Cablevision Form 10-Q Scoops Everyone on Larry Brown Settlement
Who says SEC filings are boring?
Yesterday, the details of former New York Knick coach Larry Brown's settlement with the team over the termination of his contract were first announced not on ESPN or even a blog like Deadspin.com, but rather in the Cablevision Form 10-Q (Cablevision owns the Knicks). According to the 10-Q filed November 8,
On June 22, 2006, the New York Knicks, a division of Madison Square Garden, L.P., notified the then-head coach of the Knicks, Larry Brown, that his employment had been terminated with cause pursuant to his employment agreement with the Knicks. Mr. Brown disputed the Knicks’ right to terminate his employment with cause and the matter was referred to the Commissioner of the National Basketball Association (“NBA”), who had the authority under the agreement to resolve all disputes. On October 30, 2006, the parties reached a settlement of this matter under which the Knicks agreed to pay Mr. Brown $18,500 of the disputed amount in connection with his employment agreement, which amount has been accrued for in the accompanying financial statements as of September 30, 2006.
According to this article on ESPN.com, the settlement was indeed first disclosed in the SEC filing and is actually for $18.5 million (the filing apparently states all dollar figures, even in the text, in millions).
| Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Print Article | Back To Top |
Tuesday, January 3, 2006 |
 |
15 in a Row for the Legg Mason Value Trust
Reuters reports that the Legg Mason Value Trust fund run by Bill Miller has beaten the S&P 500 for an incredible 15th year in a row (a gain of 5.32% vs. 4.91% for the S&P 500).
When does this streak start to undercut Burton Malkiel's "Random Walk" theory, which as I understand it asserts that it is impossible to outperform the market on a consistent basis?
| Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Print Article | Back To Top |
Tuesday, December 6, 2005 |
|
RetailRoadshow.com
The WSJ has an interesting article about a new service called RetailRoadshow.com that "provides electronic roadshows for individual investors seeking information about public offerings." Such a service is available for the first time because of new SEC rules that went into effect on December 1. Prior to these rules, publicly available roadshows would have been prohibited as "gun jumping."
The RetailRoadshow.com service is pretty impressive, not to mention free. Pick a company from their list of those that are about to go public and within seconds you are watching the CEO deliver a roadshow-type performance, complete with PowerPoint-type slides that track the presentation.
A couple other quick thoughts and observations:
- What is the over/under date for statements made during one of these roadshows showing up in a securities class action complaint? By the power vested in me, I'm setting it at June 30, 2006. I should point out that I set the over/under date for statements made in a corporate executive blog showing up in such a complaint at December 31, 2005, and, so far, it is looking like those who took the over are going to win.
- Speaking of that, look who is the star of the Buy.com roadshow...yes, that's CEO Scott A. Blum. Remember him? Business Week does:
"You may remember Blum from his previous venture, storage systems maker Pinnacle Micro. In 1997, he consented (without admitting or denying wrongdoing, as they say) to a cease and desist order from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which charged that Pinnacle Micro had improperly recognized revenue."
| Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Print Article | Back To Top |
Wednesday, November 9, 2005 |
|
Bank Error in Your Favor
The Washington Post reports that Freddie Mac will need to restate its profit for the first half of 2005 by $220 million "because of an error caused by faulty accounting software." The company restated $5 billion in previously reported earnings in 2003.
According to the article,
The error stems from a flaw in the accounting program Freddie Mac has used since 2001. In a recent review of the company's accounting system, Freddie Mac employees realized the software was routinely overstating the amount of interest that the housing finance company earned from certain types of mortgage-backed securities that it bought for investment purposes, spokesman Michael Cosgrove said.
I just want to know--Why is it that accounting software glitches only seem to cause profit to be overstated and never understated? Will someone please let me know the first time that they see a company announce that it is adding profit to its financials due to a software glitch?
| Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) | Print Article | Back To Top |
Friday, May 27, 2005 |
|
Hedging the Real Estate "Bubble"
OK, so it's not really "securities litigation"-related (at least not yet), but the WSJ has an interesting article about a new security offering that will let investors hedge against possible real estate losses. According to the article, Robert Shiller, a Yale University professor and the author of "Irrational Exuberance," is also a lead figure at a company called Macro Securities Research. This company has
developed financial instruments – called "MACROs" – that will be tied to a housing index that tracks property values in certain cities. By purchasing Up MACROs or Down MACROs, investors would be able to place bets on whether a property market is going to keep rising, or whether it's going to fizzle.
In effect, speculators could play the bubble: They could short the City of Angels and go long on the Big Apple, or vice versa. Homeowners in bubbly markets could hedge against a pop. They could stand to gain if the value of their homes go down. If property values keep rising, of course, the homeowners lose on their MACRO investments -- but at least their homes would be worth more.
The article states that MACRO Securities has filed plans for the new securities with the SEC, and hopes to list the securities on the American Stock Exchange.
| Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) | Print Article | Back To Top |