, Gwen, have three children — two boys and a girl — ages five to 10 years old.

Parker takes his kids to a homeless shelter once a month to celebrate the birthdays of children who live there. He was disappointed when he missed one of the parties because he was busy working on the US Airways acquisition, Garrett said.

Parker’s people skills will be needed when confronting the challenge of combining 24,000 US Airways employees with America West’s 14,000. Executives from both airlines said they hope to remove an unspecified number of jobs from the combined company through attrition.

Some America West workers worry they might end up with less flexible work schedules, because employees of the older US Airways would water down the seniority pool. “That will challenge every one of his skills,” said Ray Neidl, an airline analyst for Calyon Securities.

Parker himself is blunt when discussing America West’s past operational problems.

America West had reached a low point about a year before he took over as CEO. A computer glitch led to the cancellation of 160 flights and left 1,000 passengers stranded. That prompted a plan to improve customer service and aircraft maintenance.

“We had done a disservice to ourselves by not running a good airline,” Parker said. “That perception was still there even in 2001, even though we had been running a good airline for six, nine months as of when I took over.”

Franke, who hired Parker from Northwest Airlines in 1995 and helped groom him to run America West, said his successor’s nature is forthright.

“If you don’t self-confess to the problem, you are never going to come to grips with getting it right,” said Franke, who now runs a private equity firm.

It’s important that Parker fixed the airline’s operational problems, because he couldn’t integrate both work forces while trying to overcome customer service difficulties, said Andrew Inkpen, a professor of management at Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management in suburban Phoenix.

Parker turned a demoralized airline into a marginally profitable carrier, Inkpen noted. “In this industry, that’s saying something,” he said.

Still, Inkpen is skeptical of the prospects for succeeding after the takeover. He questioned whether the combined company will be able to capture the savings expected.

Parker said critics of the merger haven’t seen all details, which were enough to raise $500 million in equity and another $650 million from partners. Savings will come from stable labor costs and from taking 59 planes out of the combined airline’s fleet, he said.

If the deal happens, America West shareholders will own 45 percent of the combined carrier. The new investors will have a 41 percent stake. And U.S. Airways creditors will own 14 percent. Existing US Airways shareholders are the big losers: their shares will be worthless.

Michael Roach, a co-founder of America West who now works as an airline consultant, said Parker is setting out to create a new future for the company, rather than having to react later to changes in the industry.

“I think he and his team are by far the best team that America West has had,” Roach said.

High-living CEO stole from Tyco, jury finds - Corporate Scandals - MSNBC.com

2005-06-17T19:27:00.000-07:00

High-living CEO stole from Tyco, jury finds - Corporate Scandals - MSNBC.com: "High-living CEO stole from Tyco, jury finds
Kozlowski, former finance chief face 30 years if appeals fail"

NEW YORK - In the wave of prosecutions against business executives that followed the boom of the late 1990s, L. Dennis Kozlowski came to be portrayed as the poster child for corporate excess.

The former Tyco CEO’s first trial last year was a parade of eye-popping largesse: an $18 million Manhattan apartment, a $6,000 shower curtain and an infamous $2 million party on the island of Sardinia in the Mediterranean.

Prosecutors said Kozlowski financed the lavish lifestyle with money he pillaged from Tyco — and on Friday, a jury convicted him and another executive of looting the company of $600 million.

Kozlowski and former Tyco finance chief Mark H. Swartz are the latest former executives to be convicted or to plead guilty in the government’s crackdown on white-collar crime, following Martha Stewart, WorldCom’s Bernard Ebbers and a host of others.

The convictions came after 11 days of jury deliberations — and more than a year after the pair’s first trial reached its bizarre conclusion.

That trial ended in a mistrial after a juror whose name was reported by some media outlets — some news organizations said she made an “OK” signal to the defense team — said she received threats.

For the second trial, state prosecutors pared back their emphasis on Kozlowski’s spending.

The men now face up to 30 years in prison — the maximum sentence under the law, prosecutors said.

“This verdict is an endorsement of the principle of equal justice under the law,” said Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. “Crimes committed in corporate offices will be treated according to the same standards as other crimes.”

Both will appeal
The pair had testified they were unaware of any wrongdoing when they accepted enormous corporate bonuses and hefty loans that were later forgiven by Tyco. Both indicated they would appeal.

“We are disappointed, and we will deal with this on appeal,” said Swartz’s attorney, Charles Stillman. Kozlowksi’s attorney, Stephen Kaufman, told reporters outside the courthouse, “We’re very disappointed by this verdict.”

Kozlowski and Swartz both left the courthouse through a back door, climbed into waiting cars and fled without speaking to reporters.

Although prosecutors called for the pair to be jailed pending sentencing, both remained free on $10 million bail apiece. Their dejected wives sat in the courtroom, their heads hanging, as the jury foreman intoned guilty verdict after guilty verdict against the pair — 22 for each.

Kozlowski and Swartz, who were each acquitted of just a single charge, were due back in court Aug. 2 for a presentencing hearing.

The defendants were accused of enriching themselves by nearly $600 million by taking unauthorized pay and bonuses, abusing loan programs and selling their company stock at inflated prices after lying about Tyco’s finances.

Often, prosecutors said, the defendants hid their alleged thefts by failing to disclose the bonuses and forgiven loans in company declarations and federal filings, and bought the silence of underlings with outsized compensation.

Both used Tyco’s money to fund extravagant lifestyles of fancy art, jewelry and real estate, prosecutors said — particularly the gaudy $2 million party Kozlowski threw for his wife Karen’s 40th birthday on Sardinia. Tyco paid about half the party’s cost.

Just 'not thinking'
Lawyers for Kozlowski, with Tyco from 1975 until 2002, and Swartz, who joined Tyco in 1991 and left in 2002, said the executives believed they were acting lawfully when they accepted compensation and loan forgiveness or spent Tyco’s money. There was no criminal intent by either man, they said, and therefore there were no crimes.

A major difference in the second trial was four days of testimony by Kozlowski, who did not testify in the first. He told the jury he never abused Tyco loan programs or received a bonus to which he was not entitled, and that he never stole anything.

Kozlowski, asked by defense attorney Kaufman why a $25 million bonus he received from the company never appeared on his 1999 tax return, said he could not explain why.

“I just was not thinking when I signed my tax return that I had a $25 million loan forgiveness,” Kozlowski said. “Year in and year out at Tyco, my tax returns for the most part had been correct. I didn’t pick up on it.”

Swartz’ lead lawyer, Stillman, offered his closing argument’s theme as a slogan for jurors to deliberate by: “No criminal intent means no crime.”

Prosecutors called Kozlowski’s explanation for this omission and for other actions by him and Swartz “ludicrous,” and “despicable.”

Vincent Bollore says has met with Havas CEO Pouzilhac; board mtg June 21 UPDATE - Forbes.com

2005-06-16T09:58:00.000-07:00

Vincent Bollore says has met with Havas CEO Pouzilhac; board mtg June 21 UPDATE - Forbes.com: "AFX News Limited
Vincent Bollore says has met with Havas CEO Pouzilhac; board mtg June 21 UPDATE
06.16.2005, 08:48 AM

(updates with details of conversation between Pouzilhac and Bollore)

PARIS (AFX) - Vincent Bollore said he met with Havas CEO Alain de Pouzilhac today and that the group will hold its first board meeting since's Bollore's arrival on Tuesday.

Bollore told Agence-France Presse in a written deposition that 'changes to the managerial situation at Havas were brought up' in the course of the meeting.

'Alain de Pouzilhac and Vincent Bollore went over the various possible scenarios (and) both made clear their wish for Havas to move forward in a calm ambience,' the deposition read.

Pouzilhac's pledge to remain as CEO despite Bollore Group's success in capturing four board seats against his will led Bollore to say he was 'a bit surprised'.

At today's meeting, Bollore said he 'indicated that as soon as a clear, positive and common position has been decided', he is in favour of introducing a stock options package for Havas managers.

paris@afxnews.com

mrg/har "

Mark Lucas, CEO of Altec Lansing Technologies, Named Finalist For Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 Award

2005-06-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

Mark Lucas, CEO of Altec Lansing Technologies, Named Finalist For Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 Award: "June 16, 2005 09:00 AM US Eastern Timezone

Mark Lucas, CEO of Altec Lansing Technologies, Named Finalist For Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 Award

MILFORD, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 2005--Mark E. Lucas, CEO of Altec Lansing Technologies, has been named a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year(R) 2005 Awards in the contest region covering greater Philadelphia, central Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. Lucas was selected from 75 regional nominations by a panel of independent judges comprised of area leaders from business, academic, and civic organizations. Finalists will be selected in one of eight award categories announced at an awards banquet this evening at the Philadelphia Marriott Hotel.

Under Lucas' leadership, Altec Lansing has become the market's leading supplier of powered and portable speaker systems for today's consumer electronics. His most recognized accomplishment at the 1,500-employee company was to engineer a comprehensive shift in Altec Lansing's business model from selling speaker systems to computer manufacturers toward the current model of selling products directly to the consumer through retail channels. The result has been dramatic and sustained company growth as well as carefully crafted global expansion.
Lucas has also led the introduction of the inMotion(TM) brand of portable audio products, including the market's best-selling portable speaker for the Apple iPod; launched a variety of new computer and home entertainment sound systems; and relaunched the company's Professional Division.
Regional winners will be eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 national program. Winners in several national categories, as well as the overall national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, Calif. in November 2005.

