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Sunday, July 29, 2007

Qwest ex-CEO Nacchio ordered to forfeit $52 mln

 The ex-CEO of Qwest has had a bad week.  He's been sentenced to six years in jail and will have to forfeit $52 million that he received and was prosecuted for successfully by the government.  He received a $52 million from stock gains he received when trading on his own company that he had inside information on.  Over 20 other charges were dismissed at the government was successful in convicting him on 19 counts of insider trading.

A federal judge ordered the former chief executive of Qwest Communications International (Q.N: QuoteProfile , Research), Joseph Nacchio, to forfeit $52 million in stock gains from insider trading, before his sentencing hearing on Friday.

...

Nacchio, 58, whose April conviction on 19 counts of insider trading was one of the biggest victories for U.S. prosecutors in a range of cases charging illegal financial dealings by corporate executives.

Qwest ex-CEO Nacchio ordered to forfeit $52 mln | Reuters.co.uk

 

I foresee a CEO that's going to be living a lot more simply over the next few years while he is in prison indefinitely after he gets out.  He may even have to sell a luxury home or to to make ends meet.  The government took $52 million I'd hate to see what his lawyers are taking from him.  But in reality that's all chump change compared what he took from investors and other stakeholders in Qwest.
Saturday, July 28, 2007

Notes from a Mobile Professional (3): Tools of Trade

I am working on a new concept of pushing a series of articles out across several blogs in the Softduit Network.  This is part 3 in a series that continues to grow.

As a mobile professional, I am a big fan of storing data with different data storage mediums.   My favorite storage mediums are: data tape; DVD, and SD card.   My preferred data storage and backup software tool is Norton's Ghost.

In terms of SD Card, my preference is the 8 GB size.   At the same time, I have SD cards of numerous memory sizes.
For most of my devices (digital camera,) I do prefer the use of SD card to storage small file sizes, image files, video clips and audio files.

As of this time, SD-card is the most popular memory card format used in compact digital camera. Those who purchase SD-card must realize that there are different types of SD-cards.

Mobile Professional Tools Series

Part 1 | Part 2

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Avnet Acquires European HP and IBM Distribution Business

Avnet announced that they will acquire Magirus Groups Enterprise Infrastructure Division for Europe making them one of the largest European distributors of Enterprise solutions. 

Avnet has made several acquisitions in the past year-and-a-half. At the beginning of this year it acquired Access Distribution. Avnet acquired Belgian auto-ID distributor Printex in March of last year and the assets of Zeta, a German wholesaler in June.

IT Channel News by CRN and VARBusiness

Avnet is in the process of sewing up this market tight, but he deal is still subject to regulatory approval but its unlikely that any Funeral Insurance for this deal will be necessary.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Microsoft Project 2007

If you are a Microsoft Project Depot today, and you haven't considered jumping ship to a cheaper alternative, you might consider reading this article at our sister site.

Microsoft Project 2007: The Essential Tool for Project Managers at Top 10 Tech Software

it describes why the new Microsoft Project 2007 might continue to be the essential tool for all project managers.  Whether you're managing a complex ongoing operation or continuous process or building a one-time project Microsoft project can definitely help you coordinate and manage large body of a complex and intricately balanced requirements.  It does have an expensive price tag however and that means you need to do your homework before you make a purchasing decision. 

Reader Feedback

  1. If you're using Microsoft Project 2007 we definitely like to hear from you and learn what you think of the new software.
  2. We'd also like to hear from you if you are definitely considering upgrading or definitely not going to upgrade to Microsoft Project 2007.
Monday, July 16, 2007

Effective Advertising with the Right Voice for the Job

Advertising online these days requires much more than throwing up a website and maybe supporting that with a business blog or a few white papers.  Visitors coming to your company website are often times going to bounce away to a competitor site unless you have compelling and sticky elements on your website that encourages them to stay.

Putting together a simple flash video presentation accompanied by a high quality voice over track can provide a level of stickiness that will keep people on your site and encourage them to hear out your entire message.

Finding good voice over talent is not difficult. For example Don Capone is readily available for performing voice over work. He has experience in TV, radio and internet mediums and can definitely provide the level of professionalism that your company and your website or commercial needs to succeed.

Voice over work can have a long shelf life for your company.  It can be used on individual presentations and even small excerpts can be cut and mixed for future advertising efforts.  You can even use this work in inserts to be advertised through other Radio or Internet Radio or Podcast broadcasts.

Hints of a China v US Trade War

China has banned shipments of US food products from Tyson and other companies citing contamination of the food products.  This appears to be a counter response to US Customers actions halting the shipment of fish shipments from entering the US border.

Many types of Chines fish products grown on fish farms have been identified to contain unauthorized levels of antibiotics in the fish.  Chinese fish farmers treat their fish with antibiotics to counter over crowded and poorly maintained fish farms.  The fish are kept healthy enough to go to market with the antibiotics.

Many other Chinese products have come under fire recently from toothpaste to poisonous childrens' cough syrup killing kids in Latin America. With a US economy that is heating up from inflated energy prices and a $9.5 trillion deficit, a trade war could be extremely bad for the US and for China both. 

If this type of tit for tat reaction spreads to other areas from simple Wal-Mart products to consumer electronics and more, we could be marching towards a significant show down.  A trade war could cause significant disruptions in products for US businesses and consumers from food, to iPods to Dell Memory, to kids toys, back to school supplies and much more.

IHApplebOP Merger

High Gas prices and a week real estate market have  created an ideal situation for IHOP to buy Applebee's for $2.1 billion.  IHOP is being led by Julia Stewart, who came from Applebee's originally back in 2001.  She is credited with turning IHOP around and through the merger will now be charged with turning her former employer around.

The combined chain of restaraunts will be capable of earning $6.8 billion in revenue per year.  The real question will be how consumers will react as they continue to feel the pinch of inflation, energy prices on the rise, a week real estate market and a Federal deficit approaching $10 trillion weighing in on the American economy.

The interesting thing about this story is probably the CEO, Julia Stewart.  She came out of operations and has steadily improved the operations of IHOP.  Its this ability to change the fundamentals of a company and add value that is significant (as opposed to the all too typical slash and sell off model used by companies in other industries - Motorola comes to mind).  A company that is led by a leader that knows how to fix things is going to be far stronger in a bad economy than a company that only knows how to take chargers and sell off their company one fire sale at a time per quarter.

With this approach in mind, executives from Applebee's might be hanging up their Callaway golf clubs on the wall at Applebee's to add to the ambience. They will probably find themselves skipping some business at the club and rolling up their sleeves to get back to basics in their restaraunts.

IHOP to buy Applebee's restaurant chain for $2.1 billion - MarketWatch