Corporations and securities brief ~ SEC begins informal probe into Alcoa News
Corporations and securities brief ~ SEC begins informal probe into Alcoa

[JURIST] Leading Monday's corporations and securities law news, the SEC [official website] has started an informal investigation into aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. [corporate website] over the classification of trade accounts payable transactions starting in 2003. Alcoa has said it will cooperate with the probe. The Pittsburgh Business Times has more.

In other news…

  • A MCI [corporate website] shareholder has filed a lawsuit to stop Verizon's $6.75 billion bid to buyout the company. The shareholder, who is hoping to get a better deal, said in his lawsuit that Verizon [corporate website] is paying an "unconscionable, unfair and grossly inadequate" sum for MCI. BBC News has more.
  • Chaunce Hayden, a regular guest on Howard Stern's syndicated radio show, said he was ordered to testify in an SEC investigation of insider trading of Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. [corporate website]. Sirius' stock surged last year after Stern announced his move to the satellite radio provider. AP has more.
  • Kmart Holding Corp. [corporate website] and Sears, Roebuck and Co. [corporate website] announced that they have set up a meeting for shareholders on March 24 to vote on their $11 billion merger. Read the Kmart press release. Reuters has more. In related news, Sears, Roebuck & Co. Chief Financial Officer Glenn Richter announced he will leave the company after the merger is completed. Bloomberg has more.
  • Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG [corporate website] announced it will buy American company Eon Labs [corporate website] and German company Hexal AG [corporate website in German] for $8.3 billion in cash. The integration of the two companies into its Sandoz unit will create the world's largest generic drug company. Read the Novartis press release and the Eon Labs press release. AP has more.
  • British online travel firm Lastminute.com [corporate website] has asked the Financial Services Authority [official website] to begin an investigation into an anonymous fax it received questioning its financial situation. BBC News has more.
  • As previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, ChoicePoint [corporate website] announced Monday that residents in all 50 states and the District of Columbia may have been affected by a security breach which resulted in criminals gaining access to its massive database of consumer information. Read the ChoicePoint press release. AP has more.

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THIS DAY @ LAW

Rosa Parks arrested for not giving up bus seat to white passenger

On December 1, 1955, civil rights activist Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her action prompted a year-long boycott of the Montgomery public transit system, which only came to an end after bus segregation was ruled illegal by the federal courts. Read a brief biography of Rosa Parks from the Rosa Parks Library and Museum at Troy State Univerity, Montgomery. In 1999 Ms. Parks received the background report on the Pacifica News Network.

World AIDS Day

On December 1, 1988, World AIDS Day was observed for the first time.