Search

As the mutual fund scandal erupts into public view, Dick Strong, majority owner of Strong Capital Management Inc., finds himself at its center. Strong and his firm stand accused of unethical, and possibly illegal, activity. What's more, when you start to ask questions about Dick Strong, a pattern emerges of personal and professional behavior that not only is idiosyncratic but pushes the limits of acceptability. In early September 2003, New York attorney general Eliot Spitzer alleged that Strong Capital and three other mutual fund companies had engaged in illicit trades with Canary Capital Partners, a New Jersey hedge fund. Spitzer accused Strong of allowing Canary to quickly jump in and out of its mutual funds to make a quick buck, a practice known as "market timing." Then, on Oct. 30, came a bigger bombshell. Strong's board of directors announced that it had "become aware of active trading of the Strong Funds by employees of Strong Capital Management, including Richard Strong." It was reported that Strong's market timing, which took place over several years, netted him a profit of some $600,000. In addition, FORTUNE has learned that Spitzer's investigators have uncovered evidence suggesting that the compliance officials at Strong were told by other Strong executives to avert their eyes from the boss's market timing. Spitzer's office is now weighing the possibility of filing criminal charges against Strong, sources say. What has driven the 61-year-old is the ambition to build a dominant fund complex. For all that, Strong has largely failed to build the kind of company he dreams about. In many ways his involvement in the current mutual fund scandal is simply the latest example of the flaws that have held back Strong--both the man and the company.

Examines the scrutiny that U.S. businesses are under in light of allegations of illegal accounting measures, bankruptcies and executives resignations. Impact of the crisis on investor confidence; Observation that these events have occurred after the stock market bubble; Need for serious reform to restore confidence in the system; Criticism of the enormous pay packages of business leaders.

Profiles former takeover artist T. Boone Pickens Jr. Struggles he has faced, including losing his company Mesa Petroleum and his divorce from his first wife; Businesses he is involved in, including ENRG, a natural gas company, and a commodities fund; Amount of money he has made; Thoughts on how Pickens has changed as he's gotten older; Details of his plans to drill water from an aquifer that lies under his land in Amarillo, Texas and sell it to other cities; His relationships with his family.

Focuses on Wall Street's attempts to recover from the emotional and physical damage wrought by the September 11, 2001 which destroyed New York City's World Trade Center. Example of Peter DaPuzzo, a Cantor Fitzgerald manager who lost hundreds of colleagues in the disaster; Damage caused to telecommunications infrastructure, office space and equipment; Importance of information backup services such as those provided by Comdisco; Challenge of replacing the human capital which was lost.

Profiles Bill Gross, founder and chief executive of Idealab, a so-called incubator for dot-com companies. Details of Gross' career in the technology industry; Financial losses suffered by Idealab; Opinion that Gross made mistakes in managing his company.

Discusses the difficulties encountered by Microsoft Corp. in retaining its employees. Profiles of a number of employees who have left the company since 1997; Lack of regret among former Microsoft employees; Details of Internet-based business founded by such employees; Disillusionment with Microsoft's increasing size; Changing attitudes regarding Microsoft's role in the computer industry. INSET: The Browser That Microsoft Forgot.

Focuses on the organization of corporations. Comparison of Akamai, a small Internet startup company, to Gillette, a large traditional company; Aim of corporations to maximize profits and produce a return for shareholders; How corporations have become a safe avenue for investors who risk losing no more than what they spend; How the shift of focus to managers, rather than owners, caused corporations to become less competitive.

Discusses the possible competition between Microsoft Corp. and AOL Time Warner, in light of the proposed merger between America Online (AOL) and Time Warner. How both companies are preparing to compete for dominance in the Internet; History of relations between the two companies, including comments by Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Bill Gates that Microsoft would buy or bury AOL; AOL's success at avoiding Microsoft's business practices; Effect of a United States Justice Department antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft.

The resounding fall of celebrated portfolio manager Worth Bruntjen should not have been a surprise to investors and other industry observers. The first law of mutual funds, after all, is 'let the buyer beware.'

H. Wayne Huizenga bought an expansion franchise for the Florida Marlins, a Major League Baseball team, despite the impending financial problems the sport faces. He is optimistic, however, that his investment will be profitable.

Disney Co. has the reputation within the motion picture industry of being high-handed, hard to work with, and cheap. Michael Eisner believes Disney's movie-making business must be managed as strictly as the firm's other businesses.

Big Hoops: A Season in the Big East Conference. Bill Reynolds. New American Library, $19.95. Well, so much for reforming college basketball. Not that the call for such reform has [...]

Once he started getting the hang of it -- after he was spending time in the chic New York offices of Scali, McCabe, Sloves, the hot little ad agency he [...]

NEXT MAN UP A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL. By John Feinstein. Illustrated. 502 pp. Little, Brown & Company. $25.95. NEARLY 20 years ago, John Feinstein, then a [...]