About The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year(R) Program

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year Program was created and is produced by professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP. As the first award of its kind, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic and growing businesses. The program honors entrepreneurs through regional, national and global award programs in over 100 cities and 35 countries.

About Ernst & Young

Ernst & Young, a global leader in professional services, is committed to restoring the public's trust in professional services firms and in the quality of financial reporting. Its 100,000 people in more than 140 countries around the globe pursue the highest levels of integrity, quality, and professionalism to provide clients with solutions based on financial, transactional, and risk-management knowledge in Ernst & Young's core services of Audit, Tax, and Transaction Advisory Services. Ernst & Young practices also provide legal services in some parts of the world where permitted. Further information about Ernst & Young and its approach to a variety of business issues can be found at www.ey.com/perspectives. Ernst & Young refers to all the members of the global Ernst & Young organization.

About Altec Lansing Technologies, Inc.

Altec Lansing Technologies, Inc., has a rich legacy of blending art and science to stir the soul with high quality consumer and professional speaker systems. The market leader in Powered Audio(TM) Systems, Altec Lansing designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of computer and home entertainment sound systems and a line of headsets and headphones. The company's Professional division, re-launched in 2002, builds on the storied Altec Lansing name among sound system specifiers, contractors and installers in the fixed installation market. Headquartered in Milford, PA USA and privately held, Altec Lansing also has offices in Oklahoma City OK, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong. In addition, Altec Lansing has an ISO 9002 and SA8000 certified manufacturing facility in The People's Republic of China. The company employs about 1,500 people worldwide.

Arizona Technology Council President and CEO Todd Bankofier Takes Executive Post at Arizona-Based Technology Services Company

2005-06-16T09:54:00.000-07:00

Arizona Technology Council President and CEO Todd Bankofier Takes Executive Post at Arizona-Based Technology Services Company: "June 16, 2005 09:01 AM US Eastern Timezone

Arizona Technology Council President and CEO Todd Bankofier Takes Executive Post at Arizona-Based Technology Services Company

TEMPE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 2005--
Joins Ensynch as Vice President and General Manager, Arizona; Pledges to Ensure a Successful Transition and Continued Involvement in Council

The Arizona Technology Council, Arizona's leading technology membership-based association, today announced that President and CEO Todd Bankofier will be stepping down from his position effective Aug. 26, 2005. Bankofier will be moving to the position of vice president and general manager, Arizona for Tempe-based information technology services and solutions consulting company, Ensynch Inc. The recruiting firm, DHR International, will begin immediately conducting a search for Bankofier's successor.
'I am so very proud of the accomplishments of this Technology Council,' said Bankofier. 'In these competitive and critical times, Arizona's community of business leaders and policymakers have come to work together as a united front and it's been my pleasure to represent their interests. I will always be grateful for the great privilege the board of directors has given me to lead this organization.'
'Todd has done an exceptional job leading this organization,' said Paul Johnson, Arizona Technology Council chairman. 'When first taking the position, at a time when the future of the organization was uncertain due to the passing of the previous CEO, Todd rose to the challenge and built a Council that is unmatched, and has been success at becoming the voice for technology in Arizona. His impact has affected the state and its future in profound ways."

Added Johnson, "It will be my recommendation that Todd become the nominee for the next chairman of the board of the Technology Council upon completion of my term in September. This would create a strong transition plan for the Council and its future plans." The board of directors of the Technology Council will need to approve the appointment at an upcoming board meeting.

"We have built a well-respected and talented organization with a mission vital to the state's future," said Bankofier. "I am strongly committed to the work of the Council and will continue my involvement in the Council after my departure."

Under Bankofier's leadership the Council became the definitive voice in technology for the state; nearly tripled its membership; raised awareness to the needs of the technology community; launched TechConnect magazine, Arizona's first statewide science and technology publication; built collaborative agreements with many of the state's like-minded organizations like the High Tech Industry Cluster, the Southern Arizona Technology Council, the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, the Arizona Department of Commerce, and the Arizona Bio-Industry Association and successfully lobbied for key pieces of legislation directly impacting the tech community, including the recently enacted Angel Investment Tax Credit.

Bankofier is currently serving as a member of the Governor's Council on Innovation and Technology. Prior to his role at the Arizona Technology Council, he served as the VP of national sales for XO Communications and as the senior vice president of the Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, where he oversaw all economic development and public policy initiatives.

About The Arizona Technology Council

Since its inception in 2002, the Arizona Technology Council has stood as the largest association of technology companies in Arizona, whose shared vision is for the state to be recognized as a top-tier center for technology-based businesses. The Council works to carry out this vision by driving partnerships, policies and programs that advance the business climate for Arizona's technology community and by representing, supporting and advocating for member companies through initiatives, advocacy, networking and effective communications. The Arizona Technology Council represents 35,000-plus employees at more than 475 of the leading technology and service companies across Arizona. Represented industries include advanced manufacturing, aerospace, biotechnology, e-learning, environmental technology, software, Internet applications, semiconductors, and telecommunications. For more information, visit http://www.aztechcouncil.org.

CRN | Breaking News | Intel CEO Expects 'Very Seasonal' Chip Demand

2005-06-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

CRN | Breaking News | Intel CEO Expects 'Very Seasonal' Chip Demand: "Intel CEO Expects 'Very Seasonal' Chip Demand"

SEOUL, South Korea -- Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini said Thursday he expects "very seasonal" second-half demand for computer chips, suggesting end-of-year purchases of personal computers and other electronic devices utilizing the key component won't falter.

"Given the growth that we've already seen in the first quarter and the guidance for the second quarter, that would imply a very seasonal second half," he said at a press conference in the South Korean capital. He didn't elaborate.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel is the world's largest semiconductor maker.

Demand for chips typically rises in last six months of the year as consumers increase purchases of personal computers and other high-tech products for academic use and during the end-of-year holiday shopping season.

Otellini assumed the twin posts in May, succeeding Craig Barrett.

Intel, a bellwether for the technology industry, last week raised its revenue forecast for the second quarter ending July 2, saying it now expects sales of $9.1 billion to $9.3 billion, above the prior expectation of $8.6 billion to $9.2 billion.

During Otellini's visit, Intel signed a memorandum of understanding with KT Corp., South Korea's largest fixed-line telephone operator, to collaborate on accelerating delivery of wireless broadband services. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage

2005-06-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "Old Mutual under no pressure for Skandia deal - CEO

Thu June 16, 2005 1:45 PM GMT+02:00
By Carmel Crimmins
LONDON (Reuters) - Old Mutual is under no pressure to buy Skandia in a possible $14 billion tie-up and takeover talks with the Swedish insurer are still at an early stage, the CEO of South Africa's largest insurer said.
'They are serious talks, but I do not want to leave the impression that it is something that we are required to do,' Jim Sutcliffe told reporters on the sidelines of a conference on Thursday.
'It's got to be at the right price. It's got to be value creating. We are not at that point yet.'
After signalling a preference to go it alone, London-listed Old Mutual surprised investors in mid-May when it announced it was in talks with Scandinavia's second-largest listed insurer, valued at around $5.5 billion.
Sutcliffe said Old Mutual, valued at around $8.5 billion, would have to raise 'some debt and some equity' to pay for Skandia and Old Mutual shares have so far fallen around 11 percent on the prospect.
Sutcliffe said Old Mutual and Skandia had similar styles of business and a merger would give them a strong reach and enable Skandia, whose reputation at home has been hit by scandals, to concentrate on regaining its domestic market share.
'The Swedish company is very similar in broad outline to our South African company. The UK is a fine operation. They have got very interesting growth prospects in continental Europe.'
Old Mutual is keen to reduce its reliance on South Africa and expand in the UK, where Skandia has a fast growing high-margin business which would complement Old Mutual's small UK mutual fund operation. The UK accounted for around 60 percent of Skandia's group profit last year.

Sutcliffe said he did not know if there would be counterbidders.

Sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters that Skandia's Swedish operations and its fast-growing UK business have attracted attention from other companies such as the Nordic region's leading bank, Nordea, and European players active in the UK, such as AXA, Aegon and Zurich Financial.

NO PRESSURE

Some Old Mutual shareholders have spoken out against a bid but analysts have warned that if the talks with Skandia fail Old Mutual's strategy and leadership would be in question and the company could itself be at risk from a takeover bid.

Sutcliffe said he did not think his position or Old Mutual's would be weakened if talks ended.

"We would just carry on as we were. Old Mutual is not made up of doing deals," Sutcliffe said, adding that the takeover talks were in line with the group's strategy.

Sutcliffe said he had decided to probe a Skandia deal after the Swedish insurer said it was considering its options.

"They fired the gun. They (gave) a press interview in December saying they were thinking about their options."

Skandia has stayed silent on the Old Mutual talks and its Chief Executive Hans-Erik Andersson has repeatedly said the company can go it alone if a bid does not emerge.

At 1130 GMT, Old Mutual shares were up 0.4 percent at 115-3/4 pence. Skandia was down nearly 1 percent at 40.30 Swedish crowns.

Enel CEO sees no antitrust problem with sale of 29.9 pct of Terna to CDP - Forbes.com

2005-06-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

Enel CEO sees no antitrust problem with sale of 29.9 pct of Terna to CDP - Forbes.com: "Enel CEO sees no antitrust problem with sale of 29.9 pct of Terna to CDP
06.16.2005, 09:56 AM

MILAN (AFX) - Enel SpA CEO Fulvio Conti said he does not see any antitrust problems with the sale by Enel of a 29.9 pct stake in Terna SpA to 70 pct state-controlled Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA (CDP).

