Author: Ken Chan

Categories
celebrities insider trading

Brand It Like Beckham

New York Times: The Butler, a Confidence and a Profit of $48,000. Regulators say they have solved an insider trading mystery: It was the butler in the poolside office with the fax machine. Graham J. Lefford was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday of illegally trading on confidential information that he gleaned in 2004 from his boss’s $100 million purchase of a controlling stake of the rights to Elvis Presley’s image and likeness.

You may not have heard of CKX, Inc. (NASDAQ: CKXE), but I’m sure you’ve heard of David Beckham, Muhammad Ali and American Idol. You can find these and other celebrity CKX contracts on the website now.

Categories
ipo

Shutterfly Shoots for 73 Million

Red Herring: Shutterfly Expects $73M IPO. Shutterfly set the terms of its IPO Thursday in an amended filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, predicting it will raise net proceeds of $73 million by offering 5.8 million shares priced at approximately $13 to $15.

I’ve added Shutterfly contracts to the web site. Mostlty employment agreements plus a Supply Agreement with Fuji Photo Film.

Categories
litigation

High Tech Chewing Gum

Food Production Daily: Argentina Nabs Bazooka Joe. An Argentine gum manufacturer has been granted the right to continue making Bazooka gum, despite an acrimonious end to its business relationship with the Topps company who own the iconic US brand.

The article above adds, “Topps contended that Stani held only the rights to the brand names rather than the specialized technology used to make them.” The last time I had a piece of Bazooka Joe chewing gum, it was hard and lost its flavor rapidly. Specialized technology, eh? I’ve added Topps Company contracts to the web site. No chewing gum contracts with any Argentine companies, but plenty of trading card contracts with various sports leagues.

Categories
ipo

CommVault IPO Coming Soon

Reuters: CommVault sets IPO at 11.1 mln shrs, $12.50-$14.50. CommVault Systems Inc., which designs software that backs up, protects and recovers data, on Wednesday set its planned initial public offering at 11.11 million shares for an estimated price of $12.50 to $14.50 per share.

I’ve added CommVault Systems Inc. contracts to the web site.

Categories
corporate buzz ipo

Juiced Contracts

Yahoo/Reuters: “Blank-Check” Companies Defy Weak IPO Market. Services Acquisition Corp. International, which floated shares in 2005 at $8, announced in March it would merge with U.S. restaurant chain Jamba Juice in a deal worth about $265 million.

I’ve Services Acquisition Corp. International contract to the web site, including the Jamba Juice Merger Agreement.

Categories
corporate buzz sharesleuth

Xethanol Xamined

sharesleuth.com: Xethanol Corp.. Xethanol Corp. bills itself as a biotechnology-driven ethanol company that can turn wood chips, corn stalks and paper sludge into cheap alternative fuel. But a Sharesleuth.com investigation found no evidence that Xethanol (XNL: AMEX) has produced significant quantities of ethanol from those raw materials.

Sharesleuth is the latest project of Mark Cuban and Chris Carey. The premise of this venture is that Sharesleuth will expose companies suspected of securities fraud and corporate chicanery and Mark will short their shares. Interesting…

I’ve added Xethanol Corp. contracts to the web site.

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Categories
litigation

Agere Aims for PlayStation

The Morning Call: Agere Sues Sony, Claims Patents Infringed. Agere Systems is accusing Sony Corp. of illegally using eight of its patents in a variety of products, including PlayStation, the popular gaming console.

I’ve posted Agere Systems Inc. (AGR) contracts, including the patent and license agreement between it and Lucent when it was spunoff.

Categories
litigation stock options

Former Comverse Chief Flees

New York Times: F.B.I. Calls Ex-Comverse Chief a Fugitive, and Casts a Wide Net. The hunt for Jacob Alexander, known as Kobi, was stepped up yesterday after the Federal Bureau of Investigation declared him a fugitive and said agents were seeking his arrest.

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice announced that three former executives of Comverse Technology Inc. (“Comverse”), a publicly-held computer software company, were charged for their roles in orchestrating a long-running scheme to manipulate the grant of millions of Comverse stock options to themselves and to employees. Former Chief Executive Officer Jacob “Kobi” Alexander, former Chief Financial Officer David Kreinberg, and former General Counsel William F. Sorin allegedly orchestrated the scheme by fraudulently backdating the options and operating a secret stock options slush fund.

I’ve added Comverse Technology contracts to the website, including the Employment Agreement between Comverse Technology Inc. and Kobi Alexander.

Categories
corporate buzz

Broke-cade Busted

vnunet.com: Ex-Brocade CEO charged with securities fraud. The US Attorney’s Office, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the FBI have filed criminal and civil securities fraud charges against Gregory Reyes, the former chief executive, president and chairman of storage firm Brocade Communications Systems.

I’ve added Brocade Communications Systems Inc. contracts to the site, including Greg Reyes Employment Agreement.

Categories
corporate buzz stock options

Backdating Options

Lately, a lot of companies have been caught up in stock option backdating scandals. Here are all the Stock Option Agreements that I’ve archived so far. More to come later…