Word: ponts
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...grazing beasts--not good, not evil, just hungry. They form green-sounding lobbying groups and contribute millions to lawmakers. Something called the "National Wetlands Coalition" raised $7.8 million from British Petroleum, Georgia Pacific, Kerr-McGee and Occidental. The "Clean Water Industry Coalition" raised $15.8 million from Caterpillar, Dow, Du Pont and Union Carbide. Al Meyerhoff, of the Natural Resources Defense Council, says, "Industry lobbyists are writing laws and legislative history. They're doing everything but voting, but maybe that's next...
Already Bronfman has earned the title of mischiefmaker. His sorties are tilting the fortunes of several prominent companies-not just Matsushita, MCA and his own but also Du Pont, Time Warner and infant multimedia outfit DreamWorks SKG. Last week, for $8.8 billion, the chemical giant bought back most of Seagram's 24.1% of Du Pont stock. Time Warner, of which Seagram owns a provocative 14.9%, braced for a messy stock scramble should Bronfman sell his shares. DreamWorks also looked to the shy, dapper mogul for indications that he would retain MCA's current, embattled management and thus be in line...
Entertainment executives saw MCA as a smart buy for the 21st century: surely there are rosier prospects for software than for spirits. But Bronfman wasn't selling his whiskey interests; he was giving up on a company with a strong present (Du Pont stock accounted for nearly 70% of Seagram's pretax profits last year) and a robust future. Unsurprisingly, Wall Street greeted both the Du Pont sale and the MCA negotiations with derision. On Friday Moody's Investors Service announced that it was considering "the possible downgrade" of Seagram's debt. Seagram stock dropped nearly 17% during the week...
Close watchers of Seagram thought Bronfman got too little for his Du Pont stake. Says Ken Shea, an analyst at Standard & Poor's: "It doesn't make sense to dump a solid business like Du Pont, which throws off good dividends, and take on a much riskier investment in MCA. But then the press accounts of Edgar Jr. don't give him a lot of credit. They paint him as a Dan Quayle who is ready to wreck Seagram...
...comment on the reported sale. Seagram, the Canadian liquor, wine and juice company controlled by one of the world's richest families (the Bronfmans), is said to be financing a purchase of MCA with $8.8 billion it earned by selling its 25 percent stake in chemical conglomerate Du Pont. Oppenheimer analyst Roy Burry tells TIME that the tentative deal, as reported, is a poor one because the MCA purchase price is too high and Seagram got 16 percent below market value for the Du Pont shares...