Free Republic

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Toyota faced its first U.S. class-action lawsuits stemming from complaints of faulty brakes in its top-selling Prius hybrid car and from investors claiming they were misled about problems with unintended acceleration in a wide range of models. Litigation mounted as the Japanese automaker prepared to follow global recalls of some 8 million vehicles for repairs to ill-fitting floor mats and sticking gas pedals with yet another recall to deal with braking problems in the new Prius model. A class-action suit filed on Monday on behalf of U.S. shareholders accuses Toyota Motor Corp of issuing "materially false...

Companies: After an all-out war on oil companies from the left in recent years, it bodes well for the future to see Big Oil now recognizing the attack it's under and its duty to fight back. Witness Chevron and Exxon Mobil.Shareholder meetings can be pro forma affairs, but not for major oil companies, which have become a lightning rod for the anti-corporate sentiment gaining traction in U.S. political life since around 2006. Wednesday, Chevron was descended upon by a zoo-full of San Francisco leftists pushing rain forest sentimentalism, Burma, and other pet causes dear to the no-soap crowd. They journeyed...

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, who has taken a six-month medical leave from the company, will not attend Apple's shareholder meeting scheduled for this week, it was reported Monday. Jobs' absence will mark the first time the company's co-founder has not attended the annual meeting in more than a decade, business news agency Bloomberg reported. Jobs is on medical leave until June. Apple was not immediately available for comment. Jobs' absence from the Feb. 25 meeting is likely to highlight the importance of having a succession plan in place for the iconic CEO whose vision and strategy is seen as...

Plunging necklines blamed for plunging sales by female M&S shareholders Last updated at 19:42pm on 09.07.08  Plunging necklines have been blamed for plunging sales as Marks & Spencer chiefs today came under fire from lady shareholders.Executives faced complaints from some that its fashions are too young, offering too much cleavage for its loyal older customers.Investors have been getting worried because the value of M&S shares has slumped in recent days after the iconic high street chain revealed a fall in sales.And today at the company's AGM at London's Royal Festival Hall, shareholders lined up to offer a diagnosis of...

The weirdness on Wall Street continues. The world’s greatest fire sale has turned into something of a fiasco for JP Morgan, who thought they had Bear Stearns wrapped up in a bow by the Fed at $2 per share. However, the deal has started unraveling thanks to angry BSC shareholders, and JPM now has quintupled its offer to $10 per share: The sweetened offer is intended to win over stockholders who vowed to fight the original fire-sale deal, struck only a week ago at the behest of the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department.Under the terms being discussed, JPMorgan would pay...

The uproar over this has been lost in the shuffle of a thousand other outrages since, which is too bad: Threatening Disney’s broadcast license for airing it really was one of the Democrats’ filthiest moments of the past two years, of a piece with every Fairness-type speech-squashing rumble that rolls through their side from time to time. The debate’s since moved on to the curious fact that Disney has yet to issue PT9/11 on DVD, despite the fact that it cost $40 million to make and aired without commercials. Granted, the ratings were disappointing, but Disney should want to recoup...

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A tiny free-enterprise fund wants Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Charles Schwab & Co. (SCH) shareholders to consider banning advisory proposals favored by activist stockholders it views as a nuisance. Advisory or "precatory" proposals aren't binding on companies, but they are a popular vehicle for shareholders to express their views on issues from climate change to executive compensation. The Free Enterprise Action Fund (FEAOX), based in Bethesda, Md., is seeking to close off that option and has filed proposals with Exxon Mobil and Schwab targeting what it calls "nuisance shareholders." Specifically, the fund wants shareholders at both...

With all the madness in the world, I meditated Tuesday on two matters of great gratitude. One is that through vigilance and good fortune we have, so far, gone six years without another major attack on U.S. soil. The other is that I wasn't one of the Texas officials who was forced to attend a workshop in Austin in which PR flacks would try (under a $20,000 contract) to teach me techniques for selling Gov. Perry's massive toll road boondoggle. It was a small part of a $7 million to $9 million campaign that will include feel-good ads pushing Perry's...

The story of how Gelhaus and her family came to spend this holiday working and frolicking on a farm isn't about charity, but rather about how a seemingly straightforward business investment turned into a legal crisis—and then evolved into something much bigger, something involving community and caring. Because the legal part wasn't resolved until earlier this month, Gelhaus and others involved in the story didn't want to talk about it until now.

Newspaper circulation fell 2.6 percent in the six-month period ending in March, according to data released Monday, as the industry continued to struggle with competition from other media outlets and the Internet. The decline in average paid weekday circulation was about the same as the previous time newspapers reported six-month circulation figures for the period ending last September, according to the Newspaper Association of America, a trade group. The NAA reported that average paid circulation at Sunday newspapers fell 3.1 percent versus the same period a year ago, also a comparable decline with the last time circulation figures were reported....

