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Johnson Controls strikes $20bn Tyco acquisition Johnson Controls has agreed to acquire Tyco International in a $20bn industrial tie-up that will allow the manufacturer to slash its tax bill by moving its corporate domicile from the US to Ireland. The transaction is structured as a reverse takeover that will see Tyco shareholders own 44 per cent of the combined group, while Johnson Controls investors will hold the remainder and receive $3.9bn in cash. It values Tyco shares at $34.88, an 11 per cent premium to its closing price at the end of last week High quality global journalism requires investment....

How an Iranian business with close ties to the country's nuclear program obtained restricted equipment for enriching uranium is the focus of multiple investigations being conducted by western agencies. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday night that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and western intelligence agencies have been probing the Iranian firm's procurement of "critical valves and vacuum gauges" since Jan. 14. The IAEA launched its investigation after receiving a tip that the equipment allegedly reached the Iranian business through a Chinese company's intermediary.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - A nanny who was arrested after police viewed hidden camera video recordings that appeared to show her shaking a 5-month-old baby is suing the recording system's manufacturer. Claudia Muro, 32, alleges that distorted camera footage wrongfully led to her arrest and imprisonment. She was arrested in October 2003 and spent two years awaiting trial before prosecutors dropped the case because of concerns about the tape. The footage was broadcast on television around the country. The lawsuit was filed against Boca Raton-based Tyco Fire & Security, according to a report in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The lawsuit...

NEW YORK - Bonuses at Wall Street firms climbed to a projected record of $21.5 billion last year as revenue grew, according to the New York state comptroller's office. Comptroller Alan Hevesi said Wednesday that 2005's bonus tally was $2 billion more than the old record, which was set in 2000. In 2004, Wall Street bonuses came to an estimated $18.6 billion. Last year's average bonus was pegged at $125,500, also a record, Hevesi said. Revenue at Wall Street firms rose 44.5 percent through the first three quarters of 2005, climbing to the highest level since 2000, the year when...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tyco International, whose former CEO became a symbol of corporate corruption, acknowledged Thursday it is the Jack Abramoff client referred to as "Company A" in court documents describing the lobbyist's scheme to funnel millions of dollars in lobbying fees to himself. Tyco hired Abramoff in 2003 to lobby for it on a tax issue, said company spokeswoman Sheri Woodruff. She declined to comment further on the New Jersey-based company's relationship with Abramoff or on the lobbyist's activities. Abramoff pleaded guilty this week in Washington to mail fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion in connection with his lobbying activities...

One of the things that makes me a moderate conservative rather than an extreme-right conservative is that I have never forgotten something my business-law college professor told us – that when government passes a new law or regulation that places limits on what businessmen or markets can do, it’s always because some people acted to excess and spoiled everything. Although the situation has changed slightly for the better, this kind of condition clearly exists in the area of top-executive pay (that of CEOs), and in the aftermath of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco and Global Crossing, cries out for some action.

A state prison in Fishkill, New York, Thursday welcomed former Tyco International executives L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz -- as inmates. The former executives convicted of stealing $600 million from Tyco, arrived at the Downstate Correctional Facility from Rikers Island, where they've been since their sentencing on Monday. The Fishkill prison is a reception center where male inmates stay for several weeks while waiting to be assigned a full-time prison. Kozlowski and Swartz were sentenced to 8-and-one-third to 25 years in prison. At Downstate, the two got the standard short haircut and prison clothing. Because of their high-profile cases,...

Former Worldcom Chief Executive Bernard Ebbers was handed a 25-year prison term for directing the biggest accounting fraud in corporate history, leaving thousands of investors empty-handed. Ebbers, who built a small Mississippi-based long distance company into a telecommunications powerhouse, was found guilty on March 15 on all charges — one count of conspiracy, one count of securities fraud and seven counts of false regulatory filings. But he could also be a charming and folksy CEO, who preferred cowboy boots to suits, opened shareholder meetings with a prayer, ate lunch in the cafeteria and ran a company that had become a...