Italy's antitrust authority is concerned about the deal because CDP owns 10 pct of Enel, and the aim of Enel's divestment of most of its remaining Terna stake is to liberalise the electricity sector.

'I don't expect antitrust problems on the authorisation of the sale to CDP of 29.9 pct in Terna,' Conti said.

The acquisition will not concentrate market power in CDP, he said.

He added that the antitrust authority is also required to clear Terna's planned merger with the state-owned grid manager, the GRTN.

Last week, Italy's antitrust authority said it has asked other electricity operators for their opinion on the Terna sale but has not opened an inquiry.

In other comments, Conti repeated that a government announcement of a public offer of a 10 pct stake in Enel is waiting for stock market regulator Consob's clearance of the offer details.

The treasury had been expected two days ago to announce the timetable for its planned sale of the stake, which reportedly will run June 27-July 1.

nt/tc "

TargetRx CEO Michael Luby to Drive Pharmaceutical Marketing & Sales Industry Discussion at June Conferences

2005-06-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

TargetRx CEO Michael Luby to Drive Pharmaceutical Marketing & Sales Industry Discussion at June Conferences: "TargetRx CEO Michael Luby to Drive Pharmaceutical Marketing & Sales Industry Discussion at June Conferences

HORSHAM, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 15, 2005--"

TargetRx, a marketing information services company that assists pharmaceutical companies in effectively selling and marketing their products, announced today that CEO Michael Luby will be a presenter at two industry events this month--Eyeforpharma's 5th Annual Marketing Congress, Marketing ROI USA, on Wednesday, June 15 at the Hilton City Avenue Hotel, Philadelphia, PA and WBR Pharma Force 2005, at the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, Baltimore, MD on Tuesday, June 21. At these conferences, Mr. Luby's presentation will be centered on innovative solutions that help pharmaceutical companies make the leap from marketing and sales quantity to quality.

Michael J. Luby is a co-founder of TargetRx, bringing more than 15 years of pharmaceutical marketing and sales experience from a variety of therapeutic areas to his role as President, CEO and Board Member of the Company. As the CEO since the Company's inception in 1999, Mr. Luby has succeeded in raising over $50 million in capital, expanding the TargetRx team to more than 100 employees, and securing clients in the majority of the top 30 pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Mr. Luby is also the lead author on TargetRx's patent-pending method of analyzing the effectiveness of marketing and sales strategies. Prior to starting TargetRx, Mr. Luby spent 10 years at Merck & Co., Inc., where he created and executed marketing strategies for both the specialty and mass markets. The concept for TargetRx was born from his dissatisfaction with the lack of insightful, predictive and actionable marketing information from external sources during his tenure at Merck.

TargetRx is the only company in the world that provides pharmaceutical companies with "attitudinal intelligence" - the "why" behind physician prescribing behavior. By tapping their highly accurate large-sample normative database of physician attitudes, which includes over 70 million physician insights across 32 therapeutic classes, TargetRx can provide their clients with the most powerful predictive insights needed to drive increased effectiveness across sales and marketing.

About TargetRx

TargetRx is a marketing information services company that delivers actionable insight to pharmaceutical companies to help them effectively sell and market their products -- improving the performance of their brands. TargetRx employs a unique database approach to capturing physician attitudes and translating the findings into highly actionable information for its clients. TargetRx has developed a highly predictive, large-sample normative database of physician attitudes that uncovers the "why" behind physician behavior. These insights provide companies with benchmarks for how a product is currently performing, rich diagnostics that identify immediate ways to improve, and powerful forecasts that accurately predict future performance. TargetRx works with the majority of the top 30 pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. For further information, visit www.targetrx.com.

Macworld UK - Apple CEO Steve Jobs Stanford University speech available in full

2005-06-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

Macworld UK - Apple CEO Steve Jobs Stanford University speech available in full: "Apple CEO Steve Jobs Stanford University speech available in full
By Jonny Evans"

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Stanford University has posted the transcript of Apple and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs' commencement speech.

The complete text offers an unrivalled glance into what drives the Apple co-founder, and its release was first noted by Apple Insider. A short video is also available.

It's a historical moment of self-revelation of utter importance to anyone who wants to understand what drives the man credited with revolutionizing computing with the first user-focused personal computer.

It's clear that following his close encounter with his own mortality, Jobs is both galvanised and determined. It seems that Jobs hopes that by sharing a little of his own inner life he will inspire others in the world to follow their inner voice and accomplish great - or simply personally rewarding - things.

Beginning his speech, he promises students "just three stories" from his life.

Join the dots

He talks about the journey of his life, which "started before I was born". He calls this "joining the dots".

In essence he's observing the clarity that appears to people when they look back and realise seemingly random decisions have led them down a particular course, or to a particular moment. The journey isn't always, "romantic", he reveals.

"I returned Coke bottles for the five cents deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple," he said, adding, "I loved it".

"You have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life," he explains.

Love is the answer

In both work and personal life he admonishes students to follow their own hearts, their own intuition, "you've got to find what you love", he said. In work, "the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work."

When at the age of thirty Jobs was fired from Apple, he went through a hard time, but looking back - or "joining the dots" - the harsh lesson was "the best thing for him", he said.

"The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life."

Jobs' many accomplishments since that time are well-recorded, and he now once again leads the company he helped create, but for Jobs, dreams, death and destiny are partners, he suggests.

Mirror in the bathroom

"For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: 'If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?' And whenever the answer has been 'No' for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something," he said.

Humans are born with limited life expectancy, so Jobs doesn't want Stanford's students to settle for anything other than that which their inner voice advises them.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life", he said, advising his audience to keep listening to that inner voice, to "have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." Perhaps with a retrospective joining of the dots in mind he observes: "They (heart and intuition) somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish"

Ending his speech - which is essential reading for anyone inspired or curious about Apple, Pixar, Next and those company's products; anyone curious about Steve Jobs, or anyone seeking insight from somebody who "thinks different", Jobs refers back to late sixties counterculture.

Sixties culture changed a lot in California. The explosion of intellectual and artistic ideas that emerged in the period reverberated globally, and Jobs learned many lessons then.

He refers to a well-respected and best-selling magazine of the time, The Whole Earth Catalog, which sold millions of copies and became the unofficial counterculture handbook, winning the National Book Award.

On its final issue, that publication printed an image on its back page, with a caption that said: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish".

He shared this phrase with his audience, and offered it as his parting wish to Stanford's graduates.

Ericsson CEO Says Mobile Broadband Is New Media Channel

2005-06-15T18:34:00.000-07:00

Ericsson CEO Says Mobile Broadband Is New Media Channel: "Ericsson CEO Says Mobile Broadband Is New Media Channel
David Utter | Staff Writer | 2005-06-15 "

Forget about cable and satellite services. The forthcoming advances in mobile broadband technology will bring a big change in content and media.

Carl-Henric Svanberg can be forgiven his enthusiasm. Speaking at Singapore's CommunicAsia 2005, Ericsson was in the wake of announcing its now-widely reported partnership with Napster for over-the-air music download services.

Ericsson provides voice mail and other services to wireless providers. The Napster product will be one more offering it can bring to its provider clients.

But Mr. Svanberg was very excited about the advanced markets in Asia, where a penetration rate of 90 percent reigns in parts of the continent for mobile services. He sees mobile music and television services driving the development of broadband mobile capabilities.

"There is a new media channel emerging to millions of consumers. Both music and television are entering handsets as the technical capability for this is developing rapidly," said Mr. Svanberg.

Another Ericsson executive acknowledged the unique characteristics of the Asian market, where it ranges from emerging to bleeding-edge in terms of mobile adoption. For the latter markets, Ericsson sees the challenge as creating new services and content to push 3G broadband deployment.

People's Daily Online -- Chinese mainland CEO to participate in business forum in HK

2005-06-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

People's Daily Online -- Chinese mainland CEO to participate in business forum in HK: "Chinese mainland CEO to participate in business forum in HK

An investment research delegation from the Chinese mainland will participate in the Forum of Global Business Strategies of Chinese CEOs, which will be held in Hong Kong on Thursday.
According to a government press release available in Hong Kong Wednesday, the delegation, led by Zhao Chuang, deputy director-general of the foreign economic co-operation department of the Ministry of Commerce, comprises 30 delegates including CEOs from prominent mainland enterprises.
The forum will foster in-depth understanding among potential mainland investors of the strategies for expanding their business,using Hong Kong as the platform to go global, the press release said.
Hong Kong's Director-General of Investment Promotion Mike Rowse was quoted as saying that mainland enterprises have become one of
Hong Kong's major sources of inward investment.
Last year, 17 percent of the investment projects facilitated by InvestHK came from mainland enterprises. The facilitation policy launched by the Ministry of Commerce last year has opened up new opportunities for more mainland investment.
Source: Xinhua"

WFTV.com - News - Disney CEO Responds To Questions Following Boy's Death

2005-06-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

WFTV.com - News - Disney CEO Responds To Questions Following Boy's Death: "Disney CEO Responds To Questions Following Boy's Death
POSTED: 3:25 pm EDT June 15, 2005
UPDATED: 3:30 pm EDT June 15, 2005
LISTEN: 9-1-1 Call From Epcot Ride (MP3 file)
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Disney's CEO talked about the 'Mission: Space' tragedy for the first time Wednesday, and Michael Eisner went on the defensive about the company's decision not to close the ride for extensive testing."

