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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Arthur Radley who wrote (260555)	6/3/2002 8:20:22 AM
From: Arthur Radley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Don't you just love these guys....moves the company off shore to avoid taxes, but he goes out and buy yachts and lives in this country...living the good life and this darling of the wingnuts even avoids paying his taxes on his luxury items.....Kenny Boy you've got company! "Aided by hundreds of acquisitions, Tyco had its reported earnings rise steadily over the last decade, and the company became a favorite of big investors and mutual fund companies like Fidelity. At its peak, Tyco had a market value of $120 billion, making it one of the 20 most valuable companies in the United States. Mr. Kozlowski made hundreds of millions of dollars over the last three years selling Tyco stock, even as he said publicly that he rarely if ever sold his shares. Along the way, Mr. Kozlowski, the son of a Newark police detective, raised his social profile, buying and racing yachts. But even as Tyco grew, the company's accounting and business practices drew scrutiny from some analysts and journalists. Tyco was one of the first big companies to move its nominal headquarters offshore to avoid United States taxes. It disclosed in January that it had paid one of its independent directors $10 million last year as a finder's fee for a merger, raising questions about that director's independence. Since the collapse of Enron, Tyco has become one several companies whose accounting practices have come under more intense scrutiny. Like General Electric, I.B.M. and Computer Associates, Tyco uses highly complex accounting methods, and its financial statements are so clogged with footnotes that they can take days to read. Short-sellers, who profit when stocks fall, have argued that Tyco manipulates the finances of the companies it buys to make its own profits appear to be growing faster than they are. The company, denying this, says its accounting is proper. A powerful man with a sometimes short temper, Mr. Kozlowski has aggressively challenged reporters and analysts who criticize Tyco's accounting practices. But that strategy seems to have backfired recently, as Tyco's stock has plunged by almost two-thirds since December, leaving its shareholders a collective $80 billion poorer. Tyco closed at $21.95 on Friday, up 45 cents. In an effort to reverse the overall slide, Mr. Kozlowski announced in January that he would split Tyco into four companies, abruptly reversing a decade of growth by acquisitions. Then, in April, he reversed field again, telling shareholders that Tyco would remain a single company. The shifts in strategy have left some investors grumbling that Mr. Kozlowski should resign, although Tyco has said its board strongly supports him. Tyco's stock briefly rose 5 percent last week after an Internet site posted a rumor that Mr. Kozlowski was stepping down.