ATLANTA (AP) - Turning to a businessman to lead one of the nation's seminal civil rights groups, the NAACP's board of directors said Saturday that Bruce S. Gordon, a retired Verizon executive, will be its next president. "Civil rights leaders throughout this country did what they did and died, so my generation has full responsibility to walk in the doors those brave people opened," Gordon said after his selection. Gordon was selected by unanimous vote to succeed Kweisi Mfume, former U.S. representative and a candidate for Senate in Maryland who resigned abruptly in December. Several months later, a report surfaced...

Just announced on CNBC that the jury hearling the trial of the CEO and CFO has a verdict. Let's hope they nail those scumbags....

L. Dennis Kozlowski wants to be clear: the $6,000 shower curtain wasn't his idea. The shower curtain, bought by his decorator on Tyco International's tab for an extravagantly furnished Manhattan apartment, became perhaps the most notable symbol of an era of corporate excess and conspicuous consumption. "I understand why a $6,000 shower curtain seems indefensible," Mr. Kozlowski, Tyco's former chief executive, said on the eve of his retrial on charges of looting the company. "But I didn't know about it. I just wasn't even aware of it. If somebody had come to me and said, 'Do you want to spend...

Tyco International Inc. on Tuesday said the Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered information from the company on its involvement in the United Nations Oil for Food program in Iraq. The diversified manufacturer, based in Princeton, N.J., said it is gathering information and "will fully cooperate in ongoing investigations." Tyco said the SEC is seeking information on the company's participation, "if any," in the program, which had governed sale of Iraqi oil and is the subject of several corruption probes. Shares of Tyco closed Tuesday at $34.94, up 52 cents, or 1.5 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange.

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...

White-collar crooks deserve tough treatment. But 24 years for Dynegy's Jamie Olis? Politics has turned financial fraud into a worse crime than running drugs or killing someone. Former Tyco chief executive Dennis Kozlowski is a lucky guy. Not because a stubborn juror landed him a mistrial. He's lucky because even if New York prosecutors retry him, as they've vowed to do, the flamboyant former exec is looking at 15 to 30 years, no more. Were Kozlowski in federal court instead, he could easily be facing what amounts to a life sentence--with no chance of parole--under rigid new sentencing guidelines. While...

Just on MSNBC. Mistrial declared!

NEW YORK - A judge ordered more deliberations Monday in the trial of two former Tyco executives, rejecting a defense mistrial motion contending that one juror apparently holding out for acquittal had been pressured by intense media coverage. State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus said he spoke privately with the juror, who was identified by name on the cover of a tabloid newspaper over the weekend and depicted making an “OK” hand signal to the defense. He said she told him “that nothing that has happened will from her point of view prevent her from deliberating in good conscience with...

NEW YORK (March 29) - Jurors have described their deliberations in the trial of two former Tyco International executives as ''poisonous'' and ''irreparably compromised.'' The judge has called their notes to him ''disturbing'' and seems to be leaning toward a mistrial. Nonetheless, Judge Michael J. Obus concurred with jurors' request to return to work Monday morning, even after they wrote Friday that they had ''ceased to be able to conduct respectful, open-minded, good-faith deliberations.'' Obus must decide whether to keep pushing jurors to overcome what they have described as an atmosphere of animosity that has dominated the jury room in...

NORTH HAVEN, Conn. | Tyco International shareholders overwhelmingly rejected proposals to move the scandal-tainted conglomerate's incorporation back to the United States and to strictly limit executive compensation — both moves the company opposed. Fewer than 100 shareholders attended the subdued meeting, and most of those who spoke offered positive opinions of Tyco's new management. One congratulated Chief Executive Officer Ed Breen, the former Motorola chief operating officer who took over in July 2002, for boosting Tyco's market capitalization by $30 billion in a year. That was despite some shareholder anger over Tyco's low stock price — less than half its...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The corruption case of two former Tyco International Ltd. executives veered closer to a mistrial on Friday as jurors remained in turmoil, prompting the judge to send them home early to calm down. New York State Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus told the jurors to return on Monday after they sent him a note saying they did not believe they could keep deliberating in good faith. "Based upon further intense discussion today, we firmly believe that this jury's ability to communicate and deliberate with an open mind is irreparably compromised," the jury said in the note...