Disney World likes to bill itself as the happiest place on earth. But, because of the death at Mission: Space, Eisner says that doesn't fit right now.

"Oh, it was horrible. We feel terrible; we feel terrible for the family," Eisner said Wednesday.

Still, the ride was not closed for extensive testing. The next day it was open for business and the lines were again long Wednesday.

"I'm not there in Orlando. I am told the ride has been thoroughly checked out, as it always is. But here, it's been checked out and the decision was made to put it back in service," Eisner said.

Eisner is in New York promoting a book. WFTV Eyewitness News' questions, though, centered on the four-year-old's death, where there are still lots of questions.

"We don't really know that much. Almost 9 million people have ridden that ride before and we're just waiting to find out what happened," Eisner said.

Industry trade publications say pressure to attract guests has made theme parks spend millions to attract thrill seekers. Eisner claims that is not what they are doing.

"First of all, it's very premature to talk about this. It's not the kind of company that we are. We are a themed attraction," Eisner said.

Mission: Space was brought to Epcot to help jump-start a park that had lost some of its steam. Admittedly, they wanted something never done before.

"This is a very creative ride simulation of weightlessness, tested and worked on for years, and I think we just have to wait and see what the issues were," Eisner said.

The major theme parks do not have to have their rides checked and approved by the state or federal government. Instead, the parks have their own inspectors who must submit annual affidavits certifying they are meeting safety standards.

Questions over CEO's stock sale / HP executive got rid of NCR holdings in weeks before he left for his new job

2005-06-15T18:30:00.000-07:00

Questions over CEO's stock sale / HP executive got rid of NCR holdings in weeks before he left for his new job: "Questions over CEO's stock sale
HP executive got rid of NCR holdings in weeks before he left for his new job
Benjamin Pimentel, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 15, 2005"

Hewlett-Packard's new CEO, Mark Hurd, sold thousands of shares in NCR, his old employer, just weeks before he left the Ohio firm, prompting an inquiry from the Securities & Exchange Commission, according to a report published Tuesday by BusinessWeek Online.

HP on Tuesday vigorously defended Hurd, saying the stock trades he made before joining the computer giant were above board.

Hurd's stock trades could be considered a form of insider trading if it turns out that he knew at the time of the transactions that he was a candidate for the HP post, the online publication said.

But HP spokesman Robert Sherbin said Hurd "did not speak with anyone at HP about the position before the final (stock) transaction."

"The shares were sold before any discussion occurred with anyone at HP," he said.

BusinessWeek Online reported that the SEC had sent HP a letter in April requesting information about the sale of Hurd's NCR Corp. stock before the Palo Alto firm hired him.

Hurd was CEO of NCR before he was tapped in late March to replace Carly Fiorina, who was fired in February by the HP board. The BusinessWeek report, which cited unnamed sources, said that HP complied with the request and that the SEC has not asked for more information.

The report also said it's unclear whether the SEC is still looking into the matter, noting that while the agency routinely opens thousands of inquiries a year, only a few cases are investigated.

The SEC had no comment on the report, said spokesman John Heine.

HP also declined comment on the specifics of a possible SEC inquiry, but said that Hurd did not engage in anything illegal or improper.

"There is absolutely no question about the propriety of these transactions," said Sherbin.

Hurd sold more than 32,000 NCR shares between March 1 and 3, according to SEC records. The stock was trading at about $39 when he sold the shares, giving him roughly $1.2 million. As of March 3, Hurd owned about 215,000 NCR shares, a portion of which was restricted stock.

NCR stock dropped about 17 percent the day HP named him CEO, a sign of investors' concern about what would happen to the company after Hurd left. Hurd was widely praised for helping make NCR more competitive.

NCR shares recovered after Hurd left and closed at about $36 Tuesday. HP shares dipped 4 cents, or 0.17 percent, Tuesday to close at $23.85.

As part of Hurd's compensation package, HP agreed to reimburse him for part of his losses in the event his NCR holdings decline in value.

Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, said the issue is whether Hurd had information that the market did not when he made the sale. "In a situation where you have information that may be material, the view typically is you refrain from trading to avoid questions being raised," he said.

Track Data CEO Charged With Insider Trading

2005-06-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

Track Data CEO Charged With Insider Trading: "Track Data CEO Charged With Insider Trading

By TSC Staff
6/15/2005 3:05 PM EDT

Track Data (TRAC:Nasdaq - commentary - research) said Barry Hertz, the company's chairman and CEO, has been charged with insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
As part of a brief statement issued by Track Data, Hertz's attorneys said, 'We do not believe that Mr. Hertz violated any insider trading rules. The interpretation of those rules by the staff of the SEC in this matter has no basis under existing laws or under any reasonable extension of those laws.' "

The SEC notified Hertz in April 2004 that its staff was recommending bringing an enforcement action. Shares of Track Data, a New York-based financial services company, were up 15 cents to $2.38.

In its complaint against Hertz, the SEC alleged he violated securities laws by insider trading in Track Data stock and by tipping relatives while he had material, nonpublic information about a planned dividend for stockholders, as well as knowledge of the company's negative financial results before a public announcement of its numbers for the second and third quarters of 2003.

Technology News Article | Reuters.com

2005-06-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

Technology News Article | Reuters.com: "Philips CEO says sees no catastrophe for the year
Wed Jun 15, 2005 12:46 PM ET "

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Chief Executive of Dutch Philips Electronics (PHG.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) (PHG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Wednesday that soft consumer demand for home gadgets did not spell catastrophe.
"You should not expect a catastrophe ... There's nothing dramatic ... We're not telling you we're much more somber on the year," Gerard Kleisterlee told analysts at a presentation.

Earlier on Wednesday Philips warned consumer demand, especially in Europe, was weak in the second quarter. This would hit about half of the firm's revenues, generated in the consumer electronics and domestic appliances units.

Philips shares sank 5.6 percent to 21.27 euros as a result, as investors are concerned it will not meet its 5 to 6 percent sales growth target and operating margin goals for some units.

"The consumer retail environment in Europe is extremely poor ... There is a short-term weakness, and how that develops we will see," Kleisterlee said, pointing to Britain, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands where non-food retail spending was soft. If the weakness continues, Philips may cut spending on advertising, but for the current quarter the marketing budget remained unaffected. "We should invest anti-cyclically," he said.

Philips decided to warn after it had seen sales numbers from the past five weeks and the company's results for May, he added.

Philips is the world's biggest lighting maker, a top three hospital equipment maker, Europe's biggest consumer electronics producer and the region's number three in semiconductors.

The traditionally volatile semiconductor business was not affected, Kleisterlee said. "We have nothing to mention about semiconductors."

Light Reading - Networking the Telecom Industry

2005-06-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

Light Reading - Networking the Telecom Industry: "Virtela Names New CEO

JUNE 15, 2005

DENVER -- Virtela, a global network solutions company, today announced the appointmemt of Larry Morgan as president and CEO. Morgan also becomes a member of the company's board of directors. Vab Goel, a partner at Norwest Venture Partners who also served as Virtela's CEO, continues as chairman of the board.
Morgan assumes leadership as Virtela builds upon its exceptional growth, with a sharp focus on expanding the worldwide customer and partner base for the company's award-winning suite of managed network and security services. Deloitte & Touche has recognized Virtela as one of the fastest growing technology companies in North America, based on the company's 1709% revenue growth rate over three years and ownership of proprietary infrastrucutre technology that propelled its success. "

As President and CEO, Morgan brings more than 20 years of global telecommunications and international executive management experience. He has led highly successful corporate expansion initiatives across the U.S., Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Most recently, he has held a series of executive positions at BT Infonet, including president of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), vice president and general manager of the Asia-Pacific region and head of corporate marketing for all network services and products. Before joining Infonet, Morgan had a successful sales and marketing management career with IBM, AT&T and Sprint.

”Larry brings a wealth of industry experience and complementary strengths to Virtela, notably his proven expertise in building successful direct and indirect sales channels – both domestically and internationally – and his ability to thrive in competitive environments,” said Virtela Chairman Vab Goel. “His distinguished record, combined with his unparalleled passion and leadership abilities, puts Virtela in an excellent position to further expand our delivery of premier enterprise network and security services for customers.”

While based in the Netherlands as Infonet’s president of EMEA, Morgan was responsible for business development, sales, support and operation of products and services in the region. In that role, he significantly expanded the market share of multinationals in the company’s most competitive geographic sector. Prior to this position, Larry was based in Singapore as vice president and general manager of Infonet's Asia-Pacific region, where he achieved more than 300% revenue growth over a five year period.

”I’m excited to join Virtela and seize the incredible market opportunity before us, building upon the company’s impressive growth and industry position achieved via an innovative and proven approach to enterprise services,” said Larry Morgan. “We will maintain our technology leadership while further raising the industry bar in providing best-in-class customer service on a global basis while other providers are plagued by layoffs and distracted by M&A activities to keep themselves viable.”

