HOROWITZ JOINS DELOITTE

Peter Horowitz, a ten-year PricewaterhouseCoopers veteran, has been named global PR & analyst relations director at Deloitte Consulting. He will guide DC’s external communications as the firm splits from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu by October and adopts “Braxton” as its corporate name.

Horowitz also held marketing and communications posts at Morrison & Foerster law firm, Booz, Allen & Hamilton consulting firm, and Coopers & Lybrand in Canada.

Braxton will have a professional force of 15,000 staffers in 33 countries.

Ketchum picked up the DC account in May, besting Hill and Knowlton and Fleishman-Hillard.

CROASDAILE TO HEAD IR FOR APCO

Tim Croasdaile, a former IR executive at Gerber Products and Itel Corp. who chaired the National IR Institute’s ethics committee, has joined APCO Worldwide as a senior VP in its new IR unit. Croasdaile, 55, is charged with positioning, corporate governance and crisis communications work.

Washington, D.C.-based APCO is currently advising Worldcom, which filed for Chapter 11, and faces charges from the SEC for accounting fraud.

Croasdaile, who is based in Denver, moves to APCO from Genesis, a marketing communications firm. He was formerly VP of investor and corporate communications at Bell & Howell Co.

The Grey Global unit said Croasdaile will work closely with vice chairman Larry Snodden, the former president and CEO of Burson-Marsteller.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is looking to hire a senior VP-PA to oversee its 20-plus member media relations and advocacy communications staff. The job requires at least 15 years of experience and reports to PhRMA president Allen Holmer. Korn/Ferry International’s Nels Olson is conducting the search...Kim Kumiega, head of Edelman PR Worldwide/Chicago’s crisis/issues management group, is leaving the firm for personal reasons. She had been at Edelman for 18 years and said the decision to exit was a difficult one...Annette Green, who has been the perfume industry’s top publicist for the past 41 years, is retiring as president of The Fragrance Foundation at the end of the year. She plans to continue as a consultant for the next two years.

NYPR TO CLOSE AUG. 15

NYPR, a four-year-old technology-focused boutique PR firm, will close its doors Aug. 15, president and founder Marco Greenberg told this NL. “I came to the conclusion that it is time for me to move on,” Greenberg said, noting that the firm’s employees were disappointed with the decision. He said he is trying to find work for as many of the firm’s 10 staffers as possible.

Billings at NYPR jumped 23 percent between 2000 and 2001, to $1.8 million. Clients – which Greenberg said were “shocked but supportive” of the decision – include National City Bank, Symbol Technologies and Jerusalem Venture Partners.

Greenberg said he plans to pursue other long-time interests in the international arena. He was previously a manager in Burson-Marsteller’s corporate practice, where he handled aerospace giant TRW and the Gov’t of Israel Economic Mission.

MWW ACQUIRES AVS

Golin/Harris International’s MWW Group has acquired AVS Consulting in Los Angeles, a government relations, advocacy, public/media relations firm.

Arthur Sohikian, a former director of government affairs for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, founded AVS in 1997. He becomes a senior VP.

Harvey Englander, GM at MWW/L.A., was impressed when MWW used Sohikian’s firm as a subcontractor a few years ago. “He was totally effective,” said Englander, which is one of the reasons why MWW bought the firm.

AVS has handled high-profile accounts such as representing the Screen Actors Guild during the 2000 actors’ strike. The firm also does work for Allied Waste Industries, Edmund “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State, Newhall Land and Farming Co., and Trillium USA.

MAGNET ATTRACTS DADDI

Bill Daddi, managing director of Lippe Taylor Brands Comms., has joined Magnet Comms. in New York as senior VP of its national consumer unit.

He was previously a principal with The Dilenschneider Group and PR director for Cotton Inc. for 13 years, and earlier worked as a journalist.

Daddi will oveersee the firm’s consumer roster, which includes General Nutrition Centers and JetBlue.

MERCENARIES IN HUNT FOR OSAMA

An army of mercenaries funded by U.S. corporations is scouring the wilds of Afghanistan and Pakistan in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, according to Edward Lozzi, who runs his own entertainment, legal and political PR shop in Beverly Hills.

Lozzi says he was contacted by a client – that he would not name – to organize a press conference for the corporate initiative shortly following the Sept. 11 attacks. The initial idea was to raise $1 billion in private sector and public cash to bankroll the campaign. Paying ‘soldiers of fortune’ to carry out this country’s fight makes a lot of sense to Lozzi. It comes down to money, he said. It’s a simple rule of capitalism, which is the credo of the U.S.

