A look at this week’s biggest business
Sunday, March 8 – International Women’s Day for 2015 – was joined by another momentous occasion, thanks to the Clinton Foundation and the NotThere.org. In connection with the day’s events, the foundation worked to have female faces and images removed from known advertisements and billboards across New York City. Leaving more than 40 different adverts blank all over the city, the campaign was a symbol of the gender inequality still present today – economically and otherwise, women just aren’t there yet.
Despite the European accord last month to extend a financial lifeline to Greece, Athens is rapidly running out of cash, and as such is scrambling to find new, even radical ways to fill the shortfall. Greece’s coffers may be empty before the end of this month, as tax receipts shrink and the economy shows signs of lapsing back into recession. Athens officials have hinted they may have trouble repaying or refinancing 7 billion Euros owed to the IMF and other creditors, as well as government salary and pension obligations. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has tried to reassure creditors that Greece will not default, but in a sign of how desperately Greece needs money, his government plans to present a raft of measures to European finance ministers in Brussels in hopes of unlocking aid quickly. This includes a proposal to enlist “casual” tax spies – tourists, students, housekeepers, and other non-professional inspectors – “to pose, after some basic training, as customers, on behalf of the tax authorities, while wired for sound and video.”
GM declared this week that it would buy back $5 billion in company stock this year as part of a negotiated settlement with dissident investors. As part of the deal with the investment group, its leader, Harry J. Wilson, will withdraw his nomination for election to the G.M. board, which was negotiated along with the smaller buyback plan. The moves avert what could have been a divisive proxy fight over how GM would spend its bulging cash reserves, totaling more than $25 billion — some of which is money left over from the government’s $49 billion bailout of the automaker in 2009. Last month, Wilson told GM’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, that he was heading an effort by hedge fund investors to prod GM into spending as much as $8 billion to buy back shares and help the company’s stagnant stock price. However, after negotiations with the board and Barra, an agreement was reached at $5 billion, and Wilson’s spot on the board was released.
NXP Semiconductors declared last Sunday that it would buy Freescale Semiconductor in an $11.8 billion deal, creating a big maker of chips for a variety of industries. Both NXP and Freescale have benefited from a recent boom, as companies look to add networking capabilities to their products. NXP in particular has had a surge in demand for near-field communications technology that lets phones interact wirelessly with equipment like payment terminals. Richard L. Clemmer, NXP’s chief executive, said in a statement, “the combination of NXP and Freescale creates an industry powerhouse focused on the high-growth opportunities in the smarter world.”
“We fully expect to continue to significantly outgrow the overall market, drive world-class profitability and generate even more cash,” concluded Clemmber, “which, taken together, will maximize value for both Freescale and NXP shareholders.”