Word: geneen
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When it was written several months ago, International Telephone and Telegraph seemed the beau ideal of corporate success: under the twelve-year reign of Chairman and President Harold Sydney Geneen, it had run up a dazzling profit-growth record by expanding into almost every conceivable business in some 80 countries round the world. But by the time the report was issued in March, ITT was enmeshed in a series of controversies that have seriously undermined its "public acceptance." Indeed, they have provided a case history of the perils of relationships-for both sides -between big multinational corporations and Government...
Fuel for Critics. To be sure, ITT has not been proved guilty of any wrongdoing; for example, its methods of computing its taxes seem entirely legal. But in attempting to lay to rest the suspicions, Geneen and his aides have sometimes seemed like small boys caught stealing ripe apples. Testifying at Senate hearings, they have told confusing stories and committed some incredible gaffes. The most memorable, perhaps, was Vice President William R. Merriam's explanation of why he ordered ITT's Washington files fed into a paper shredder after publication of the Dita Beard memo. Democratic Senator...
...might impose further limits. ITT has made almost all its past acquisitions in exchange for stock. The recent controversies have driven down the price of its shares from an early 1972 high of $64.50 to $55.75 last week, making it less attractive to the owners of any company Geneen might covet. The controversies will also make federal and state government officials supercautious in dealing with ITT executives who approach them for favorable tax, merger or regulatory decisions...
There was still more confusion about what role-if any-the White House played, and the amount ITT might contribute to the convention. Mrs. Beard testified that a White House telephone call to Merriam mentioned $600,000. Wilson said, ITT President Harold S. Geneen spoke of a "guarantee" for $400,000. Geneen earlier in the hearings had testified that there was never any commitment for more than...
...questions about its future growth. True, the trustbusters could have given the company a tougher deal; for example, they could have forced it to sell off Hartford Fire instead of the lesser Avis, Levitt and several other companies. ITT stands to collect about $600 million from those sales, and Geneen figures that he can reinvest the money-mostly in Europe-in ways that will raise profits by 10% to 12% a year. But the trustbusters have forbidden ITT from making any major acquisitions in the U.S. for at least ten years, and that will crimp its imperial aims at home...