The idea of a flashy press campaign to launch and support the mercenary war was soon dropped. “Stealth” was soon decided as the way to go.

Lozzi says there are at least 1,000 mercenaries in the hunt for bin Laden. These are not freshly scrubbed young Americans, but rather French Foreign Legion, former Italian paratroopers and ex-Israeli intelligence officer types in the hunt for the $30 million U.S. Government award for the capture or body of bin Laden, according to Lozzi.

The PR executive supports a measure proposed by Texas Rep. Ron Paul that the U.S. return to a “privateering” force. That would allow the U.S. to pay out to private mercenaries, bounty hunters and foreign trained military units–allowing them to kill, capture and destroy terrorists and their assets.

The Counselor founded Edward Lozzi & Assocs. in 1979, and has done publicity for Milton Berle, Alice Cooper, Tina Louise (of “Gilligan’s Island” fame), Zsa Zsa Gabor and heart surgeon Dr. Christian Barnard. He also served as West Coast Press Advance Officer during the first Bush Administration.

MARTHA IS BEGINNING TO HURT MSLO

Martha Stewart’s stock trading woes are beginning to hurt her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, according to James Follo, its CFO. “We have begun to see some impact on our business resulting from the uncertainty relating to the investigations of Martha Stewart’s stock sale, Follo said in a statement.

The financial executive said the company can no longer provide Wall Street with “accurate guidance” about its financial performance because of the ongoing Congressional investigation of MSLO CEO Stewart’s sale of ImClone Systems stock. The company had set 53 cents a-share as its full-year earnings guidance.

House Energy and Commerce Committee probers asked Merrill Lynch on July 23 for additional records concerning the trading of ImClone stock. Stewart has maintained that her stock trades were “completely lawful,” but Wall Street analysts are demanding that the style queen provide more details.

MSLO uses the Brunswick Group for financial/ crisis PR, and Susan Magrino Agency.

WALTZ, ACHILLE TELL NYT OF CYBER WOES

Former PR Society of America president Sam Waltz is pictured on the front page of the July 25 New York Times ‘Circuits’ section for a feature on how personal privacy rights have been eroded with the growth of Internet search engines.

The Wilmington, Del.-based Waltz told the Times about how he met a woman through an online dating service. Before they actually met, she did an Internet search on Waltz, and apparently found his name of a website called SincereLust.com. Associating that site with a Delaware transvestite group, the woman sent Waltz an e-mail telling him to forget about the date.

Waltz, who is described as a “business consultant” in the article, was stunned to receive that message, and upon investigation found the site was a drama group dedicated to “The Rocky Horror Show.” As it turned out, Waltz’s son, Sam III, had belonged to that group while attending the University of Delaware. Senior Waltz explained the mix-up to the woman, and they have been dating for 18 months.

The upshot: Waltz says he periodically does a google search of his name to see if anything needs to be “challenged or checked.”

Achille’s Name Linked with Slurs

Another PR pro, Jeanne Achille, CEO of the Devon Group, told Times reporter Jennifer Lee that someone was using her name and e-mail address to send racist slurs in a French online discussion group. That’s a tough thing to explain to potential clients when they run their own search of Achille.

She doesn’t know if the posting was made by a competitor, a disgruntled employee or someone who thinks they have been wronged by Achille. The posting has been impossible to remove. “There is no cyberpatrol that you can go to and make all this go away,” said Achille. “You just have to live with it.”

AOL TW GETS CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

AOL Time Warner, which is under a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation for possible accounting irregularities, has hired ML Strategies for advice on corporate governance issues. The firm also will provide advice on Internet and cable issues.

Mark Buse, former Republican staff director at the Senate Commerce Committee and aide to Sen. John McCain, and David Leiter, who was chief of staff for Sen. John Kerry and served in the Clinton Administration, are working on the business.

ML Strategies is a unit of law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. It has been running seminars on corporate governance in the post-Enron age. Those sessions cover SEC investigations/class actions, document retention policies and crisis communications.

AOL stock is down nearly 90 percent since it announced the $156 billion acquisition of Time Warner in January 2000.

HOW TO USE A SPOKESPERSON

Establishing a spokesperson is an essential and cost-effective way to get media coverage, according to Jeffrey Barnhart, president/CEO of Creative Marketing Alliance, an integrated marketing communications firm in Princeton Junction, N.J.

