Cubic Corp.: Between Iran and a hard place…
Since mid-January, Cubic Corporation (CUB) has signed new contracts worth more than $300 million. The agreements vary, from creating a new “new smart card fare payment and revenue management system” for Vancouver’s regional transit systems, to creating systems that help American and British military personnel obtain tactical training. Yet for all the exciting new work...
Into the breach (or not) with Atlas Energy…
Any time a proposed merger is announced, we expect that a handful of law firms will open an investigation that challenges how the deal came about or whether it’s in the best interest of the company’s shareholders. Thus, we weren’t surprised to read about lawsuits related to Chevron Corporation’s (CVX) $4.3 billion bid to acquire...
A show of nerves at Yahoo…
With all the rumors, speculation and well-meaning advice swirling around Yahoo (YHOO), we weren’t terribly surprised to find some indications that the board and management were getting a little twitchy. Of course, when corporate titans get twitchy, lawyers usually get busy. And sure enough, Yahoo filed an 8-K on Thursday afternoon disclosing a series of...
Diamond Foods extracts a problematic chemical…
We’ll admit to having a genuine fondness for Kettle chips, those salty, extra-crispy potato slices that deliver more crunch and flavor than the potato chips we ate as kids. Somehow paying more for a bag doesn’t seem so unreasonable, since to our palates the chips taste better and are made without trans fats, MSG, or...
PG&E tries to manage the heat from San Bruno explosion…
Since September 9, when one of Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s (PG&E) natural gas transmission pipes ruptured and resulted in the San Bruno fire, the company filed four SEC filings that mention the explosion. PG&E – which has about 20,000 employees and delivers electricity and natural gas to about 15 million people in northern and...
Court to Cuban: Good luck with that defense…
Here we go again: The Mark Cuban insider-trading case — the one we all had pleasantly forgotten about — is back. And in ruling to reinstate the SEC’s insider-trading lawsuit against Cuban on Tuesday, the appellate judges issuing the ruling may have presented the investor and sports mogul something of a damned-if-he-does, damned-if-he-doesn’t scenario (in...
HP and Oracle’s lawyers worked through Labor Day…
By now, you’ve no doubt either read or heard about Hewlett-Packard’s (HPQ) lawsuit against former golden child CEO Mark Hurd that was filed yesterday morning (you can read the actual complaint here). And perhaps, you’ve even seen some of the stories about Hurd’s new contract with Oracle (ORCL), which was filed with the SEC earlier today...
Not so golden silence at Ford Motor…
If a $131-million verdict comes down in a Mississippi courtroom, and no-one’s around to hear it, when will shareholders find out about it? Maybe not for a long while, if it’s up to Ford Motor (F). As has been reported, Ford lost a civil lawsuit in Mississippi last Thursday, with a $131 million verdict over the death...
A modest agreement at International Rectifier …
We don’t hesitate to call companies out for giving former directors and executives lush consulting contracts. Look no further than Northrop Grumman, Acxiom and Boeing, among others. Now we come across a consulting contract we might even like: One filed with an 8-K on Tuesday by International Rectifier (IRF), a maker of power-management semiconductors in El...
Iran sanctions and PerkinElmer …