Word: pretax
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...last year securities-industry employment stood at a record 286,000. But that's up only 10% from 10 years ago. In the same period New York Stock Exchange trading volume (a proxy for how much business Wall Street does) increased 178%, and the industry last year posted record pretax profits of $12.2 billion. More work. More profit. Relatively few people. Sound familiar? Wall Street hadn't been totally left out. Its firms have been merging practically forever, but seldom on such an extensive scale, where even giant Merrill Lynch might be bait for, say, Chase Manhattan. In a bull...
...least a dozen lawsuits, some charging that Green Tree used improperly "aggressive" accounting methods to tot up profits and thereby boost Coss's personal pay--a charge the company denies. Coss did enjoy a formula that accorded him a salary of $400,000 plus 2.5% of the company's pretax profits. Half the compensation was in cash, the other half in the form of Green Tree stock that Coss was allowed to purchase for $3 share at a time when it was selling for more than 15 times as much on Wall Street...
There is some basis for that concern. Even though corporate charitable contributions have climbed to record levels in dollar terms, they have fallen to about 1% of pretax profits from more than 2% a decade ago. That's partly explained by a combination of tax-law changes, today's soaring profits and a shift to product donations in lieu of cash. Still, it's the kind of thing that makes traditional nonprofits sweat. And the latest bout of merger mania makes them even more uncomfortable. When two big companies--each with its own foundation--become one, only one foundation...
OPEN HANDERS At the highest level of corporate conscience are companies such as Ben & Jerry's and Tom's of Maine, a maker of toothpaste and other personal-care products. Ben & Jerry's gives away a stunning 7.5% of its pretax profits and goes to great lengths to buy from minority or disadvantaged suppliers. (The company's earnings fell last year as sales of superpremium ice cream dipped; for the recent first quarter, Ben & Jerry's reported a $1.06 million loss.) Detractors call such contracts posturing and note that Ben & Jerry's has been fighting a lawsuit by a minority...
...warning to smokers of all ages, Liggett will state on cigarette packs and in ads that smoking is an addictive habit. Liggett will also cooperate in suits against other tobacco companies and will allow its own employees to testify. Moreover, Liggett agreed to pay a quarter of its pretax profits to the states every year for the next 25 years, a promise not as impressive as it sounded. "Twenty-five percent of nothing is nothing," quipped one analyst...