“Spokespeople should be positioned as experts on a particular topic relating to the client’s business,” says Barnhart.

Once a knowledgeable and articulate person has been selected to interact with the media, Barnhart said there are a few indispensable tips to provide to your spokesperson to make the most of media interviews:

1. Know the reporter’s agenda and know what you want to get across in the interview. Build a bridge between the reporter’s questions and your messages.

2. Be prepared by planning ahead. Prepare for the interview by anticipating the reporter’s questions. Develop answers to those questions and rehearse your delivery.

3. Be concise and avoid professional jargon. Keep answers short and to the point, and be sure to explain industry terms.

4. Reinforce your message with facts and specific information. You position yourself as an expert by using exact dates, figures, statistics, and percentages. Credibility is achieved by providing useful, objective information.

5. Don’t wait for the media to come looking for you. Once you have identified your spokesperson and he/she has received the proper media training, it is time to establish that spokesperson with the appropriate media outlets that reach the client’s target audience.

6. Develop a media alert to announce the availability of your spokesperson. Include pertinent background information, as well as specific topics they can discuss. Distribute the alert to all relevant media outlets and make a follow-up phone call to introduce yourself and offer to be “on call” for them should they need your spokesperson’s expertise.

PLACEMENT TIPS

A weekly book segment will debut in mid-September on “Martha Stewart Living,” called Martha’s Favorite Books.

While Stewart has been focusing on children’s, gardening and cooking books, her picks for the new segment will feature interviews with authors of a wide variety of books.

Stewart joins “Today” and “Live with Regis and Kelly” as programs that have started covering the book beat after Oprah Winfrey said she was dropping “Oprah’s Book Club.”

Budget Living will publish its first issue in October. The magazine, created by Donald Welsh, who founded Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel four years ago, will target readers who want to save money without compromising on style when it comes to cars, clothes, travel, furniture, food and drink.

“Cheap is the new chic,” says editor Sarah Gray Miller, who is aiming Living primarily at 30-something females.
The first edition will have a press run of 300,000.

Eating Well magazine, which Hachette Filipacchi stopped publishing in 1999, has been restarted by its founder, James Lawrence.

The magazine, founded in 1990, is recipe-driven, but it also has food-related articles. The first issue has a cover story about the history of cooking with chilies, and articles about the politics of food in America and the food of the Greek islands.

The magazine, which will be published quarterly, will emphasize dishes made with fresh ingredients that can be bought locally.

The recipes, which encourage readers to use whole grains, fruits and vegetables, will provide nutritional data for each recipe.

The new EW is available in bookstores and on the web at eatingwell.com. The old EW had a paid circulation of about 700,000.

The magazine is being produced by many of the original editors from its old headquarters in Charlotte, Vt. Patsy Jamieson is food editor.

MOORE GETS TOP SPOT AT TIME INC.

Ann Moore, 52, was promoted to chairwoman/CEO of Time Inc., replacing Don Logan, who was named group chairman of AOL Time Warner.

Moore, who made her mark by successfully positioning People as a women’s newsmagazine with money-making spinoffs InStyle and Teen People, will command the world’s largest publishing company—140 magazines with 298 million readers.

Moore started in the finance department at Time Inc. in 1978, and then moved to Sports Illustrated, where she worked for 10 years before moving to People in 1991.

WITHERELL NAMED M.E. AT LHJ

Mary Witherell is leaving CosmoGirl magazine, where she is acting managing editor of the Hearst magazine, to become managing editor Ladies’ Home Journal, which is published by Meredith.

Witherell will be under Diane Salvatore, who was just named to replace Myrna Blyth as editor-in-chief of the magazine, which has an estimated readership of 14.5 million targeting women over 30.

Dean Wheeler, 50, a news editor for America Online, died July 15.

In 1996, Wheeler, who had been a reporter and editor for UPI and Reuters news services, joined AOL’s new News Channel, which was a pioneer among Internet providers in repackaging news.

(Media news continued on next page)

NEW FOREIGN EDITORS NAMED AT WSJ

John Bussey, 45, was named deputy managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, and Fred Kempe, 47, was appointed as the paper’s European editor.

Bussey, who was most recently foreign editor, will oversee The Asian Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic Review. In addition to supervising the Asian publications and bureau, he will retain oversight of foreign bureaus in the Americas, Africa and the Middle East.

