Business in brief: IBM suspends exec charged in scandal
SAN FRANCISCO – IBM Corp. put a top executive on leave Monday after he was charged in an insider trading scandal for allegedly leaking secrets about IBM’s earnings and financial dealings with corporate partners.
The company said Robert Moffat, a senior vice president and cost-cutting maven who was considered a possible candidate to succeed CEO Sam Palmisano, no longer serves as an officer of the company. A woman who answered the phone at Moffat’s home in Connecticut said he would not comment.
Rodney Adkins, who has been senior vice president in charge of development and manufacturing, was tapped to assume Moffat’s position on an acting basis. That gives him oversight over IBM’s mainframes and computer servers.
Moffat was one of six executives and hedge fund managers arrested Friday in connection with a wide-ranging scam that authorities say generated more than $25 million in illegal profits.
Icahn offers loan to rescue CIT Group
NEW YORK – In another sign that CIT Group Inc. is struggling to restructure its debt, billionaire investor Carl Icahn offered the lender a $6 billion lifeline.
In a letter Monday to CIT’s board of directors, Icahn said he would give the company the loan to replace a debt restructuring plan CIT has asked bondholders to approve.
Icahn, who is a CIT bondholder, said in his letter the $6 billion loan would save the company $150 million in fees. He also criticized the board for pushing an exchange offer that he said unfairly favors large bondholders at the expense of smaller investors and that also undervalues the company.
CIT said in a statement it received Icahn’s letter and is asking for more information regarding the proposal. “This letter is CIT’s first indication of Mr. Icahn’s interest in underwriting an alternative financing,” the company said.
Target joins rush to cut book prices
NEW YORK – Target is throwing itself into a heated price war on books expected to be top sellers.
The retailer said Monday it will offer some of this season’s most anticipated book titles at $8.99, in line with recent moves by Walmart.com and Amazon.com.
Target said the $8.99 price applies to pre-orders on Target.com of such books as “Breathless” by Dean Koontz, “Ford Country” by James Patterson, and “Under the Dome” by Stephen King.
Target’s move is expected to heat up the price wars that began Thursday between Walmart.com and Amazon.com. Both sites lowered online prices on certain forthcoming titles to $9. Walmart.com showed the books priced at $8.99 Monday afternoon.