Last month, the Boeing Co. hired James McNerney, a protoge of Jack Welch, as its new CEO. I’ve posted James McNerney’s employment agreement with Boeing on the web site.
Other recent postings include Intra-Asia Entertainment contracts, Coffeyville Resources contracts, ICOP Digital contracts, Authentidate contracts, Private Business Inc. contracts and Private Media Group contracts. The last one includes a Production Agreement for a series of adult movies.
The Motley Fool: Is “Baidu” Chinese for “Google”?. According to Baidu’s prospectus, it is “the leading Chinese-language Internet search provider.” In Web traffic, it ranks No. 2 in China and No. 6 in the world. Much like Google, Baidu has built its traffic mostly through word-of-mouth and the so-called Baidu Union. Over 76,000 third-party websites have posted Baidu’s search box on their pages; if their users search Baidu via that box, and click on ads in the process, Baidu Union members get a piece of the resulting profits.
I’ve posted Baidu contracts to the web site.
Yesterday, I received an email from Chris Fontes, the Senior Director of Strategic Marketing at FindLaw, telling me that FindLaw will be shutting down its free web site business on August 1st – as in 2 1/2 weeks. That’s short notice.
For solo practitioners or small law firms looking for free law firm Web sites, the fine folks at Justia offer such a product. And, these aren’t some rudimentary web sites that you wouldn’t want to show off to your clients. Justia offers stylish search engine optimized web sites with contact forms and other fancy features.
So, repeat after me: FindLaw’s Fontes folds free web sites. Fine folks at Justia furnish free web sites featuring fancy features for law firms.
Boston Business Journal: Concerto Software to Acquire Aspect Communications for $1B. Privately held Concerto Software Inc. is acquiring Aspect Communications Corp. for approximately $1 billion in cash, ending Aspect’s 15-year run as a public company.
I’ve added Aspect Communications contracts to the site.
Forbes/Associated Press: Levi Strauss 2Q Profit More Than Quadruples. Levi Strauss & Co.’s second-quarter profit more than quadrupled, reflecting a more disciplined financial approach that could set the stage for an initial public offering by the fabled maker of jeans.
I’ve posted Levi Strauss contracts to the web site. This includes the Services Agreement with Alvarez & Marsal, who were hired to turnout the company.
New York Times: SEC Wants Day in Court With Scrushy. Last week, Richard M. Scrushy, the former chief executive of HealthSouth, walked out of a federal courthouse in Birmingham with an acquittal, but his business in the building is not done yet. Mr. Scrushy still faces civil lawsuits, including a securities fraud suit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Sure, he’s still facing civil lawsuits, but what’s a couple dollars or even a couple million dollars? Without the threat of jail hanging over him, he surely must be relieved. Who do you think was most surprised by the verdict? The prosecutors? Nah. I think it must be his underlings who turned against him and made a deal with prosecutors. Now, they’ll face jail time while he walks free. I’ve added HealthSouth contracts to the site, including Richard Scrushy’s employment agreement.
Last year, Scott Kinney joined FindLaw as the Vice President of Strategic Marketing. Recently, he became the new CEO of FindLaw. You can read Scott Kinney’s employment agreement from his days at MarketWatch.com.
When I worked at FindLaw many years ago, Tim Stanley was the CEO. Nowadays, Tim runs a law firm web design company. If you are considering a new web site for your law firm or have an existing FindLaw FirmSite, be sure to call the folks at Justia and see the Search Engine Optimized Web Sites they can design for you.
New York Times: Behind China’s Bid for Unocal: A Costly Quest for Energy Control. From the dusty plains of East Africa to the shores of the Caspian Sea, China is seeking to loosen the grip of the United States on world energy resources and secure the fuel it needs to keep its economy in overdrive.
There certainly is a lot of commotion over foreigners buying American oil companies. However, BP did acquire ARCO, and the B in BP stand for British. Maybe that one doesn’t count since the Brits are members of the coalition of the willing. They’re practically American. They even speak English. How about Shell? Oops, they’re not American, they’re Dutch and are members of the coalition as well. I guess if CNOOC really wants to acquire Unocal, it should petition the Chinese government to join the coalition, if it’s not too late. I guess that all depends on whether or not the insurgents are in their last throes. Here’s a funny tidbit:
White House Press Release on Coalition Members:
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2004 (Uganda):
What next? Will Saddam be joining the coalition of the willing to liberate the North Koreans? Anyways, I’ve added Unocal contracts to the site, including the merger agreement between Unocal and ChevronTexaco.
Xinhua: Haier Raises Bid to US2.25b for Maytag. Chinese home appliance maker Haier Group had raised its bidding price for U.S. appliance group Maytag Corp. to US$2.25 billion from the previous US$1.28 billion, the China Business News reported.
The floodgates will really open if China accedes to Washington’s demands and relaxes the fixed dollar-RMB peg it currently maintains. Imagine, American companies suddenly becoming 10-30% cheaper. I’ve added Maytag contracts to the site, including the original merger agreement between Maytag and Ripplewood, which sparked this bidding war.
InformationWeek: Phishers Jump on Credit-Card Breach. When MasterCard went public last week with news that a security breach exposed more than 40 million cards to fraud, customers weren’t the only ones interested. Phishers picked up on it, too, and quickly launched a campaign to piggyback on the blunder.
Just take a glance at Google news and you’ll see that the identity theft worries over the MasterCard security breach have jumped overseas. Welcome to the next American export. I’ve posted MasterCard contracts online.
Other recent additions include Infodata Systems contracts, Celsion contracts, Salmedix contracts and Rackable Systems contracts.