Kempe remains editor and associate publisher of The Wall Street Journal Europe. He will assume responsibility for all Journal staffers in Europe, including those in Moscow.

Eric Pooley, who was the “Nation” editor of Time, was named editor of the European edition of Time, which is based in London.

He will replace the husband-and-wife team of Don and Ann Morrison.

BW PROMOTES ITS TECH NEWS ACE

Kathy Rebello was promoted to assistant managing editor for technology at Business Week, replacing G. David Wallace, who retired after 22 years with the magazine.

Rebello has been the “backbone of our splendid Info Tech coverage,” including BusinessWeek e.biz and its annual Info Tech 100 ranking issue in June, said Stephen Shepard, editor-in-chief.

She joined BW in 1991 as a reporter in San Francisco, and has been involved in the prepartion of 10 cover stories.

LALLI JOINS READER’S DIGEST ASSN.

Frank Lalli has joined the Reader’s Digest Assn., in Pleasantville, N.Y., as VP for development, a new position.

Eric Schrier, SVP and global editor-in-chief, said Lalli will be responsible for expanding RD’s franchise through print, broadcast and new media projects.

Lalli is to create new magazines, special “one-shot” niche publications, and content agreements with radio, TV and Internet partners.

Lalli, who has been editor-in-chief of George, spent 17 years at Time Inc., rising from deputy editor of magazine development to managing editor of Money and to senior executive editor of Time Inc.

STERNGOLD JOINS S.F. CHRONICLE

James Sterngold, a national correspondent for The New York Times, based in Los Angeles, will join The San Francisco Chronicle Aug. 5 as a special reporter.

Phil Bronstein, executive editor, said Sterngold will remain in Los Angeles and write news, features and business pieces from around the state and the west including stories on: cultural trends, the arts, the Pacific Rim, the film industry as a culture and business as its affects the Bay Area, and other Southern Californian and state stories of Bay Area interest.

PEOPLE

Jonni L. Walker, who wrote a society column for Atlanta magazine, called “Jonni’s City,” was found dead in her residence on July 17.

Walker was also a contributor to WWD, W magazine and Glamour.

Todd Polkes was named New York-based producer for “Larry King Live,” a cable TV program.

Polkes is moving to CNN from ABC News, where he was director of media relations.

Jean Seligmann has retired as letters editor at Newsweek.

Margaret Aguirre, previously executive producer of “CNN Money Morning,” has replaced Katherine O’Hearn as executive producer of “American Morning With Paula Zahn” on CNN. Aguirre is based in New York at 212/714-7800.

Marlaine Selip was named executive producer for Phil Donahue’s new talk show on CNBC.

Pat Sajak, host of “Wheel of Fortune,” will host “The Pat Sajak Baseball Hour,” every Friday from 1- 2 p.m (ET) on MLB Radio, which can be accessed on MLB.com.

Larry Sullivan was named editor of The Pine Bluff (Ark.) Commercial, succeeding Tom McDonald, who resigned to protest what he called a directive from the owner to endorse former congressman Jay Dickey.

MEDIA BRIEFS

World Publications, which is headquartered in Winter Park, Fla., with offices in New York, has acquired Cruising World and Sailing World magazines from Miller Publishing Group.

All editorial staffers, including Cruising World editor Herb McCormick and Sailing World editor John Burnham, will remain with the magazines, which are headquartered in Newport, R.I.

The number of senior-oriented publications in North America declined in the last year, according to the data in the recently published Senior Media Directory 2002.

There were 1,255 such media listed in the 2001 directory, but only 1,175 in this year’s book.

Don Picard, publisher, said the decline reflects consolidation of publications, targeted at the over-50 population, and the recognition by a few daily newspapers that seniors now make up such a larger percentage of their audience that they no longer need a special “senior section,” but instead are reorienting their general news coverage to appeal to their older audience.

The directory, which is now in its 15th year of publication, is published by Creative Ink, Burnsville, Minn., and sells for $110.

CREDIT MONITOR DROPS OMC RATING

The Credit Monitor of the KMV unit of Moody’s has published a chart showing that the rating of Omnicom has taken a sharp drop from the “BBB” level to “BB,” also known as the “junk bond” level.

Companies at this level must pay more for credit because of an increased risk of non-payment.

In the chart, EDF refers to “expected default frequency.” It is a market-based credit measure that provides the probability that a company will default within a given time frame.