Virtela Communications Inc.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Chairman: Boeing CEO short list down to 'five or six'

2005-06-15T18:17:00.000-07:00

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Chairman: Boeing CEO short list down to 'five or six': "Chairman: Boeing CEO short list down to 'five or six'
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LE BOURGET, France -- Boeing is down to a short list of 'five or six' potential new chief executives, including two internal candidates, Chairman Lew Platt said Wednesday.
Platt confirmed that the head of the commercial division, Alan Mulally, and Jim Albaugh, head of the company's space and defense business, were both on the list, and denied reports that the job had been turned down by an external candidate.
'No job offers have been made,' he told a meeting of reporters covering the Paris Air Show. 'Nobody's turned us down.' He declined to identify any of the three or four external candidates.
Chicago-based Boeing Co. is still without a permanent boss three months after CEO Harry Stonecipher was forced to resign after admitting an affair with a female executive in the middle of a high-profile drive to improve company ethics.
Platt said interim CEO James Bell had been doing an excellent job and could not be ruled out as a possible candidate, although he was 'unlikely' to be chosen and was not currently on the short list."

"He is already much more in my mind today than he was three months ago," Platt said. "He's not actively being considered as a candidate today but I've had discussions with several board members about the quality of the job James has been doing."

Bell has been with Boeing for 32 years but was appointed chief financial officer only in 2003. Platt said the ideal candidate would be someone who had led a company or major division "over some sustained period of time."

Platt dismissed suggestions that the company would not appoint a new CEO until December. "A lot of things would have to go wrong for it to take until December," he said.

The Boeing chairman also firmly denied rumors that Airbus' chief salesman, John Leahy, a U.S. national, was on the shortlist.

"He wasn't even on the long list," he said.

Business Centre - canada.com network

2005-06-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

Business Centre - canada.com network: "EnCana CEO concerned about ASC's credibility in the wake of ongoing turmoil

James Stevenson
Canadian Press"

CALGARY (CP) - The chief executive of Alberta's largest company believes ongoing turmoil at the province's securities regulator could be affecting its credibility, but is not worried that the commission has been failing to perform its market watchdog functions.

"I think it's unfortunate from a credibility point of view," EnCana president and CEO Gwyn Morgan said Wednesday at an oilpatch investment symposium in Calgary.

"I happen to believe that there's still some excellent people there doing a great job, and those are the people I worry about - when everybody gets tarred with a similar brush."

Still, Morgan is part of a powerful group of business leaders from across Canada appointed by the Ontario government earlier this month to come up with a detailed proposal for a single national regulator.

"I really believe that in order to have full credibility for large, international companies like us, we need to have a single regulator," said Morgan. "There's no other country in the world that has a situation that is as fragmented as ours.

"And that has nothing to do with the problems at the ASC, but it's just an overall observation."

The ASC, which is Canada's second largest securities regulator behind Ontario, has been dogged in recent months by high-profile allegations of interference with enforcement proceedings, harassment of staff and inappropriate conduct.

The ASC oversees most of Canada's largest energy producers like EnCana, but also watches over the activities of other major companies such as Canadian Pacific Railway and WestJet Airlines.

In the past three weeks, three senior executives at the ASC have been fired, leaving just three of eight original members who formed the commission's senior management team up until last month.

While most of Alberta's largest energy companies are regulated by the ASC, they also conform to rules laid out by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in order to trade in the U.S.

As such, the head of another large Alberta-based energy company, Nexen Inc., said he was not worried by the turmoil at the ASC.

"I think that when we look at all these issues, we feel very comfortable with our ability to meet all the regulations in all of the jurisdictions," chief executive Charlie Fischer said Wednesday.

"The ASC has been in the press more than they would like to be, but broadly I have not experienced favouritism or any of the other issues that were raised that they treat anybody differently from anybody else."

The commission is also fighting a wrongful dismissal suit filed by its former head of administrative services, Grahame Newton, who was fired in May.

Newton claims senior management at the commission sought "retribution and reprisal" against him after he was identified as a 'whistleblower' regarding certain activities at the market regulator.

The ASC has said Newton was fired from his $160,000 a year job for cause, claiming in its statement of defence that Newton led a conspiracy to permanently destroy the reputations of executive director David Linder and former chairman Stephen Sibold, whose five-year term expired in May.

The commission is also tangled in a high-profile legal dispute with Alberta's auditor general, who wants to conduct a so-called "systems audit" to delve into the commission's books and enforcement practices.

In response to various allegations, Alberta Finance Minister Shirley McClellan asked Auditor General Fred Dunn to expedite an investigation of the ASC and report his findings by July.

But that review was halted in late April when the ASC filed the court challenge.

Lawyers for the part-time commissioners argued that allowing the auditor general to conduct a sweeping review would contravene a provision of the province's securities act regarding disclosure of confidential information.

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage

2005-06-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: "CEO confidence in Canadian economy slipping

Tue June 14, 2005 1:53 PM GMT-04:00
TORONTO (Reuters) - Chief executives of small and mid-sized Canadian companies say their confidence in the economy is at its lowest point in almost two years, thanks to the effect of a minority government and last year's strengthening of the Canadian currency, a quarterly survey released on Tuesday shows.
Chief executives had a confidence level of 112.4 in the second quarter, down from 116.2 in the first quarter, according to the survey by TEC International.
That was the lowest point since a reading of 111.3 in the third quarter of 2003.
Eighty-one percent of the 100 CEOs surveyed expected economic conditions to be the same or worse over the next 12 months, although 78 percent said they expected their companies' revenues to increase."

MSN Money - Associated Press Business News: Deutsche Bank CEO Considers Takeovers

2005-06-14T21:26:00.000-07:00

MSN Money - Associated Press Business News: Deutsche Bank CEO Considers Takeovers: "Deutsche Bank CEO Considers Takeovers"

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Deutsche Bank AG is considering new acquisitions within Germany and beyond as the nation's biggest bank seeks to add more customers, chief executive Josef Ackermann said in an interview published Tuesday.
Ackermann said in an interview with the business daily Handelsblatt that Deutsche Bank was "ready to take over banks in markets in which it is already present and in new markets -- for instance in an emerging market."

His remarks came a day after Unicredito Italiano SpA unveiled the details behind its euro15.4 billion (US$18.7 billion) takeover of HVB Group AG, Germany's second-biggest bank. It would be Europe's largest cross-border banking deal and create a dominant player in the former communist east.
Ackermann said Deutsche Bank would consider acquisitions inside Germany. A move to buy the country's biggest retail bank, Deutsche Postbank AG, failed a year ago.
Ackermann said that would have been "a strategically good transaction." Asked whether there was any prospect of reviving that attempt, Ackermann replied that "you will have to ask Deutsche Post," Postbank's owner.
Deutsche Post said it had no plans to give up its majority stake in Postbank.
Ackermann said Unicredito's entrance into Germany would be helpful.
"For Germany in the long run, it is much better to have companies that can compete on a world-class basis instead of having companies that are less successful, less competitive and that run the risk of being taken over," he was quoted as saying in a separate interview with the Financial Times.
He also said that his bank was looking at expanding into China.
"You have to have a foot in the Chinese market as a global player and, if you don't do that, you may regret it deeply in five or ten years time," Ackermann said.

Globat.com Appoints Former OnResponse.com Founder & CEO to Director of Online Marketing

2005-06-14T21:23:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES, June 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Los Angeles-based Globat.com(R), theworld-leader in Performance Web Hosting(TM), today announced the appointmentof former OnResponse.com founder & CEO Scott Averbach to take over the hostingfirm's online marketing department. Averbach is responsible for all of Globat.com's online marketingfunctions, including market strategy and development; affiliate and resellermarketing; product marketing and management; and channel enablement. "Scott brings a proven track record of pioneering online marketing to ourfirm," said Globat.com's CEO Ben R. Neumann. "He has the market expertise, thebreadth of skills, the leadership, and the drive to build an effective globalmarketing program. He is a very welcome addition to our team." Before Globat.com, Averbach founded and served as President & CEO ofleading online CPA network OnResponse.com, which he sold in a highlypublicized transaction to ValueClick, Inc. in 2001. After the acquisition hejoined ValueClick's executive team until late 2002, when he became Presidentof content and web production company Sialogic, Inc. Averbach got his start in the web hosting industry in 1997 when he becamenetwork engineer of, at that time, the world's largest hosting company HiwayTechnologies, which was later acquired by Verio. Based on his experience, heis used to and motivated by the demanding technical side of the web hostingindustry. Information about Globat.com, and the company's services and packages, isavailable at their web site (http://www.globat.com), or by calling877-2-GLOBAT. About Globat, LLC Globat, LLC ( http://www.globat.com ) is one of the most established Webhosting companies in the United States, offering affordable, quality Webhosting solutions to over 75,000 customers worldwide. Globat.com founder BenR. Neumann, a two-time Entrepreneur of the Year(R) award nominee, was apioneer of the budget Web hosting industry in 1994 when he founded Icom.com,which was sold to Interliant in 1998 and is today owned by Interland. Thecompany is privately held and headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Globat, Globat.com, and Performance Web Hosting are trademarks of Globat,LLC. All company names may be trademarks of the respective companies withwhich they are associated.

infoUSA CEO Proposes to Buy Out Company, Go Private

2005-06-14T21:18:00.000-07:00

infoUSA CEO Proposes to Buy Out Company, Go Private: "infoUSA CEO Proposes to Buy Out Company, Go Private
By DAVID R. BUTCHER, Assistant Editor, Customer Interaction Solutions

infoUSA Inc., a provider of credit reports and other consumer data, announced yesterday that it has received a buyout offer from Vin Gupta & Company, LLC � an entity controlled by infoUSA�s founder, chairman and CEO, Vin Gupta, who also holds approximately 38 percent of the common shares of infoUSA � to acquire all of the outstanding publicly held common shares of infoUSA not held by Gupta. "

