Word: italia
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TIME.com: Silvio Berlusconi's center-right Forza Italia party looks to have swept to a decisive victory in Italy's election. Why has the country's political preference swung back from the left to the right...
...scale of Berlusconi's victory may be a product of the fact that his center-right Forza Italia grew at the expense of far-right parties such as the Northern Leagues and the National Alliance. Last time he was in power, his majority depended on the support of the Northern Leagues, and that proved to be his downfall. This time, Forza Italia appears to have emerged as the largest party in Italy, having replaced the traditional Christian Democratic Party as the bulwark of the right. Although he still has the Northern Leagues in his coalition, their share of the vote...
...Sommer has fumbled a string of proposed corporate marriages. Last year he failed to pry Qwest Communications loose from a merger with US West. Before that he tried to merge with Telecom Italia but lost a humiliating battle to a much smaller Italian rival. In the process, Sommer managed to alienate his partners at France Telecom, torpedoing a four-company alliance...
...promise of increased savings to shareholders plays a key role in the precedent-setting battle between Olivetti and Telecom Italia. Franco Bernabe, who took over as chief executive of the recently privatized Telecom only last November, promised to cut costs $560 million a year, including a staff cut of 40,000 employees, nearly a third of the company's total, if shareholders reject the Olivetti bid. Olivetti in turn promised to cut the staff by 12,000 and to spin off noncore operations if its $58 billion plan, among the largest hostile takeovers in history, is accepted. It's easy...
...other great winners are Europe's shareholders. As one analyst pointed out, no matter whether Olivetti or Telecom Italia's management prevails in their battle, Telecom's shareholders have already earned a nice premium. Europe's cosseted work force, on the other hand, has not yet fully come to grips with what those investment banking euphemisms like "synergies" and "restructuring" can mean. As their American union counterparts discovered a decade ago, mergers will make Europe's largest firms more efficient and competitive, but they will do so by shedding thousands of jobs. And in Europe, where unemployment levels are more...