Omnicom currently has about $2.9 billion in total debt, including $1.75B in zero-coupon convertible bonds that may have to be refinanced next year.

An $850 million zero bond via Merrill Lynch gives holders the right to purchase OMC at about $165 a share while the current price is in the mid-$40’s.

Holders of this issue and of a $900 million similar issue via J.P. Morgan Securities have the right to demand their money back next year.

OMC could also issue stock but analysts say this would create too many new shares. OMC could offer a “sweetener” in the form of interest or dividend payments to hold the lenders at bay.

The EDF in the chart consists of four elements: the market value of OMC’s assets as opposed to the book value as reported on its balance sheet; the equity value (stock price times shares outstanding); adjusted total of liabilities (sum of all short and long-term liabilities excluding deferred tax and minority interests), and asset volatility, which is the standard deviation of the annual percentage change in the market value of a company’s assets.

The riskiness of a company’s assets is measured by the expected variation of the value of these assets over a given time period. The higher the asset volatility, the less certain investors are about the value of the company, and the more likely the company’s value will fall below its default point.

The default point is the point to which a company’s asset value falls before it is unable to raise capital to meet either a principal or interest payment. It is about equal to the total amount of short-term liabilities plus half of the long-term liabilities.

OMC’s stock has declined from the $90’s to the $50’s in recent weeks.

'Cost' of Omnicom Options

The $503 million earnings that Omnicom recorded last year would have been reduced by $47.4 million had it expensed options, according to a UBS Warburg report. Coca-Cola recently chalked up much PR goodwill with its announcement that it would expense options.

OMC has 17.4 million options outstanding. That represents 9.3 percent of outstanding shares. Three million of the options, says UBS, are “in the money.”

Option liabilities along with liquidity and earn-out issues are part of the reason why the investment firm believes Omnicom and Interpublic’s stock have dropped more than the 29 percent decline in the S&P index since the first-quarter.

UBS has a “buy” rating on both conglomerates. It expects OMC to show an eight percent growth in second quarter revenues, while IPG will post a 14.4 percent decline. Both firms are expected to do better in the second-half compared to last year.

UBS has an $84 price target for OMC. That’s a 68 percent premium from its $50.39 price. IPG is expected to rise to $37, up 90 percent from its $19.50 current level.

MORGAN STANLEY CUTS INTERPUBLIC

The gap between Omnicom and Interpublic on new business wins no longer appears to be closing, according to Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Russell, who downgraded his outlook on IPG to “equal weight” from “overweight” on July 25.

Russell now expects a nine percent revenue decline at IPG for the second quarter, more than double his previous expectation of four percent and lowered the EPS outlook on IPG to $1.48 from $1.51 for 2002.

Russell’s report says IPG new business wins in Q2 (estimated at $670M) are further behind rival Omnicom than in Q1, noting that OMC has won twice as much business as IPG in Q2.

MS has lowered its target price for IPG to $32 from $37 citing “murky” revenue growth beyond what the firm previously expected. MS noted IPG continues to deliver an “impressive cost-cutting performance” and is “encouraged” by its new business activity, but noted the “familiar gap in new business wins between IPG and OMC appears to have reasserted itself.”

MS notes IPG had a rash of losses last year related to the True North integration, which are still cycling through.

“We will wait for top-line growth to reassert itself before we get more excited about the shares,” wrote Russell.

WPP DENIES BENDING ACCOUNTING RULES

WPP Group denies that it “bent the rules” in the way that it measures profits, rebutting a report in the U.K. press that accused the parent of Hill and Knowlton, Ogilvy PR Worldwide and Burson-Marsteller of using questionable accounting procedures. Analysts at Willott Kingston Smith charged that WPP’s reported profits for 2001 would have fallen more than 75 percent if the firm amortized goodwill on its large acquisitions.

The firm says it is not required to write down the goodwill of acquired assets because they have an “infinite” economic life. “We look at the value of assets every year and it is unlikely we will take an impairment,” Paul Richardson, WPP’s finance director, told Bloomberg.

He said WPP does amortize goodwill for small acquisitions, but not for big ones. Of one of WPP’s biggest acquisitions, Richardson said Young & Rubicam is a valuable brand that is still expanding and generating business.

Richardson said 2002 profits are “holding up.”