Upon completion of the proposed transaction, infoUSA will become a privately held company. If the company goes private, it will not be required to make its financial information available to the public, and the stock will not be availably sold to the public; stock will instead be held by members of the company.Under the terms of the proposed offer, Gupta is offering to purchase the remaining 62 percent of the company’s shares from the remaining holders of infoUSA common stock, $11.75 in cash per share, a 25 percent premium to Monday’s closing price of $9.40. Gupta was not immediately available to comment on this announcement, nor was Rick Massey of Stephens Inc., the company’s lead financial advisor. In his letter to infoUSA’s board of directors, Gupta said, “This proposal offers infoUSA’s shareholders the best opportunity to realize a very attractive value for their shares.”In infoUSA’s announcement of the buyout offer, Gupta stated, “This transaction will bring significant value to our stockholders and enables infoUSA to continue to build upon our leading position in the information services industry.”Little has been said regarding how this potential buyout will impact infoUSA’s customers. The closest statement offered came from Gupta and appeared in the company’s announcement of the offer: “Our customers and partners will continue to receive great customer service and value-added products and services from the leading provider of proprietary business and consumer databases, sales leads and business credit reports.”Nearly three months ago, infoUSA made an offer to buy one of its smaller rivals, Digital Impact; infoUSA lost out to larger rival Acxiom’s significantly higher price offer, which may be one factor for which infoUSA is now inclined to go private. It seems that as long as infoUSA shareholders are favorable to the price, chances are this deal will go through.The closing of the transaction, anticipated to occur during the third quarter of 2005, is subject to certain terms and conditions customary for transactions of this type, including finalizing the debt financing, receiving the required approvals and executing the definitive documentation necessary to complete the transaction.

Intel Capital CEO Summit Opens In Beijing

2005-06-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

Intel Capital CEO Summit Opens In Beijing: "Intel Capital CEO Summit Opens In Beijing
Source : La Soci�t�
Actualit� du 14/06/05 � 19:22"

BEIJING, June 14, 2005 - Intel Corporation is holding the sixth annual Intel Capital CEO Summit in Beijing, marking the first time the three-day conference is being held outside the United States. The event, sponsored by Intel Capital, the company's strategic investment program, reflects the increasingly global scope of Intel Capital's investment activities, as well as the importance of China as an economic and technology leader. "The Intel Capital CEO Summit is a great mechanism for providing our portfolio companies from around the world with the tools and sales opportunities to grow their businesses locally and globally, transforming innovation into marketable products and services," said Arvind Sodhani, Intel Capital president, during the conference's opening remarks. "Intel Capital taps its tremendous technology, marketing and business expertise to help its portfolio companies expand and innovate," he added. More than 400 people will attend the summit, including CEOs of Intel Capital portfolio companies, purchasing decision makers from Global 2000 companies, and government officials from about 20 countries. The summit offers an opportunity for these leaders and decision-makers to meet with many of China's local innovators and business people. In addition, Intel yesterday announced the establishment of a US$200 million venture capital fund to invest in Chinese technology companies developing innovative hardware, software and services. Intel Capital has been investing in China since 1998 and has provided capital to approximately 50 companies in mainland China and Hong Kong. "By holding this event in Beijing we are helping our portfolio companies to better understand emerging markets and business models, in order to develop additional new technologies and products," Sodhani said. "China represents a tremendous growth opportunity for the global technology industry," he added. "However, businesses should look beyond the country's purchasing power and view the country's innovators as potential worldwide suppliers." The Intel Capital CEO Summit will include keynote speeches from Chinese and global business and government leaders, and about 900 business development meetings between Intel Capital portfolio companies and Intel's customers. In addition, conference guests will visit local government, business and research institutions such as Tsinghua University, conduct factory tours at the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area industrial park and research and development facilities at Raycom Technology Park, and visit local electronics malls and Internet cafes. Participants will also attend training classes and panel discussions on technology topics and growth opportunities. Notable speakers at the summit include Zhang Xiaoqiang, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, Ma Delun, assistant governor of the People's Bank of China; Liu Chuanzhi, president of Legend Holding Co. Ltd.; Wang Yan, Sina Corp CEO; Chen Tianqiao, Shanda CEO; Dong Defu, Techfaith chairman and CEO; Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, Intel board member and former U.S. trade representative; Reed Hundt, Intel board member and former U.S. Federal Communications Commission chairman; and, Paul Otellini, Intel CEO. Intel Capital, Intel's venture investment program, focuses on making minority equity investments to grow the Internet economy in support of Intel's strategic interests. Intel Capital invests in hardware, software and services companies in several market segments, including computing, networking, and wireless communications. Intel Capital has invested more than US$4 billion in approximately 1,000 companies in more than 30 countries since 1991. Since its inception, about 160 portfolio companies have been acquired by other companies and another 150 have gone public on various exchanges around the world. Intel Capital employs investment managers in about 25 countries worldwide. Last year alone, Intel Capital invested more than US$130 million in about 110 deals with approximately 40 percent of its investments made outside the United States. For more information, visit www.intel.com/capital. Intel Corporation Unsubscribe/Privacy M/S SC3-37 2200 Mission College Blvd. Santa Clara, California 95054 Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. * Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. Source : La Société

Air NZ to launch CEO search | BUSINESS | NEWS | tvnz.co.nz

2005-06-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

Air NZ to launch CEO search BUSINESS NEWS tvnz.co.nz: "Air NZ to launch CEO search"

Air New Zealand will soon begin a global search for a new chief executive following the decision by Ralph Norris to resign and head to Australia. Norris is leaving the 82% government-owned airline after three years to take the top job at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. But the 56-year-old said he wasn't leaving Air NZ "in the lurch" because he never intended to be a long term fixture. The timing was right because he had overseen the restructure of Air NZ - which was close to failing four years ago and had to be bailed out by the government - and its return to profitability. "I feel as though my work is done - I would have been moving on anyway within the next six to nine months," Norris told journalists. The man with more than 30 years of banking experience under his belt will receive a base annual salary of $A1.9 million ($2.05 million) to lead Australia's second largest bank, as part of a package worth $A7.6 million ($8.2 million). That's more than double the base pay of $1 million he earned at Air NZ last financial year. Air NZ chairman John Palmer said the airline needed the new CEO to capitalise on its recovery. "Air New Zealand's financial position has never been stronger, with good liquidity and one of the best balance sheets in the industry," he said. "Now is an appropriate time for the company to be seeking a new CEO to drive the business in what continues to be a very challenging and highly competitive environment." Air New Zealand is still to appoint headhunters to conduct the search but Heidrick & Struggles, the executive recruitment firm which led the last CEO search in 2001, could be tapped again. "It's a global search but internal candidates will have the opportunity to take part," an airline spokesman said. One possible replacement is New Zealander and former Air NZ executive Ray Webster who last month announced he would stand down as chief executive of UK low cost carrier EasyJet after 10 years with the airline. Outgoing British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington has been all but ruled out because of his statement earlier this year that he did plan to run another airline. Inside Air NZ, potential candidates include chief financial officer (CFO) Rob McDonald, group general manager airlines Rob Fyfe, group general manager ventures Craig Sinclair and group general manager sales and marketing Norm Thomson. But Sinclair and Fyfe are seen as weak candidates because both have been at the airline for less than three years, analysts said. McDonald has 10 years at Air NZ but less than a year as CFO while Thomson has spent 30 years at the airline. "There are thin pickings in terms of experience," one analyst commented of the airline's current management. Another name mentioned was Air NZ deputy chairman Roger France. Aviation analysts agreed Norris, who has to give six months notice, was leaving the airline in good shape. "A lot has been achieved," said Andrew Miller, chief executive of the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. "But the profitability of the organisation has been flat over the past two years." Air NZ is forecasting a fiscal 2005 profit before unusual items of tax around $220 million, in line with the previous year.

Light Reading - Networking the Telecom Industry

2005-06-14T21:13:00.000-07:00

Light Reading - Networking the Telecom Industry: "Cistera Gets New CEO

JUNE 14, 2005

DALLAS -- CNH Holdings Company dba Cistera Networks (OTCBB:CNHC), a leading platform provider for advanced IP phone applications in the IP Telephony environment, today announced that its Board of Directors has named A. Katrina Roche as Chief Executive Officer. Roche will assume her CEO responsibilities immediately.
Derek P. Downs, who has been with the Company since its inception, and has been President and interim CEO since June 2004 will continue to serve as President of Cistera Networks. �It has always been our plan to bring in a high-level executive for the CEO role when the time was right�, commented Downs. �We have worked hard to make sure the company was poised to take advantage of the growing market opportunity, and the board believes that now is the time to move forward with filling the position. Katrina clearly brings the experience we need on the leadership team to take the company to the next level. Her addition will allow the executive team to once again focus on the daily operations of the business and to support our growing demand, in both the U.S. and international markets.� "

Roche is a highly accomplished business executive with 20 years of experience in building and running global operations. Ms. Roche, 42, was most recently CEO in Residence, at the private equity firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB). Prior to KPCB, Ms. Roche was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Evant, a private technology company providing supply chain and merchandise planning solutions to retailers.
Ms. Roche began her career in sales and marketing at Philips NV. In 1988, Ms. Roche joined the enterprise software industry with a position at a reseller of System Software Associates and continued on to found and lead Cygnus Technology, at the time, a leading implementation services firm, focused on SAP and Baan Enterprise Resource Planning projects. Ms. Roche left Cygnus in 1998 to join Baan NV, in the Netherlands, where she was Baan’s General Manager for Supply Chain and was later promoted to the Company’s Chief Marketing Officer. She left Baan with the sale of the Company to United Kingdom based, Invensys PLC. After Baan, Ms. Roche assumed responsibility as Chief Marketing Officer for i2 Technologies, where she was responsible for strategy, global marketing, and product marketing.
"With well over 200 systems installed, Cistera Networks is the clear leader in applications to support Enterprise Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), a market that is still largely untapped, offering a very significant opportunity for growth," said Katrina Roche. "Over the past six years, Greg Royal, the Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President, and the team at Cistera have clearly built a strong industry-leading company, and a fantastic set of applications. I believe they are poised to take the next step. I am excited to work closely with the leadership team, the Board, and Cistera’s talented employees to expand the company's VoIP leadership to the next level of growth and maturity."