An article in Business Day on Wednesday about investors in The New York Times Company who withheld their votes for directors misspelled the name of the family that has controlled the company since 1896. It is Ochs-Sulzberger, not Ochs-Sulzburger.

Arthur Ochs “Pinch” Sulzberger, Jr., the scion of a family dynasty founded by his great grandfather, is well into the process of destroying the patrimony handed to him on a silver platter. Even worse, the whole world is starting to notice, something which will make other family members distinctly unhappy. And because the family controls the election of a majority of the board of directors of the New York Times Company, despite owning a tiny fraction of the actual equity (thanks to a two class system of shares), this unhappiness could affect Pinch’s tenure in office. No less an authority...

STOCKHOLDER PROPOSAL DISSOCIATION FROM THE 2006 AND ALL FUTURE SO-CALLED "GAY GAMES" Marcella V. Meyer, M.D., M.P.H, 10416 South Bell Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60043, claiming beneficial ownership of 200 shares of common stock, submitted the proposal set forth below. RESOLVED: That in the best interest of our company Kraft Foods Inc. as well as in the public interest, Kraft Foods does hereby disassociate itself from the 2006 and all future so-called "gay games", and that no future financial support be given for the 2006 "gay games" or any other future activities supporting, proselytizing, promoting or encouraging homosexual activity or life...

...[T]he Supreme Court agreed to hear campaign-finance and tax cases whose outcome could hinge on the candidate filling the court's second vacancy.... Campaign-finance cases have revealed a philosophical split on the court, with more conservative justices, such as Antonin Scalia, considering political expenditures the functional equivalent of speech, and thus beyond state restriction. More liberal justices, such as Stephen Breyer, have viewed such regulations as lawful means to fight political corruption and keep moneyed interests from drowning out other voices. One of the political cases challenges a provision of the McCain-Feingold law that prohibits corporations from direct expenditures on electioneering...

Bank of America is trying to block a shareholder motion that would limit ``white men'' to no more than half the nominations to its board. The bank took steps to exclude the motion from the vote at the planned stockholders' meeting due to take place on April 27. BofA argues the proposal would violate federal and state law, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, by introducing a rigid ``quota requirement'' and by forcing it to hire or promote on the basis of ethnicity.

It is time to pull your money out of the following financial institutions that are the major shareholders of Staples (ticker symbol SPLS) who have chosen to side with George Soros and MoveOn.Org. Contact the institutions and let them know you will not stand for this. TOP INSTITUTIONAL HOLDERS FMR Corporation (Fidelity Management & Research Corp) Northern Trust Corporation Putnam Investment Management, LLC State Street Corporation Barclays Bank Plc Wellington Management Company, Llp Janus Capital Management, LLC Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft Transamerica Investment Management LLC Vanguard Group, Inc. (The) TOP MUTUAL FUND HOLDERS Fidelity Magellan Fund Inc Putnam Voyager Fund Fidelity...

Fearing shares will be worthless, they're playing hardball with managementLast month, when the formerly bankrupt Kmart bought Sears, one group of investors was paying particularly close attention. They are the stockholders of Atlanta merchant energy company Mirant, in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since July 2003. In Kmart's rags-to-riches, back-from-bankruptcy tale, Mirant's stockholders saw a hint of what might be lying in wait for them. Nothing. The retailer's story line goes like this: A hedge fund billionaire who bought large amounts of Kmart's debt becomes controlling owner of its new post-bankruptcy stock. He unloads stores and people, pumping billions into the...

Bob Dole Slams Kerry By Andrew L. Jaffee, August 23, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Nothing has really changed for Democratic hopeful John Kerry, except that real war veterans, like Bob Dole, are questioning the “superficial wounds” and resulting “medals” he received during four (4) months service in Vietnam. Kerry is still flailing, trying to cover up a career punctuated by extreme left-wing politics and flip-flopping by talking to voters about his military service. He squandered his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention by trying to convince Americans that his tour of duty in Vietnam will make him a great commander...

Ken Lay of Enron Indicted and Arrested By Andrew L. Jaffee, July 8, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms Enron’s ex-Chairman of the Board has been indicted and arrested on charges connected with his former company’s implosion in 2001. Corporate executives at Enron engaged in all sorts of financial manipulations to pump up the company’s stock price. They created complex “partnerships” to hide company debt from shareholders. In 1998, Enron’s share price was at about $20. By 2000, it hit $90. By 2001, the company’s stock was worthless. Enron’s collapse wiped out billions in shareholder value and employee pensions. Democratic Presidential hopeful John...

<p>If Paul Revere rode today to warn of danger to California businesses and taxpayers, he might shout something such as, "The pension fund power-grabbers are coming." Actually, they're already here, and their attempts to inject special interest agendas into corporate boardrooms in the guise of shareholders' rights pose a threat to the state's recovery prospects and long-term economic health.</p>