WPP Group says it does not have to write down the goodwill of acquisitions because they have an "infinite" economic life. But Willott Kingston Smith says WPP's profits for 2001 would have fallen by more than 75% had WPP amortized the goodwill on its large acquisitions.

Since U.K. accounting rules allow goodwill to pile up on the balance sheet with no write-offs unless impaired, WPP was carrying an astounding $6.4 billion in goodwill as of Dec. 31, 2001. This shows the huge sum WPP has spent on acquisitions since revenues for 2001 were only $5.8B.

The U.S. has adopted a similar rule for goodwill although "impairments"have to be noted. Whether WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic, etc., will admit any "impairments" remains to be seen. Goodwill totaled $3.9B at OMC on 12/31/01. It was $1B in 1996.

An important WPP asset is Hill and Knowlton, with $325 million in reported fees in 2001.

The H&K of today is far different from the H&K of the 1970's and 80's when it was the unquestioned crown jewel of the PR counseling field. It was No. 1 in fees and boasted of never pitching clients "because expectations were raised too high," as John Hill used to say. Blue chips flocked to H&K, which proudly displayed a list of hundreds of clients.

H&K executives were widely quoted. A 228-page collection of their speeches was published in 1976. H&K had its own publications including an elaborate annual report. Its execs were leaders in local and national PR groups. Media often turned to H&K for comments. Almost any exec would chat with the press on any topic. H&K press reps such as Roy Battersby, Jim Catalano and John Berard regularly visited reporters at their offices.

J. Walter Thompson, which purchased H&K in 1980, promised not to go near it. This ended in 1987 when WPP acquired JWT in a hostile takeover. To regain its No. 1 status, which it had lost to Burson-Marsteller, H&K purchased Carl Byoir & Assocs. and Gray and Co. It took on controversial accounts such as an anti-abortion drive of the Catholic Church; theScientologists; the corrupt Bank of Credit & Commerce, and "Citizens fora Free Kuwait" (actually the Government of Kuwait).

H&K stopped publishing its account list. Speeches by execs and participation in the PR community all but halted. H&K became just another PR firm.

What would H&K fetch in the market now? That is its true value. Where it gets its numbers from is a mystery to us. Ad conglomerates lump PR entities together and come up with boxcar figures. Lately they have refused to supply any proofs of these figures. The Byoir unit did not have an "infinite" life. Its press-oriented culture (many staffers were ex-newspeople) did not sit well with the new owners of H&K. Within a few years, only a half dozen of its 275 employees were left.

Lou Thompson of the National IR Institute, has written that "some IR pros are afraid of the media and prefer not to deal with reporters, but this does not work in today's disclosure environment."

Comment: IR pros are afraid of the media because reporters will be muchtougher on them and their bosses than analysts.

NIRI members have shut out the press and even their own PR depts. for decades but now that IR is in such trouble, they want to coordinate with PR. Writes Thompson in PR News: "In many of the larger corporations, IR and PR operate in separate silos." IR pros made it this way and we don't expect them to give up their tight grip on company financials. What they want to do is take over PR. NIRI itself, with $5 million+ in its treasury, has no on-staff PR person.

Thompson also says that "there's little difference between the role of analysts and reporters." Analysts are much more expert than most financial reporters and do more thorough research on companies. But their reports are not generally available to the public or even the press. NIRI advises companies is not to put them on the web or otherwise distribute them on the ground that this might put the companies at legal risk. The brokerage houses that pay for the reports only want them for their customers. A way should be found to get these reports more widely distributed. The advice in the reports ("strong buy," "buy," etc.), and target prices should be ignored. At one time the research reports contained no such advice.

UBS Warburg July 23 notes the large amount of options leaders of OMC and IPG have given themselves. At OMC, the 17.4 million options are 9% of the total shares outstanding. IPG has 38.3M (10.4% of the total). Expensing the options would chop 9% off OMC's 2001 per share earnings and 12% off IPG's. These are hefty sums to go to the small bands of people at the top of these companies.

Why TV is so addictive: humans (and other animals) have an instinctive visual or auditory reaction to any sudden movement. Those that didn't have this reaction were apt to get eaten alive. TV addicts are "glued" to their TV sets because of the constant motion and sound. Like any addict, TV victims wind up using the "substance" a lot more than they want to and have withdrawal symptoms when they don't get enough "tube time." (Item from the 4/22/02 purview section of PR Reporter, which originally got it from Scientific American, February 2002.)
--Jack O'Dwyer