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General Electric captured 40 percent of the vote for worst footnote of 2012 on the popular biz blog, footnoted.com.
GE, which revealed it was going to pay a former executive more than $80,000 a month for a decade, edged out Texas-based Dell for the win, Monday, according to an official announcement.
Check out footnoted’s announcement.
A deal to avoid the fiscal cliff is in sight, we're saved! By RD Varnon
Senate leaders and the President claimed to have seen the shadow of a deal to prevent America from plunging off the fiscal cliff.
But then everyone realized it just means we’ll have six more months of gridlock. (It’s a joke based on the ground hog seeing its shadow.)
AP reported just after 4 p.m., Congress will not be able to meet the midnight deadline to vote on the deal. Whoops.
Anyway, the initial deal discussed appears to extend unemployment benefits beyond the 26 weeks, which could mean 43,000 Connecticut residents will still get payments next year.
And taxes will go up on families making in excess of $450,000 a year, which will hit Fairfield County pretty hard.
And there are plenty of issues still to be worked out that will ultimately act as a drag on the national and local economy, including defense and social program cuts. This year alone, the plan called for more than $56 billion in defense cuts alone.
Until more is known, enjoy your New Year, let’s hope 2013 is better than 2012.
This wasn’t the right Christmas to buy that semi-automatic assault weapon for your loved one.
Fresh off the murder of 20 children in Newtown, six school staff members and the crazed killer’s mother, four firefighters were shot and two of them killed in Webster, N.Y., just before Christmas.
It is time for Congress to pass legislation banning the manufacture of semi-automatic assault rifles for public use. These guns are based on technology used to make nearly the same weapons for the U.S. military and law enforcement agencies.
Gun manufacturers in Connecticut, including Colt in Hartford and West Hartford and Sturm Ruger in Fairfield, employ nearly 2,900 people, who earn $224 million a year, according to a recent Hearst Connecticut Media report.
Colt, known for manufacturing the “gun that won the West,” is privately held, and detailed financial information is not as readily available as with a public company like Sturm Ruger, which reported net sales of $118.2 million in the third quarter ended Sept. 29, compared with net sales of $80.5 million in the same period last year.
Chief Executive Officer Michael O. Fifer said the impressive jump was driven by a 47 percent growth in sales and improvement in operations at Sturm Ruger, which does not manufacture in Connecticut. It has two U.S. factories in New Hampshire and Arizona where its semi-automatic assault weapons, much like the Bushmaster used in the Newtown incident, are made.
Limiting production of these weapons, which use large ammunition clips, to law enforcement and military use, could mean the loss of well-paying jobs and a decline in revenue, upsetting some investors.
But perhaps it is time for these investors to urge these companies to halt production for the general public.
After the shootings, there was a television interview with an individual about shooting a semi-automatic assault rifle. “It’s fun,” he said.
Can someone forgo the “fun” of squeezing off multiple rounds from a semi to bring back the lives of 27 people in Newtown and two firefighters in New York state?
I think so.
Better think ahead if you want to chase your hangover with something from home on New Year’s Day, the package stores will all be closed.
The Department of Consumer Protection send out a press release this weekend urging people to get their alcohol before New Year’s Day, to drink responsibly and to not drink and drive.
As part of its announcement, the DCP said because the doors of the package stores had been pried open on the Sabbath, they would remain closed on New Year’s Day. Not sure why they need to be closed, the Mines is pretty sure the liquor stores still pay rent or taxes on their property on this day. No grocery stores are allowed to sell beer on Tuesday, either. So if they do, please report them after you’ve made a purchase.
And last call for celebrations in bars is 3 a.m. Jan. 1, unless the town has set a different time. Bars and restaurants may open at their normal times on Tuesday.
“I urge everyone to guard against needless tragedy – please drink responsibly, don’t drink and drive, and don’t serve or provide alcohol to anyone who appears intoxicated or is under the age of 21,” DCP Commissioner William Rubenstein said. “We offer our best wishes to everyone for a happy, healthy and safe holiday.”
Massachusetts-based Smith and Wesson said Thursday it bought back $20 million in shares since Dec. 6 and its board has authorized another $15 million repurchase program.
Gunmaker shares have been under pressure following a rampage by a gunman in an elementary school in Newtown and calls for stricter regulation on guns. The gunman used a Bushmaster product, but tighter gun control could impact sales of other gunmakers, including the two publicly traded ones, Smith and Wesson and Sturm Ruger of Fairfield. Colt Firearsm, of Hartford, is privately held.
On Dec. 6, before the incident in Newtown, Smith and Wesson announced it was starting a $20 million share buyback program that would last up to June 30, 2013. On Thursday, the company reported it went through its budget and would start a new repurchase program to last through the same date.
Shares of Smith and Wesson were up 3.65 percent to $8.25, while Ruger’s shares were up almost 1 percent to $43.18.
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Footnoted, the business blog that dives into the financial filings of publicly traded companies, has listed a GE footnote as one of the six worst for 2013.
GE disclosed earlier in the year that Jack Krenicki, a vice president in the energy division, would be leaving the company after a 29 year career. Later, Footnoted reported GE had agreed to pay Krenicki, after he left, $89,000 a month until he turns 60. Krenicki, according to research, is about 50.
Sears Holding, Dell, Netflix, Yahoo and Zynga also made the top six. You can vote on which footnote you think is the worst for the year at: footnoted.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said it’s now charging a research analyst with insider trading after the man allegedly fled the U.S. and is now hiding in Hong Kong.
On Wednesday, the SEC added the name of Trent Martin, to a complaint of insider trading involving shares of SPSS, which was acquired in 2009 by IBM.
According to the SEC, Martin, who spent a little time in Stamford, told his roommate, a Connecticut-based broker Thomas Conradt, about the IBM acquisition after learning about it from an Australian attorney who was working on the deal. The men allegedly shared the news with pals and profited off of it by buying shares of SPSS before the merger announcement. Conradt was already charged.
Martin, an Aussie, fled to his native country and then on to Hong Kong, the SEC claims.
Shares of Fairfield-based gunmaker Sturm Ruger fell more than 4 percent the day after Christmas, while industrial gas maker Praxair in Danbury and Westport-based industrial equipment maker Terex clung to slight gains.
Ruger seemingly faces some difficulties ahead as gunmakers face a push by federal and some state lawmakers to find a way to reduce unbalanced individuals’ access to arsenals of privately held firearms in the wake of the massacre in Newtown.
Ruger and fellow New England gunmaker Smith and Wesson, have not publicly commented on the situation as lawmakers discuss banning military styled rifles and clips of ammunition holding a high number of rounds.
The two companies, are, however, strong supporters of the National Rifle Association, whose chief executive officer has been widely ridiculed for suggesting more guns are needed in a country where access to guns by the insane and by criminals has become all too easy.
Ruger gave the NRA more than $1 million last year, and Smith & Wesson’s website has a link to the NRA for those interested in joining the group.
An email to Ruger asking if the firm intends on providing more monetary assistance to the NRA this year, went unanswered.
In the meantime, the price of Ruger was down, but that doesn’t mean the stock is not valuable. As SeekingAlpha pointed out earlier this week, institutional investors seem interested in owning it and Smith and Wesson.
In the meantime, a few local companies clung to gains in the market. Terex was up almost 1 percent, Praxair was up 0.21 percent, and Emcore and Ethan Allen were also up slightly, heading into the afternoon.
Copyright © 2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
