| To: The Ox who wrote (3716) | 7/25/2014 12:28:59 AM | | From: richardred | | | | I've had MOVE-Move, Inc. on the watch list since April. I'm sorry I didn't buy it. It's up about 40%.
Z's talks or possible acquisition should generate interest in MOVE IMO. Zillow's interest in a competitor is reminding me of Priceline. IMO Priceline is so big now it wants to maintain dominance in it's current space plus new related growth areas like Open Table.
P.S. When I think of Z I think of Woolworths. It was their old stock symbol. |
| | Speculating in Takeover Targets | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last ReadRead Replies (2) |
|
| To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (3707) | 7/25/2014 12:50:36 AM | | From: richardred | | | | Obama wants limits on US company mergers abroad
"I don't care if it's legal," Obama declared. "It's wrong."
Obama and congressional Democrats are pushing to severely limit such deals, a move resisted by Republicans who argue the entire corporate tax code needs an overhaul. At issue are companies that enter into arrangements with foreign companies, shifting their tax addresses overseas while retaining their U.S. headquarters.
"They're technically renouncing their U.S. citizenship. They're declaring they are based someplace else even though most of their operations are here," Obama said at a technical college in Los Angeles. "You know, some people are calling these companies corporate deserters."
He also charged that such companies are "cherry-picking the rules."
Though Obama included a proposal to rein in such mergers and acquisitions in his 2015 budget, his speech marked a new, more aggressive focus on the subject.
View gallery
President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at the Los Angeles Trade-Technical College in Los An …
The push came amid a developing trend by companies to reorganize with foreign entities through deals called "inversions" partly to reduce their tax payments in the U.S.
It also came ahead of the fall political campaign as Democrats seek to draw sharp contrasts with Republicans by portraying them as defenders of corporate loopholes. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and others have been drawing praise from liberal arms of the Democratic Party for their overtly populist positions.
The growth of inversions has also concerned Republicans, but by and large they have called for a broader tax overhaul that would reduce corporate rates.
A total of 47 U.S.-based companies have merged with or acquired foreign businesses over the past decade in inversions, according to the Congressional Research Service. The issue gained attention earlier this year when Pfizer made an unsuccessful attempt to take over British drugmaker AstraZeneca. The deal would have allowed Pfizer to incorporate in Britain and thus limit its exposure to higher U.S. corporate tax rates
Most recently, Walgreen Co., the drug store chain that promotes itself as "America's premier pharmacy," is considering a similar move with Swiss health and beauty retailer Alliance Boots.
View gallery
President Barack Obama talks about his basketball game with customers at Canter's Deli in Los An …
Obama, speaking in shirt sleeves under a hot sun in a campaign rally atmosphere, sought to shame companies seeking such deals even though he mentioned none by name.
"You don't get to pick the tax rate you pay," Obama told a crowd of about 2,000. "Folks, if you are secretary or a construction worker you don't say, 'You know, I feel like paying a little less so let me do that.' You don't get a chance to do that. These companies shouldn't either."
He added: "You shouldn't get to call yourself an American company only when you want a handout from American taxpayers."
The speech came at the end of a three-day West Coast fundraising tour. Obama employed many of the same partisan themes in his speech at the college that he did exhorting donors to help the Democratic Party.
"What really is going on is the Republicans in Congress are directly blocking policies that would help millions of Americans," he said.
View gallery
President Barack Obama meets at Canter's Deli in Los Angeles, Thursday, July 24, 2014, with, fro …
The Obama administration began to ramp up attention to inversion transactions last week with a letter from Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to House and Senate leaders. Lew said such deals "hollow out the U.S. corporate income tax base."
Obama is calling on Congress to enact legislation that is retroactive to May, arguing that will stop companies from rushing into deals to avoid the law.
Senate Democrats picked up the call this week, with Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democratic leader, sending a letter to Walgreen President and CEO Gregory Wasson urging him and his board to reconsider the overseas deal.
"I believe you will find that your customers are deeply patriotic and will not support Walgreen's decision to turn its back on the United States," Durbin wrote.
On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid weighed in with a floor speech that called inversions a "corporate citizenship scam."
View gallery
President Barack Obama speaks about the economy at the Los Angeles Trade-Technical College in Los An …
Walgreen's spokesman Michael Polzin said the company is evaluating where to take its partnership with Alliance Boots. "We will do what is in the best long-term interests of our customers, employees and shareholders," he said.
Under such inversion deals, U.S.-based, multinational companies can lower their tax bills in part by combining with a foreign company and reorganizing in a country with a lower tax rate. The United States has a 35 percent income tax rate, the highest in the industrialized world, and unlike many other countries it also taxes income earned overseas and then brought home.
Under current law, shareholders of a U.S. company that merged with an offshore entity would have to own less than 80 percent of the combined entity to take advantage of a lower foreign tax rate. Obama's budget proposes slashing that cutoff to 50 percent and making the restriction retroactive to last May.
Republicans such as Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah say the U.S. first must change its policy of taxing income earned abroad. But in a hearing this week, Hatch also said he was open to addressing the issue directly provided it was not retroactive and did not generate additional revenue.
