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Strategies & Market Trends : Mr. Pink's Picks: selected event-driven value investments -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. Pink who wrote (13641)	7/11/2000 7:25:14 PM
From: limit	Respond to of 18998

Mr Pink, CNC will be a pink sheet very soon. The deal with Wendt is a criminal act and the criminals will be crushed. A great call again Sir Regards limit

To: Mr. Pink who wrote (13641)	7/11/2000 7:32:09 PM
From: limit	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18998

Mr Pink, What type of board of directors would sign on to such a deal?Published: Tuesday, July 11, 2000 Wendt got $45 million bonus to take top job at Conseco -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIM HUBER STAFF WRITER -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conseco Inc.'s status as a Wall Street darling may be long gone, but its willingness to pay top dollar for a chief executive is not. The struggling insurer doled out tens of millions in cash and stock to new chief executive Gary Wendt and his former employer, General Electric, according to a document filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Wendt received a $45 million after-tax bonus to take the job less than two weeks ago and will receive an additional bonus ranging from $8 million to $50 million depending on Conseco's share price in 2002. Before taxes, Wendt's signing bonus may have totaled close to $90 million, though a precise figure is impossible to calculate, one accountant said. That figure might seem high, but it's hardly unprecedented at Indiana-based Conseco or Green Tree Financial, the St. Paul-based finance company Conseco acquired in 1998. Conseco founder and chief executive Stephen Hilbert received $68.3 million in compensation in 1998, almost $143 million in 1997 and a $72 million severance package when he resigned in April. Former Green Tree chief Larry Coss received a $102 million bonus in 1996. Wendt's new job puts him in roughly the same salary range as his former boss, General Electric chairman Jack Welch, who received $75 million last year. Wendt, 58, was chief executive of GE Capital for 12 years until he resigned in December 1998. Wendt will not receive a salary during his first two years. His five-year contract does include a $1 million annual salary over its final three years, an annual bonus up to $2.8 million based on earnings growth, an annual grant of 500,000 shares of common stock and $1.5 million worth of restricted stock. Wendt also received options to purchase 10 million shares of Conseco for $5.88 per share. (Shares of Conseco closed Monday at $9.75.) A fifth of those options vest immediately and the remainder vest from 2002 to 2005. Wendt also received 3.2 million shares of restricted stock worth $31.2 million on Monday if he stays with the company through June 30, 2002. In exchange for allowing Wendt to get out of an employment agreement, General Electric received warrants to buy 10.5 million shares of Conseco stock for $5.75 per share.

To: Mr. Pink who wrote (13641)	7/11/2000 8:52:40 PM
From: OpusX	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18998

Pink, did U bother to listen to CC call before U spate this unholy remark: Mr. P$nk is short over 100,000 shares. RAD is a turd and will file for bankruptcy. Torquatus is dead wrong. mP no CH11 coming cover while U can david

To: Mr. Pink who wrote (13641)	7/12/2000 9:05:57 PM
From: limit	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18998

Mr Pink, Any thoughts on this foolish firm and their foolish pussy analyst? Credit Suisse First Boston Files Libel Suit Against 11 People By Jennifer Barrett TheStreet.com/NYTimes.com Staff Reporter 7/12/00 6:35 PM ET Credit Suisse First Boston has filed a $1 million lawsuit against a New Jersey man and 10 others who it accuses of posting defamatory comments about one of the firm's analysts on a Yahoo! message board. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, accuses Chuan Chang, a retired scientist from New Jersey, and 10 other Internet users identified only by their screen names of libeling the global investment firm and its analyst by posting false and critical statements on the Yahoo! ELN Finance Message Board. Officials at the Santa Clara, Calif.-based headquarters of Yahoo Inc. declined to comment on the lawsuit. The lawsuit's allegations center around comments posted by the group of defendants from March 9 through July 8 on a Yahoo! message board dedicated to Elan, (ELN:NYSE-ADR - news) a specialty pharmaceutical company based in Ireland, whose American Depository Receipts hit a 52-week high on Monday of $52.563. The company's receipts were trading at $39.625 on March 9. Credit Suisse First Boston has a hold rating on Elan. The analyst -- who was not identified in the suit -- reportedly remained critical of the company's stock even as its price rose steadily over the past few months, prompting some of the message board users' comments assailing the analyst. In the lawsuit, Credit Suisse claims its "business reputation and professional and other economic interests have been injured" and asks for compensatory damages of no less than $1 million, as well as an injunction prohibiting Chang and the other defendants from posting such comments in the future. "We were trying to do the right thing," said Pen Pendleton, a spokesman for Credit Suisse First Boston, of the lawsuit. He declined to comment further. Chuan Chang, the only defendant named in the suit, said he was shocked to learn of the lawsuit, which he called "ridiculous." "This kind of criticism and praise of analysts goes on all the time on every message board, so why us?" asked Chang, when reached Wednesday at his home in Colt's Neck, N.J. Chang said he has used Yahoo! chat boards for years, but scaled back his activity significantly after learning of the lawsuit on Tuesday. He also warned others on the Elan message board to be careful about what they write. "Anybody would become wary with something like this; it limits my ability to practice free speech," Chang said. "That is what makes Yahoo! so valuable. In a sense, its existence is justified by the free interchange of information." David Kaplan, a Wahington D.C. real estate broker and chat board user who was not named in the suit, said he was outraged by the lawsuit. He said the postings he read of the Credit Suisse analyst, although critical, were truthful and called the suit a "blatant effort" to curtail criticism of analysts. Kaplan, who is trying to organize a conference of Elan investors in Dublin this fall, said the defendants with whom he communicated were shocked by the firm's legal action. He has set up an "Elan 11 Defense Fund" in Washington D.C. Elan's stock has surged recently on expectations that the company may soon release a vaccine to treat Alzheimer's disease. On Tuesday, company officials said its product appeared safe for treating patients in early tests on humans. Elan hopes to begin tests on the drug's effectiveness in stopping Alzheimer's by the end of next year. Shares of Elan fell 1 1/2, or 3%, to close Wednesday at 50 1/2.