Block

December 22, 2006 | Legaltech News

Seagate Technology, the world's largest maker of hard-disk drives, has agreed to acquire EVault, an online data storage service provider, for about $185 million in cash, potentially widening Seagate's service offerings in a business fueled by a need to store huge amounts of digital data.

By Donna Block

2 minute read

October 26, 2005 | Law.com

Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. chief executive Robert Greifeld said Monday that the new regulatory regime created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is discouraging European companies from listing in the United States. However, listings from Asia remain strong, he said. There's been a "bifurcated response to our changing regulatory environment," Greifeld told the National Association of Corporate Directors, but he predicted good regulation and sound business practices will bring listings back.

By Donna Block

3 minute read

April 09, 2004 | Law.com

Having recently proposed requiring companies to account for employee stock options, the Financial Accounting Standards Board is now turning its attention to how options should be treated in mergers and acquisitions. Of concern is the effect on a company's accounting when it replaces options held by employees of a recently acquired business. FASB is considering these issues as it works on a broader proposal dealing with business combinations.

By Donna Block

3 minute read

December 29, 2006 | New Jersey Law Journal

The Securities and Exchange Commission is under fire from congressional critics for its decision to adopt rules that would lower the amount of executive and director compensation that companies must disclose.

By Donna Block

3 minute read

May 08, 2008 | Law.com

President Bush intends to nominate Troy Paredes, a law professor from Washington University in St. Louis, to take up the Securities and Exchange Commission seat being vacated by Paul Atkins. The White House personnel announcement comes a day after Atkins announced that he would leave the agency when his term ends June 5. Paredes' five-year term will begin June 6, pending confirmation by the Senate. Paredes previously worked at Irell & Manella; Steptoe & Johnson; and O'Melveny & Myers.

By Donna Block

3 minute read

May 18, 2006 | New York Law Journal

If he had not made it clear already, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox last week said emphatically that the most controversial provisions of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley law mandating strict corporate disclosure remain a good idea and exemptions for small companies will not be coming. Instead, a few adjustments to the SEC's rules will allow the law to be implemented successfully, he said.

By Donna BlockThe Deal

2 minute read

July 20, 2007 | Law.com

Google executives will be called to testify before at least two congressional committees this fall to answer questions about the company's $3.1 billion buyout of DoubleClick and its impact on online advertising and consumer privacy. The Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel plans to hold a hearing focusing on the consolidation sweeping the online-advertising market. A House Commerce subcommittee on consumer protection is also planning a hearing, which will reportedly focus on privacy concerns.

By Donna Block

2 minute read

December 01, 2005 | Law.com

Kentucky regulators have approved Duke Energy's proposed $9.1 billion acquisition of Cinergy, deciding that Duke had demonstrated that it has the technical and financial expertise to manage Cinergy subsidiary Union Light, Heat and Power Co., and that the merger would be in the public interest. Regulators in North Carolina, Ohio and Indiana must still approve the merger. The deal may face its toughest critics in Ohio, where most of the merger-related job losses are expected.

By Donna Block

2 minute read

September 17, 2007 | Law.com

Financial regulators have charged 37 accounting firms and 32 individuals, in the first cases brought by the SEC alleging violation of a provision of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley anti-fraud law requiring accounting firms that audit public companies to register with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The SEC said Thursday that 50 of the firms and partners had already settled with the agency.

By Donna Block

3 minute read

January 19, 2006 | Law.com

With a bitterly contested revision to options accounting rules barely behind them, the wizards of bookkeeping are launching another controversial project. The Financial Accounting Standards Board announced Wednesday that it plans to revise its pension accounting rules to require that businesses explicitly account for future retirement costs. Rule makers have launched the first part of a two-phase project that will change how pension plans are treated on companies' balance sheets.

By Donna Block

4 minute read