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Highlights
for week ending June 10, 2000
- H-1B Visas and Age Discrimination (Part
1), (Part
2)
- New York Times: What's
Hiding in Big Blue's Small Print (You may need to register with
the New York Times to read this article. Registration is free). Excerpts:
"...the combination of a roaring stock market and lower costs associated
with IBM's controversial switch to a new sort of pension plan generated
$799 million in 1999. Accounting rules let such gains go into a company's
income statement, although the company cannot spend the money for anything
but pensions...
"Because these gains are typically buried in financial statements,
shareholders may not understand how a company's earnings are augmented
by pension gains...To be sure, IBM is just one of many companies that
continues to bury details about its pension plans' gains. But Big
Blue could be clearer. ...'IBM's annual report is one of the most
complicated,' said Brad Perry, former chairman and now consultant
at David L. Babson & Company, an investment advisory firm in Cambridge,
Mass. 'Obfuscation is the name of the game, not just for IBM but for
a lot of companies.'
"Another area of IBM's financial report that is difficult to
fathom concerns stock buybacks, which have totaled $14.2 billion in
the past two years. By reducing the number of shares outstanding,
the buybacks have helped IBM's per-share earnings grow at a respectable
10.5 percent -- masking the company's slow growth in revenue and income...
"But the purchases come at a cost, Brad Perry added: IBM's ratio
of debt to total capital is 54 percent, up from 31 percent four years
ago. 'It's one thing to buy back shares if you have excess cash flow,'
Mr. Perry said, 'but when you're loading up the balance sheet with
debt to jazz up your earnings, that's more suspect. And it certainly
is a game that has an end.'"
- On-Line Essential
Services Marketplace Appoints Paul R. Lewis, former General
Manager of the IBM Global Services Consulting Group as President and
Chief Executive Officer.
- Gambling
with Your Retirement Plan, by Jane Bryan Quinn, Washington Post
Staff Writer
- Layoff
Update. CEs were the minority let go. In IGS "it is interesting
to note that 93% of all US senior IT architects were affected. About
10 senior consultants were also affected. If you're a senior professional,
watch out. They are after you." Clarification
on what is meant by "senior"
- Notes
from the IBM Women's Leadership Conference. Attrition rate for employees
with less than 5 years exceeds 50%. "Encouraged" attrition
from 20+ year employees now at 27%. Donofrio advocates solving the problem
through "more aggressive mentoring and more hard work." An
opinion on mentoring. Another
opinion from a 76-year old IBM retiree. An
opinion on Nick Donofrio from someone that once worked for him.
- The
Social Security Network Issue Brief on Governor Bush's Individual Account
Proposal: Implications for Retirement Benefits (Adobe Acrobat format).
Janet
Krueger's summary of this article.
- The American Academy of Actuaries has released an online booklet,
"When Your Retirement Plan Changes," to help participants
understand how changes to their pension plan can affect retirement planning.
The booklet provides basic information on pensions as well as specific
information on cash balance plans. Copies
of the booklet are available in Adobe Acrobat format.
- Stay informed. Get the news IBM won't print! Be part of, the new change
at IBM, that Lou is afraid of. Informed employees armed with facts.
Get the latest
Alliance@IBM publications by e-mail and or snail mail! Don't be
kept in the dark, get plugged in! All IBM employees, retirees and vendors
are welcome!
- IBM Argentina
Unit Inspected for Tax Evasion
- Connecticut residents, check out the new Southbury
Alliance@IBM site!
- Read
about the background of IBM's Senior Vice President of Strategy
and CPR's
comments about him
- Problems
with IGS consultants because of lack of experience
- Gerstner's
2000 "strategy"
- "Heavy
incoming" for PSG employees. Explanation
of "heavy incoming"
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