"Ultimately, the best way to solve this problem will be to reform our corporate and international tax system in a manner that will make our multinationals competitive against their foreign counterparts," he said.
Administration officials estimate the deals, if allowed to continue, will cost the U.S. Treasury $17 billion in lost revenue over the next decade.
news.yahoo.com |
| | Speculating in Takeover Targets | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last ReadRead Replies (1) |
|
| To: richardred who wrote (3718) | 7/25/2014 10:31:00 AM | | From: Glenn Petersen | | | | ,,,a move resisted by Republicans who argue the entire corporate tax code needs an overhaul.
The last time that I looked all tax legislation originates with the GOP-controlled the House Ways and Means Committee. While the tax code does need a complete overhaul (hopefully one that will simplify it), there is no reason why you can't do a quick surgical fix. The attempted inversion by Pfizer should have been a wakeup call. |
| | Speculating in Takeover Targets | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last ReadRead Replies (1) |
|
| To: Glenn Petersen who wrote (3719) | 7/28/2014 9:34:08 AM | | From: richardred | | | | | IMO Anything that helps gives you an advantage or keeps you on par over your global competitor is what global corporation do. It's the BOD fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders to stay competitive. I can't think of any company that is growing profits that want to pay their fair share the the IRS. I think they would rather use those monies to grow their business and hire more people with those profits, to generate more profits. For mature corporations, pay increased dividends to shareholders. Our representatives took away a dividend exclusion to individuals. Ask Warren Buffett again why Berkshire doesn't pay a dividend (double taxation). Even in my State, Democrat controlled NY is offering tax incentives to try and lure back, or attract new corporations. Case in point, the yogurt industry. Let our representatives offer a corporate tax structure on par with the global companies. This rather than force something that punishes them. IMO the corporations need incentives not forced choices. |
| | Speculating in Takeover Targets | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last ReadRead Replies (1) |
|
| To: richardred who wrote (3722) | 7/28/2014 9:46:41 AM | | From: Glenn Petersen | | | | I am in agreement with you. We need to reform our federal corporate tax code to level the playing field globally and take away any incentive to game the system.
Speaking of yogurt:
Drug Maker Hospira and France’s Danone in Talks on $5 Billion Inversion Deal
By DAVID GELLES
DealBook
New York Times
July 28, 2014 9:34 am
Hospira, a Midwestern pharmaceutical and medical device maker, is in talks to pay about $5 billion for the medical nutrition business of the French consumer group Danone, a person briefed on the matter said.
The deal, if completed, would allow Hospira to reincorporate overseas in a so-called inversion, lowering its tax rate and freeing its foreign cash.
Hospira, based in Lake Forest, Ill., has a market value of $8.6 billion and makes a range of drugs, pumps and software for the medical industry. The person briefed on the negotiations said they were continuing and could fail. The Financial Times on Sunday reported on the talks.
The rush of inversions is drawing scrutiny from federal regulators, who are concerned about the erosion of the tax base. On Friday, President Obama called on Congress to pass a law that would at least temporarily halt inversions, while a comprehensive corporate tax overhaul is pursued.
But advisers on Wall Street see little chance of any new legislation soon, and predict several more inversions will be announced this year. While most of the deals involve an American company taking full control of a foreign competitor and then relocating, new twists are emerging.
If completed, Hospira’s deal with Danone could be considered a “spinversion,” in which a foreign company spins off a unit to an American buyer, allowing it to undertake an inversion.
Recent examples of the practice include Mylan’s acquisition of a division of Abbott Laboratories, and Salix Pharmaceuticals’ deal to merge with Cosmo Technologies, the Irish unit of Cosmo Pharmaceuticals of Italy. Both of those deals will allow the American companies to move their domiciles to Europe.
Danone has been trying to sell its medical nutrition business for months, and had talked with Nestlé. It was not clear if Danone was still in talks with other companies, or if Hospira was zeroing in on a deal to move abroad.
dealbook.nytimes.com |
| | Speculating in Takeover Targets | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
|
| To: Sr K who wrote (3699) | 7/31/2014 2:21:05 PM | | From: Carey Thompson | | | | TE Connectivity was spun off by Tyco in July 2007. The original of the spinoff was Tyco Electronics. The spinoff was given the symbol TEL and traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Originally TEL was domiciled in Bermuda.
The name was changed to TE Connectivity afterwards, but the symbol remained the same. So TE Connectivity has traded on the NYSE since July 2007. |
| | Speculating in Takeover Targets | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
|
| From: Paul Senior | 8/1/2014 10:40:51 AM | | | | | | BYI. I'll speculate that BYI takeover gets completed within about 6-7 months for the announced $83 in cash.
Stock's now at about $78. That would be about a 6% return for that time. Which is okay for me at this time. I've upped my BYI position a bit now with view to add more as months pass and people lose interest in holding (and assuming there's no adverse news forthcoming).
finance.yahoo.com |
| | Speculating in Takeover Targets | Stock Discussion ForumsShare | RecommendKeepReplyMark as Last Read |
|
| |
