Word: airbuses
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October was supposed to be a month of celebration for Airbus. This is the month, after all, when the European airplane manufacturer is finally set to start delivering its chronically overdue super-jumbo, the A380. Instead, the company has hit turbulence again. This time, however, it's not production delays and boardroom infighting, it's news that market regulatory officials are investigating a potentially massive insider trading scandal at EADS, Airbus's parent. According to documents cited in French press accounts, as many as 1,200 people may wind up targeted by legal action, including some of the loftiest members...
...While the renewed allegations of insider trading represent yet another blow to Airbus and may put more downward pressure on EADS share prices, it won't constitute a long-term threat to the company's future - especially if the A380 proves popular with airlines. However, according to Anne Maréchal, a former official with Paris's stock market now working with law firm DLA Piper, if convictions for insider trading have been very rare in France until now, there's reason to believe some may result in the EADS case. "The AMF isn't required to file a report...
...also a personal friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who once famously called the businessman "my brother." In addition to Lagardère, three other former co-chairmen and co-chief executives have been named in media reports as inquiry suspects, as have a number of current EADS and Airbus officials...
...Pundits and leftist politicians have responded by saying that even if Breton and other government officials did not act on information that rough times were ahead for EADS, they must have known months before the public did. And in that time, Airbus executives had sold millions in stock options - though all have maintained they did so legally, and after consulting company compliance officials. Among those was Noël Forgeard, who as co-president of EADS exercised around $14 million in stock options he and his children held in March 2006 - netting capital gains of over $3 million, just three...
...Some Airbus watchers blame the A380--with 165 orders--for hogging valuable resources and causing delays in the A350 schedule. The two planes stand for Airbus' somewhat divergent views on how to meet the needs of travelers as all aspects of flying grow. Critics say the company overestimated the double-decker market--and overcommitted with its investment of $16 billion. On Oct. 15, the A380 will be delivered to launch customer Singapore Airlines after more than a year's delay. "Airbus was thinking that people wanted massive airplanes to go between the continents," says Neidl. "What's wrong with that...