Blog

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

Florida investor Bruce Sherman finds himself in the midst of another media company buyout. This time it’s Hearst-Argyle Television, which received an offer from majority shareholder Hearst Corporation.

Hearst, a privately held publisher of newspapers, magazines and Internet properties, already owns more than 73 percent of the broadcaster’s shares. It is offering $600 million for the remainder.

Sherman, who runs Private Capital Management, instigated the eventual sale last year of newspaper publisher Knight Ridder to McClatchy. This time, he appears to be more passive, but there is a much bigger appetite for the target company stock he controls.

Hearst said it would make a tender offer of $23.50 a share for Hearst-Argyle, but investors bid the price well past $25 at the market close Friday, indicating other bids are expected.

Private Capital Management owns 8.4 million shares of Hearst-Argyle, according to the company’s April proxy statement. That equals about one-third of the shares not already held by Hearst Corporation.

Why so much interest in Hearst-Argyle, which owns network affiliated TV stations that reach about 18 percent of the nation?

Some analysts expect the 2008 election campaign to generate record ad revenue to television stations of up to $3 billion, according to Reuters.

On the web
Hearst Makes $600 Million Bid To Buy the Rest of Hearst-Argyle – Wall Street Journal
TV, radio look for record ad money in election – Reuters

Andre Agassi has plenty to keep him occupied since his tearful farewell to tennis at last year’s U.S. Open.

Agassi is the founder of a charter school in his hometown Las Vegas and a charitable foundation headed by his long-time friend and agent, Perry Rogers.

The foundation board includes such luminaries as Elton John and Emeril Lagasse.

On the web
After tennis, a new set of priorities for Agassi – Los Angeles Times

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co., a major subprime lender, said Wednesday it would close 65 branches around the country and fire 1,600 workers as the mortgage meltdown continues to spread.

For at least two of the company’s directors, it must have seemed like deja vu all over again.

Richard Pratt and Bowers Espy were S&L regulators in the early 1980s as that industry was in crisis.

Pratt was Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board and the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. Espy was deputy director of financial analysis and policy research at the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. In 1981, Pratt predicted that an average of one S&L per day would hit zero net worth.

The government bailout of the thrift industry, which extended well into the 1990s, eventually cost taxpayers more than $100 billion. Both the FSLIC, which insured deposits, and the FHLBB were abolished in 1989.

After Espy went to work for Merrill Lynch, he acquired assets from the Resolution Trust Corporation, which disposed of properties held by failed S&Ls.

On the web
Accredited Halts Loans, Slashes Jobs – Smart Money

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

GreenPoint Mortgage, the latest casualty of the mortgage meltdown, was once overseen by a director of Freddie Mac, the giant public company chartered by Congress to bolster home lending.

Thomas S. Johnson was elected to Freddie Mac’s board in 2004 when he was CEO of GreenPoint Financial, then parent of GreenPoint Mortgage. That year, GreenPoint Financial was acquired by North Fork Bancorp for $6.3 billion. Capital One acquired North Fork last year for $13.2 billion.

After the markets closed Monday, Capital One said it would shut down GreenPoint Mortgage, eliminating 1,900 jobs by the end of the year.

Johnson became CEO of Greenpoint in 1993. Before that he was president of Chemical Banking Corporation and Manufacturers Hanover. In 2003, the year before he became a Freddie Mac director, GreenPoint sold $3.3 billion worth of mortgages to Freddie Mac, according to the press release about his appointment.

The company specialized in making loans to those with slightly better credit than subprime borrowers – often referred to as the Alt-A market – but the results were the same: a rise in defaults and foreclosures that has rocked the mortgage industry.

Some in Congress think Freddie Mac should be allowed to buy larger mortgages and more of them from firms like GreenPoint to inject liquidity into the market.

On the web
Capital One to Close Mortgage Unit – New York Times
Capital One Closes GreenPoint Mortgage, Idling 1,900 – Bloomberg

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

In his toy recall crisis, Mattel CEO Robert Eckert has some experts on his board of directors who know about the importance of consumer trust.

Mattel, the largest toy company in the world, announced the biggest recall in its history this week. The toys were made in China.

Mattel Director Craig Sullivan is the former CEO of Clorox and a director of Kimberly-Clark and Goodyear Tire & Rubber, all major consumer products companies.

Christopher Sinclair is a former Pepsi exec and a director of Footlocker, a retailer.

Ronald Sargent is the CEO of office products retailer Staples and a director of grocery giant Kroger. Tully Friedman is a director of Clorox.

Eckert, who is a director of McDonald’s, will need that consumer expertise as Mattel tries to calm fears as the holiday shopping season approaches. Company executives said more recalls are possible.

On the web
Mattel Recalls 19 Million Toys Sent From China – Washington Post

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.

Mitt Romney’s years at Bain & Company and Bain Capital are proving useful beyond the millions he is able to pour from his personal fortune into his presidential campaign.

Two of his finance co-chairs – Meg Whitman of eBay and David Brandon of Domino’s Pizza – have Bain ties.

The Washington Post noted yesterday that the campaign had attracted at least $196,000 in donations from Bain employees.

Romney personally loaned nearly $9 million to the campaign during the first six months of 2007.

On the web
Romney’s Old Ties To Firm Pay Off – Washington Post

This post was archived from createpositivechange.org/. View the original on the Wayback Machine.