Unicredito CEO does not expect to increase offer for HVB - Forbes.com

2005-06-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

Unicredito CEO does not expect to increase offer for HVB - Forbes.com: "Unicredito CEO does not expect to increase offer for HVB
06.14.2005, 06:00 AM

FRANKFURT (AFX) - Unicredito Italiano SpA does not expect it will have to increase its all-share offer for HVB Group AG, Unicredito chief executive Alessandro Profumo said in an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

'We currently do not expect that. From our point of view, the offer is fair,' he said.

Unicredito has offered five of its shares for every one HVB share, in a deal which values HVB at 20.50 eur per share based on Friday's closing prices. The bid is at a 16 pct premium to HVB's three-month average.

In the same interview, HVB chief executive Dieter Rampl added: 'If one looks at the price before the rumours about the takeover started, the offer has a premium of almost 17 pct.'

Profumo sought to allay concerns about job cuts in Germany as a result of the deal, saying that growth is planned in both Italy and Germany, and therefore there will be more people working for the group in Germany in five years.

Rampl said the new group will have a 'strong presence' in Munich -- site of HVB's headquarters -- and HVB will retain its independent legal identity as a public limited company.

'Important parts of the new group will be managed out of Munich. The divisions corporate clients and the business on international capital markets will be based here,' Rampl added. "

MSN Money - Associated Press Business News: Deutsche Bank CEO Considers Takeovers

2005-06-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

MSN Money - Associated Press Business News: Deutsche Bank CEO Considers Takeovers: "Deutsche Bank CEO Considers Takeovers"

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) - Deutsche Bank AG is considering new acquisitions within Germany and beyond as the nation's biggest bank seeks to add more customers, chief executive Josef Ackermann said in an interview published Tuesday.
Ackermann said in an interview with the business daily Handelsblatt that Deutsche Bank was "ready to take over banks in markets in which it is already present and in new markets -- for instance in an emerging market."
His remarks came a day after Unicredito Italiano SpA unveiled the details behind its euro15.4 billion (US$18.7 billion) takeover of HVB Group AG, Germany's second-biggest bank. It would be Europe's largest cross-border banking deal and create a dominant player in the former communist east.
Ackermann said Deutsche Bank would consider acquisitions inside Germany. A move to buy the country's biggest retail bank, Deutsche Postbank AG, failed a year ago.
Ackermann said that would have been "a strategically good transaction." Asked whether there was any prospect of reviving that attempt, Ackermann replied that "you will have to ask Deutsche Post," Postbank's owner.
Deutsche Post said it had no plans to give up its majority stake in Postbank.
Ackermann said Unicredito's entrance into Germany would be helpful.
"For Germany in the long run, it is much better to have companies that can compete on a world-class basis instead of having companies that are less successful, less competitive and that run the risk of being taken over," he was quoted as saying in a separate interview with the Financial Times.
He also said that his bank was looking at expanding into China.
"You have to have a foot in the Chinese market as a global player and, if you don't do that, you may regret it deeply in five or ten years time," Ackermann said.

BPL Comm CEO likely to pull himself back - Sify.com

2005-06-13T23:21:00.000-07:00

BPL Comm CEO likely to pull himself back - Sify.com: "BPL Comm CEO likely to pull himself back

Tuesday, 14 June , 2005, 07:38

Bangalore: Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Chairman and CEO of BPL Communications Ltd, which manages cellular operations across four circles in the country, is likely to pull himself back from the daily operational management of the mobile telephone business once it inducts a foreign partner during the current financial year."

"At least three foreign players with whom we are in talks have made it a condition that I stay back for them to invest in a joint venture. But I plan to step back a bit and let the operations be managed by a professional team," Chandrasekhar told Business Line.
"Management is not a big issue here (in the wake of stake sale to a partner). I have demonstrated it twice before in my career in telecom. In 1999-2000, I did step aside after assuming the role of Chairman, and later when BPL Mobile negotiated the failed merger with Batata (Birla-Tata-AT&T combine), I did not harp on a management role," he said.
The 41-year-old Chandrasekhar returned to head the operational management as CEO after a small hiatus in 2002 when his cellular business was bogged down by a host of problems, including a failed merger plan, a WLL imbroglio, a ruckus with the financial partners and the sullying of the BPL brand name as other family concerns started faltering.
"People said Rajeev will die, Rajeev is dying, and Rajeev is dead. We added over a million subscribers last year, and plan to add 1.5 million subscribers in the current year.
"The year 2004-05 was the best in our decade-long existence. Revenues grew by 40 per cent and EBITDA jumped 35 per cent," he added.
Chandrasekhar's Rs 1,012-crore telecom business functions through two operational companies - BPL Mobile Communications Ltd in Mumbai and BPL Mobile Cellular Ltd in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
He is in talks with a host of prospective partners, mostly foreign and a few Indian, for equity dilution to spur the future expansion of the cellular operations.
"We need to tie up with a partner in time for the next financial year when we have expansion plans either in the form of adding new businesses such as Wi-Fi or entering new geographies like Gujarat and Karnataka," he added.
It is learnt that Chandrasekhar, with a substantial stake holding in the flagship and the two operational companies, would prefer the potential partner to initially pick up 49 per cent equity, and going up to 74 per cent subsequently.
"Frankly, we have not yet really decided on the structuring of the deal," he said.
The interested foreign partners include Vodafone, DoCoMo and STT, while Essar Holdings is the domestic interest in the fray, even as AirTel and Hutchison had looked at the possibility of a 100 per cent buyout earlier, informed sources said.
However, Chandrasekhar needs to patch up a dispute with his father-in-law, T.P.G. Nambiar, the patriarch of BPL group, over equity holding before he firms up with the partner, though it may not come in the way of a deal straightaway.
"I will not make statements on the family dispute, as there are other people involved in it," he said.
The sources said the telecom business would jettison the BPL brand once it brings in a foreign partner, as it would like to free itself from certain constraints and help its future expansion."

Air NZ starts global search for new CEO - Breaking News - Business - Breaking News

2005-06-13T23:18:00.000-07:00

Air NZ starts global search for new CEO - Breaking News - Business - Breaking News: "Air NZ starts global search for new CEO
June 14, 2005 - 12:59PM

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Air New Zealand Ltd began a global search for a new chief executive following the decision by Ralph Norris to resign and return to Australia.
Air NZ chairman John Palmer said the airline was well positioned and that the new CEO would take the airline forward in a tough and highly competitive market.
'Now is an appropriate time for the company to be seeking a new CEO to drive the business in what continues to be a very challenging and highly competitive environment,' Mr Palmer said.
As the search for the new CEO begins, analysts said Air New Zealand's headhunters would find it easier to attract overseas executives because the company faces less risk than it did three years ago.
'It's a global search but internal candidates will have the opportunity to take part,' an airline spokesman said.
One potential candidate is former Air New Zealand executive Ray Webster who last month announced he would stand down as chief executive of UK low cost carrier EasyJet after 10 years."

Mr Webster, who helped lead EasyJet through a period of intense growth, plans to remains on the board until his successor is appointed, which is expected before November 2006.
Outgoing British Airways chief executive Rod Eddington, who was given a knighthood by the Queen last weekend, has been all but ruled out because of his statement earlier this year that he did not plan to again lead an Australian airline.
Inside Air New Zealand, potential candidates include chief financial officer Rob McDonald, group general manager airlines Rob Fyfe, group general manager ventures Craig Sinclair and group general manager sales and marketing Norm Thomson.
Mr Sinclair and Mr Fyfe are seen as weak candidates given that both have been at the airline for less than three years.
Mr McDonald, who has 10-years at Air New Zealand but less than a year as CFO, is viewed as a slight stronger candidate than Mr Thomson who, although having spent 30 years at Air New Zealand, is perceived to lack operational experience.
"There are thin pickings in terms of experience," said one analyst who asked not to be named.
But another name being mentioned was that of Roger France, the airline's deputy chairman and a former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner.
Mr France was appointed as the airline underwent a recapitalisation a few years ago and would have the financial and strategy skills to make the short list, one analyst said.
Mr Norris has a six-month notice provision in his contract and his actual departure date is to be determined.
Aviation analysts said the news that Mr Norris was heading to Commonwealth Bank was a surprise.
But they agreed he was leaving the airline in better shape than it was, although it still had to work to increase profitability.
"A lot has been achieved," chief executive officer of the Centre for Asian Pacific Aviation Andrew Miller said.
"But the profitability of the organisation has been flat over the past two years."
Air New Zealand shares were unchanged at $1.29 on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Chicago Tribune news : Business

2005-06-13T22:39:00.000-07:00

Chicago Tribune news : Business: "Goldman Sachs CEO Subpoenaed Over Deal

By MARK JEWELL
AP Business Writer
Published June 13, 2005, 4:33 PM CDT

BOSTON -- The state's top securities regulator on Monday sought sworn testimony from Goldman Sachs CEO Henry M. Paulson Jr. in an investigation of advice Gillette Co. received in its pending acquisition by Procter & Gamble Co.

