Archive for September 15th, 2009

Justice prevails … B of A shareholders shielded from double-jeopardy

September 15, 2009

The HomaFiles were all over this one early (thanks to a provocative inquiry from SMH — an MSB alum).  We raised the issue way before the WSJ or anybody else. 

In an Aug. 26 post, HomaFiles asked whether it was double jeopardy for shareholders if the SEC fines a company for misleading or defrauding its shareholders.
https://kenhoma.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/an-irony-of-sec-fines-double-jeopardy-for-shareholders/

Apparently, the courts asked the same question …  and ruled accordingly.  Coincidence?

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WSJ,  Judge Tosses Out B of A Bonus Deal, Sep 15, 2009

A federal judge threw out the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed settlement with Bank of America over its disclosure of controversial bonuses paid to Merrill Lynch employees, in an unusual ruling that casts doubts about how the agency handles probes of major U.S. companies.

The SEC declined to sue bank executives, saying the banks’ lawyers wrote the allegedly misleading language and it couldn’t find evidence that bank executives intended to mislead shareholders.

Instead, the SEC sued the company itself, i.e. the shareholders .

In a rare scuttling of an SEC settlement, Judge Rakoff said the $33 million fine levied on Bank of America “does not comport with the most elementary notions of justice and morality” because the company’s shareholders — the victims of the alleged misconduct — are the same people being asked to pay the fine.

The judge also had little sympathy for the SEC’s argument that it would be too difficult to pursue executives, since they had been guided by lawyers. “If that is the case, why are the penalties not then sought from the lawyers? And why, in any event, does that justify imposing penalties on the victims of the lie, shareholders?” he asked.

He also had harsh words for BofA, which has recently filed court papers claiming its proxy statement was neither false nor misleading. “If the Bank is innocent of lying to its shareholders, why is it prepared to pay $33 million of its shareholders’ money as a penalty for lying to them?”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203917304574413242609077958.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB125294493976909051-lMyQjAxMDI5NTEyNDkxNDQ0Wj.html

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Posted in Financial Services & Crises, Laws - Very Strange | Leave a Comment »

The power of infographics: The health care debate … reduced to one 8-1/2 X 11.

September 15, 2009

Excerpted from Fast Company, Infographic of the Day: Flow Chart of Obama’s Health-Care Plan, Sep 14, 2009

Charts and infographics have unequaled power to convince and explain. So why aren’t they playing a bigger role in the health-care debate?

President Obama  … uses 21st century technologies in an unprecedented ways … but he remains as musty as John Adams, in at least one respect: His insistence to use speeches alone, unaided by charts or graphs, to get his point across …  It’s not a terribly efficient way to communicate. Not, at least, compared with graphs.

There’s a business-world fetish with that one powerpoint slide that totally encapsulates a problem. Our culture is quickly growing to accept the idea of a definitive infographic, because infographics are better able to model an issue, in its sweep and complexity, than a mountain of words possibly can. No one, outside of CEO’s at investor meetings and politicians, still communicates with huge groups using speeches alone.

Why shouldn’t last week’s address to Congress have been accompanied by a couple charts? 

A summary chart (below) could have be flashed on screen endlessly afterward—more powerful than any meandering quote.

obama's health care chart

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/cliff-kuang/design-innovation/infographic-day-flow-chart-obamas-healthcare-plan

Posted in Health Care / Medical Insurance | Leave a Comment »

Fumble! Bud's college "fan-cans" yanked from market as colleges protest.

September 15, 2009

TakeAway: Anheuser-Busch made a risky and costly marketing decision when it decided to launch a school-themed Bud Light campaign without the permission of the schools. 

AB wasted a valuable portion of its marketing budget since, due to school protest, it must stop production of and remove the existing inventory of many “themed” beers.

And, it hacked off several of the biggest (football power-house) universities, potentially damaging future relations. 

A little more due diligence or “priming” should have been done before launching this marketing campaign.

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Excerpted from WSJ, “Team Colored Bud Cans Leave Colleges Flat” by John Hechinger, August 21 2009

Dozens of colleges are up in arms over a new Anheuser-Busch marketing campaign that features Bud Light beer cans emblazoned with local schools’ team colors …

As part of a broader marketing effort, the Bud Light school-colors campaign, also called “Team Pride” in the marketing materials, aims to use “color schemes to connect with fans of legal drinking age in fun ways in select markets across a variety of sports,” … the cans don’t bear any school’s name or logo…

Colleges fear that promotions near college campuses will not only contribute to underage and binge drinking but also will give the impression that the colleges are endorsing the brew …

Collegiate Licensing Co., which represents about 200 colleges, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and other school-sports organizations, complained to Anheuser-Busch about potential trademark violations after being notified about the campaign. 

At least 25 schools have formally asked Anheuser-Busch to drop the campaign near their campuses. In recent letters, the University of Michigan’s lawyers threatened legal action for alleged trademark infringement, demanding that Anheuser-Busch not sell the “maize and blue” cans in the “entire state.” …

Edit by TJS

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Full Article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125081310939148053.html

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Ken’s Take: If the powerhouse schools had gotten a cut of the actions, I bet concerns re: underage drinking would have disappeared.  Call me cynical.

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Posted in Beer & Liquor, Mktg - Packaging, Mktg - Promotion | Leave a Comment »

Fumble! Bud’s college "fan-cans" yanked from market as colleges protest.

September 15, 2009

TakeAway: Anheuser-Busch made a risky and costly marketing decision when it decided to launch a school-themed Bud Light campaign without the permission of the schools. 

AB wasted a valuable portion of its marketing budget since, due to school protest, it must stop production of and remove the existing inventory of many “themed” beers.

And, it hacked off several of the biggest (football power-house) universities, potentially damaging future relations. 

A little more due diligence or “priming” should have been done before launching this marketing campaign.

* * * * *

Excerpted from WSJ, “Team Colored Bud Cans Leave Colleges Flat” by John Hechinger, August 21 2009

Dozens of colleges are up in arms over a new Anheuser-Busch marketing campaign that features Bud Light beer cans emblazoned with local schools’ team colors …

As part of a broader marketing effort, the Bud Light school-colors campaign, also called “Team Pride” in the marketing materials, aims to use “color schemes to connect with fans of legal drinking age in fun ways in select markets across a variety of sports,” … the cans don’t bear any school’s name or logo…

Colleges fear that promotions near college campuses will not only contribute to underage and binge drinking but also will give the impression that the colleges are endorsing the brew …

Collegiate Licensing Co., which represents about 200 colleges, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and other school-sports organizations, complained to Anheuser-Busch about potential trademark violations after being notified about the campaign. 

At least 25 schools have formally asked Anheuser-Busch to drop the campaign near their campuses. In recent letters, the University of Michigan’s lawyers threatened legal action for alleged trademark infringement, demanding that Anheuser-Busch not sell the “maize and blue” cans in the “entire state.” …

Edit by TJS

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Full Article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125081310939148053.html

* * * * *

Ken’s Take: If the powerhouse schools had gotten a cut of the actions, I bet concerns re: underage drinking would have disappeared.  Call me cynical.

* * * * *

Posted in Beer & Liquor, Mktg - Packaging, Mktg - Promotion | Leave a Comment »