- Turnout Is Key in Massachusetts Battle
- Credit Suisse Cuts Bonus Pool to Spread Costs From U.K. Taxes
- Wall Street May Seek to Sway Congress by Hiring Top Lawyer
- US investment banks divided over levy
- Citigroup Reports 2009 Full Year Managed Revenues(1) of $91.1 Billion and Expenses of $47.8 Billion
- AIG Tries to Defuse Bonus Pay Showdown
- Berkshire Nears Smaller Baby Bs
- Buffett Cuts Berkshire Stake Below 25% on Rail Deal, Charity
- Cadbury Takes the Cookie Dough
- American Airlines Raises Checked Bag Fees
- Japan Air Seeks Bankruptcy in $10 Billion Turnaround
- NBC to Pay $40 Million to Show Conan O’Brien the Door
Turnout Is Key in Massachusetts Battle – Wall Street Journal
The fight for a Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat, and with it President Barack Obama’s domestic agenda, is coming down to one essential challenge: maximizing turnout of core supporters in dismal wintry weather conditions.
Both campaigns in Tuesday’s special election to succeed the late Edward Kennedy, joined by allies on the left and right, are mounting extraordinary efforts to boost turnout, pouring millions of dollars into advertising while flooding neighborhoods with canvassers and phone lines with last-minute appeals to vote…..
Credit Suisse Cuts Bonus Pool to Spread Costs From U.K. Taxes – Bloomberg
Credit Suisse Group AG, the largest Swiss bank by market value, decided to trim its global bonus pool by 5 percent to spread the cost of the U.K. bonus tax, with senior employees in London taking bigger reductions.
About 400 managing directors in the U.K., who make up less than 10 percent of Credit Suisse’s staff in the country, were told today that their bonus pool is being cut by a further 30 percent from planned levels. Andres Luther, a spokesman for the Zurich-based bank, confirmed the size of the reductions. He declined to provide the total amount of the bonus pool……
Wall Street May Seek to Sway Congress by Hiring Top Lawyer – Bloomberg
Wall Street’s decision to hire a Supreme Court lawyer to study President Obama’s plan to tax banks may be aimed more at swaying lawmakers than winning a lawsuit, some constitutional experts said.
Challenging the Obama plan in court “would be a fool’s errand for the banking industry,” said Bruce Fein, a Washington-based legal scholar and former associate deputy attorney general in the Reagan administration. “But they might get Congress nervous, so maybe the levy wouldn’t be as heavy.”….
US investment banks divided over levy – Financial Times
….The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association confirmed that it had hired Carter Phillips, a managing partner at the law firm Sidley Austin, who has argued 57 cases before the Supreme Court, to study how to respond to what it called a “very targeted and punitive tax”.
But in a sign that all its member banks may not support the kind of legal challenge a renowned Supreme Court litigator such as Mr Phillips could mount, Sifma on Monday said it was “premature” to discuss what action it might take. One person close to Sifma said it would seek to make changes to the proposal in Congress before seeking legal redress…..
Citigroup today reported a full year 2009 net loss of $1.6 billion, or $0.80 per share. Managed revenues were $91.1 billion for the year. The fourth quarter 2009 net loss was $7.6 billion, or $0.33 per share. Excluding the $6.2 billion after-tax loss associated with TARP repayment and exiting the loss-sharing agreement, the fourth quarter net loss was $1.4 billion or $0.06 per share.
The provision for loan losses(3) in the fourth quarter was $8.2 billion, down 36% from the prior year and 10% from the prior quarter.
“We have made enormous progress in 2009,” said Vikram Pandit, Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup. “It was our responsibility to get our own house in order. We greatly improved Citi’s capital strength, reduced the size and scope of the company, and refocused our business strategy to take advantage of our unmatched global network. We created Citi Holdings to rationalize non-strategic businesses, totally overhauled risk management, cut costs by over $13 billion annually, reduced headcount by 100,000, and reduced assets by $500 billion from peak levels. And to take advantage of all these changes, we assembled a talented new management team focused on the new Citicorp franchise to move us forward…..
AIG Tries to Defuse Bonus Pay Showdown – Wall Street Journal
American International Group Inc. is seeking to reduce and pay out early a batch of retention payments to employees at its financial products division, as the insurer tries to defuse a potential showdown over the bonuses, according to people familiar with the matter.
AIG is obligated to pay out $195 million in retention bonuses in March to AIG Financial Products employees. The company recently discussed a proposal to make the payment several weeks early if employees agree to have it reduced by 10% to 15%, people familiar with the matter said….
Berkshire Nears Smaller Baby Bs – Wall Street Journal
Warren Buffett is likely about to orchestrate one of the biggest changes the financial structure of his company has seen in years.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is widely expected to approve a 50-to-1 share split of its Class B shares on Wednesday, a move tied to its planned purchase of the railroad giant Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp…..
Buffett Cuts Berkshire Stake Below 25% on Rail Deal, Charity – Bloomberg
Warren Buffett, who committed most of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shares to charity, is speeding the pace at which he reduces his ownership stake with the $26 billion takeover of railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.
The issuance of Berkshire shares in support of the buyout would reduce Buffett’s stake in his firm stocks to about 24 percent. That compares with stakes of 40 percent in 1996 and 32 percent in 2006, the year he began handing over shares as part of the largest charitable donation in history, according to regulatory filings……
Cadbury Takes the Cookie Dough – Wall Street Journal
In recommending a modestly sweeter 850 pence-a-share ($13.89) offer from Kraft Foods, Cadbury Chairman Roger Carr has yielded to the U.S. investors and hedge funds which dominate the chocolate maker’s share register. Unlike U.K. institutions, they were keener to take Kraft Food’s cash and shares today than wait for Cadbury to realize its full potential. At 13 times Cadbury’s 2009 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, the Kraft offer is at the low end of recent food-sector transaction multiples…..
American Airlines Raises Checked Bag Fees – ABC News
American Airlines said Monday it is raising its fees on checked bags for passengers buying tickets starting Feb. 1.
The company said it is raising the charge for the first checked bag to $25 from $20 on flights in the U.S., Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. The fees apply to passengers on the company’s American Airlines, American Eagle and American Connection flights.
A second checked bag will cost $35, up from $30………
Japan Air Seeks Bankruptcy in $10 Billion Turnaround – Bloomberg
Japan Airlines Corp. filed for the country’s fourth-largest bankruptcy under a 900 billion yen ($10 billion) turnaround plan after four government bailouts failed to revive Asia’s most indebted carrier.
The company and two units applied for protection from creditors at Tokyo District Court today, with 2.32 trillion yen in liabilities. JAL, which flew at least 45 million passengers last year, will continue operations…..
NBC to Pay $40 Million to Show Conan O’Brien the Door – Wall Street Journal
Conan O’Brien is close to signing a nearly $40 million deal to walk away from his dream job hosting NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” bringing down the curtain on one of the entertainment industry’s biggest debacles in years.
The comedian’s exit agreement, which could be completed as early as Tuesday, bars Mr. O’Brien from bad-mouthing his former NBC bosses, according to people familiar with the matter, but paves the way for him to land another television gig within a year.
Tags: AIG, Bankruptcy, Barack Obama, Berkshire Hathaway, Bonuses, Citigroup, Compensation, Credit Suisse, Mergers, Politics, Taxes, UK, Warren Buffett