Paulson, whose company was one of two Wall Street investment banks to advise Gillette on the deal's fairness, was subpoenaed to appear at Secretary of State William Galvin's offices June 23 for oral testimony.

Also subpoenaed to testify within two weeks were William Mostyn, a former Gillette corporate governance officer and secretary, and Eric Derheimer, an official at UBS Securities, which served as an adviser to Gillette along with Goldman Sachs.

Gillette chairman and chief executive James Kilts testified under oath for more than five hours on June 1.

Paulson, who is Goldman Sachs' chairman and chief executive, is the only other CEO or chairman among the more than 10 officials Galvin's office has called in to testify since he began looking into the deal after it was announced Jan. 28.

'He (Paulson) was intimately involved in the negotiations to put this deal back together when it was falling apart,' Galvin said in a phone interview.

Goldman Sachs spokeswoman Andrea Rachman declined to comment.

Galvin has questioned whether the $57 billion P&G is paying for Gillette is too low, a contention the companies dispute. Galvin is investigating the accuracy and objectivity of opinions that Goldman Sachs and UBS provided Gillette on the deal's fairness.

On Friday, Galvin also issu"

Morsels in Miniature

2005-06-13T22:34:00.000-07:00

Morsels in Miniature: "Morsels in Miniature
Bite-Size Treats a Growing Portion of Bakery Sales
By Margaret Webb Pressler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 14, 2005; Page D01
At Wegmans, the mini muffins baked at the chain's main bakery in Rochester, N.Y., have become so popular that last month the company stopped shipping packs of full-size muffins to stores.
At Giant, the two-bite replicas of bigger bakery offerings are among the department's best sellers, so the chain keeps adding more varieties."

At Balducci's (formerly Sutton Place Gourmet), about 40 percent of the muffins and danish the chain sells are of the tiny variety -- up from just 5 percent two years ago.
To walk through a store bakery today is to witness the explosion of mini mouthfuls -- bagels, muffins, brownies, cupcakes, croissants, doughnuts, scones, desserts and bread. And even where things aren't being shrunk down to the point of cuteness, there appears to be some portion control creeping into baked goods: Caribou Coffee Co. and Panera Bread Co. are two national chains set to roll out baked goods that are about 20 percent smaller than what's on the menu today.
"We're not doing six-ounce muffins any more," said Michael J. Coles, chief executive of Caribou Coffee, the fast-growing Minneapolis-based coffee chain with 310 stores. "People don't want that, I think because it's an overcommitment."
Coles and others say the downsizing of so many sweets is in part the result of consumers wanting portable, eat-on-the-run food and in part a function of rising awareness of nutrition and portion control. Portion has become a big buzzword among food manufacturers, which have been repackaging popular snack foods in smaller sizes, such as Nabisco's 100-Calorie Packs.
"We're really trying to push retailers to focus on portion size and to help consumers better understand what is a portion size," said Mary Kay O'Connor, director of education for the International Deli, Dairy and Bakery Association. "What some people have considered to be a muffin serving was like 800 calories."
Some bakers point out that there is a built-in roadblock to this trend: It's often more profitable to sell a monster muffin simply because it can carry a higher price. Bakers say there is still plenty of demand for big portions in restaurants and from wholesale bakeries that serve hotels, convention centers and stadiums, where the meager profit margin on a mini muffin usually means it doesn't get made.
"The hotel chains . . . want to spend the least amount for the most volume, the thing that takes up the most room on the plate," said Theodore Kairys, president of Gourmet Pacific, an institutional baker in California. "If you have a dessert or pastry, little bite-sized cutesy ones, people aren't going to want to pay for that."
But in stores, a growing number of shoppers tell a different story.
"I would rather have smaller, special bites of something wonderful than have more than I need," said Wendy Lubic, a D.C. mother of two teenage daughters who was lunching outside Eatzi's food store in Rockville on a recent weekday afternoon. "If you care about health and care about your weight, you don't want to be stuffing needless calories."
Lubic had just bought her kids some mini rice cakes and, for herself, a mini chocolate cake -- the smallest of the three sizes offered in Eatzi's bakery case.
Some manufacturers and bakers say bite-size and downsized products are especially popular among mothers concerned about the portions they serve to their children. But they are also reaching consumers who might pass on buying something larger because it's too big.
When national baked goods manufacturer Uncle Wally's introduced its line of two-ounce mini muffins last year, the company viewed it as "a way for us to expand the customer base we're reaching," said Jerry Ceccio, vice president of sales and marketing. The line has been so successful, he said, that the company is formulating a new business strategy aimed at mini-munching consumers.
"From now on, when we introduce items, we will be bringing smaller-sized products to market, there's no question," Ceccio said. "Not to say that there isn't a place for indulgence, but by and large, we see the market moving toward smaller portions."
It's not just size that seems to appeal to customers, it's also variety: The smaller the treat, the more kinds you can try. At Vie de France, a national foodservice bakery, some store managers have used the chain's regular scone batter to make mini scones, said Jennifer Sharp, senior product manager for the company's wholesale operations -- and they've ended up selling more because customers like to buy one of each kind rather than a single, big scone.
"That would be me -- I'm all about variety," said Rachel Devlin, visiting from New York and lunching recently at Panera in Friendship Heights. She said any time she has a choice of a few smaller things or one big item, she'll go for the petite portions. "I just like to try different things."
Panera is working on a new line of pastries designed to be smaller and of higher quality. Tom Gumpel, the chain's director of research and development, said he is moving beyond the days of "cinnamon buns the size of a Frisbee" to focus instead on products using better ingredients, such as creamier, European-style butter and slightly downsized proportions.
"Everything's been so super-sized, but the portions we're looking at, with the quality they carry, are really the appropriate size," he said.
The super-sizing phenomenon has been driven by profit. A fast-food restaurant can charge 25 cents more for a larger portion of french fries though the food itself costs just pennies more, so most of that added 25 cents is pure profit. The same is true of muffins and other baked goods.
"The wholesale cost on a large danish might be a dollar, and on a smaller one, 65 to 70 cents," said Mike McCloud, owner of Uptown Bakers, a local wholesale bakery. "The labor drives most of the cost of it. The ingredient cost difference is very, very small."
So when a cafe buys Uptown's danishes, it might be able to charge $2.45 for the large one but only $1.45 for the small one, McCloud said. "You're making a dollar on the large and 75 cents on the small for the same sale," he said.
For many large-scale wholesale buyers, that lost profit makes a big difference. But in retail settings, consumers seem to be driving the change, even if it costs more per bite. At Giant, mini baked goods never used to sell much because shoppers wanted everything big, said Ben Klautz, bake shop marketing manager for Giant Food LLC.
"Now they're willing to pay a little more for something that's a little healthier, a little smaller," Klautz said. "The small stuff sells really well."

FT.com / Companies - HP to separate printer and PC groups

2005-06-13T22:26:00.000-07:00

FT.com / Companies - HP to separate printer and PC groups: "HP to separate printer and PC groups
By Scott Morrison in San Francisco
Published: June 13 2005 23:00 | Last updated: June 13 2005 23:00

Hewlett-Packard on Monday said it was splitting its personal computer and printer groups into separate business units, just five months after the US company combined the two operations in a bid to accelerate growth and strengthen its market position.
The move was among the first major changes made by Mark Hurd, who was appointed chief executive on April 1. He replaced Carly Fiorina, who made the decision to combine the two business units less than one month before she was fired in February. "

Under Pressure, Morgan Stanley Chief Steps Down

2005-06-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

Under Pressure, Morgan Stanley Chief Steps Down: "Under Pressure, Morgan Stanley Chief Steps Down
By Ben White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 14, 2005; Page D03
NEW YORK, June 13 -- Morgan Stanley chief executive Philip J. Purcell, under pressure from shareholders over poor financial performance and beset by high-level defections from the storied Wall Street firm, said Monday that he would retire as soon as a successor is found.
The announcement came after Purcell waged a bitter battle with eight disgruntled former executives and with top managers inside the firm who thought he had neglected Morgan Stanley's historic core businesses of investment banking and equity trading in favor of less productive retail brokerage and credit card services.

Through most of the fight, Purcell retained the unwavering support of a board filled with loyalists. But that support cracked after a team of revenue-producing sales and trading executives quit Friday to join Wachovia and the company prepared to announce Monday morning that second-quarter earnings would be down 15 to 20 percent from last year.
'It has become clear that in light of the continuing personal attacks on me, and the unprecedented level of negative attention our firm -- and each of you -- has had to endure, that this is the best thing I can do"