DARK GENIUS OF WALL STREET The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons. By Edward J. Renehan Jr. Illustrated. 352 pp. Basic Books. $30. AND here we've [...]

Clifford Asness is probably going to be annoyed when he sees that this article begins with a discussion about how much money he makes, but there's no way around it. [...]

In 1985, when I was 33 years old and earning about $35,000 a year as a staff writer at Texas Monthly, I got a call from an agent who had [...]

THE REAL THING Truth and Power at the Coca-Cola Company. By Constance L. Hays. 398 pp. New York: Random House. $25.95. CONSTANCE L. HAYS'S history of Coca-Cola opens with the [...]

Discusses the growing trend among individuals investing and choosing their own stocks. Author's experience of interviewing the mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, and others and their interest and experiences pertinent to investing; Changes in the culture of Providence; Profiles of other investors, including David Civetti. Civetti's history of investments. INSETS: Ballplayer, San Francisco, by Angela Key;Evangelist, Mississippi, by Carol Vinzant;Business Students, Alaska, by C.V.;Wall Street Wannabes, Alabama, by C.V.

Reports activities in the Microsoft Corp. antitrust trial for June 1 to June 9, 1999. The United States government producing a journal from competitor International Business Machines (IBM); IBM executive Garry Norris as a former deal negotiator with Microsoft; The testimony of economist Franklin Fisher; Microsoft spokesman Mark Murray giving statements to the press; The US Justice Department view that Microsoft used predatory tactics against IBM.

Focuses on the performance of Yahoo's stock, as of mid-May 1999. Increase of the stock's value since its April 1996 initial public offering (IPO); Market capitalization; Role of venture capitalist Michael Moritz of Sequoia Capital in the company's formation and IPO timing; Day traders and stock prices; Chronology.

Presents a diary kept by the author during a week-long visit to Microsoft Corp. headquarters in March 1999. How employees feel about the United States Justice Department's investigation of the company; Focus being placed on products; Comments from various employees such as Tod Nielson, a developer at the company; Decision made by Judge Jackson, who is ruling on the case.

Presents a day by day analysis of the United States' antitrust trial of Microsoft Corp., from February 23 to February 26, 1999. Problems which Microsoft has made for itself in the trial; Technique of David Boies, the chief prosecutor in the United States government's case against the computer company; The paper trail; Weak testimony of Microsoft executive Daniel Rosen.

Recounts court proceedings in the United States government's antitrust trial of Microsoft Corp. between January 25 and February 4, 1999. Description of a video that Microsoft showed in court demonstrating the Caldera Open-Linux operating system; Questioning of Paul Maritz, Microsoft group vice president; How well Microsoft witness James Allchin, executive in charge of Windows, did on the witness stand.

Presents information on the United States Department of Justice's antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. Allegation on Microsoft for its anti-competitive behavior; Testimony concerning Intuit's relation with Microsoft; Efforts of government to broaden the case of Microsoft Corp.; Evidence of the dozens of cases where Franklin Fisher's analysis was accepted; Opinion on Microsoft Internet Explorer that is a better product than Netscape Navigator.

Presents details of the United States Justice Department's antitrust trial of Microsoft Corp. How Microsoft's founder Bill Gates behaves in his deposition and how it compares to his behavior when he gave a speech in New York City; Length of time Microsoft Corp. employee James Gosling testified; Efforts of Microsoft Corp. to maintain their image in the media.

Comments on the Microsoft Corp. antitrust trial during November 16-19, 1998. Department of Justice computer consultant Glenn Weadock as a witness; The practice of showing a portion of the Bill Gates video deposition before witnesses' testimony; David Boies, the government's chief litigator; Efforts of Mark Murray, Microsoft's chief trial spokesman, to spin a positive public-relations angle; Leaking documents and E-mails to the media.

Looks at early November 1998 proceedings in the Washington, D.C. trial of the United States Justice Department's antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. Introduction of the videotape of Bill Gates' summer 1998 deposition; The negative impression of Gates that is created by the videotapes; Behavior of Microsoft lawyer Theodore Edelman; Testimony from Apple Computer executive Avadis Tavanian and from Intel executive Steven McGready.

Presents the experiences of the article author on living in Austin, Texas at a time when the expected oil boom had gone bust. Differences between life on the Eastern coast where the author had lived all his life and life in Texas; Information on the oil prices a few months after the author moved to Texas; Factors related to the oil boom which were most appreciated by the Texans; Attitude of the Texans towards money; Importance given by Texans to free enterprise; Denial on part of Texas to admit that its economy was based on oil; Problems faced by the author while trying to sell his house; Similarities between the life in Texas and life in New England where he moved from Texas.

Discusses the incidents of several book-banning attempts in the U.S. Details about the U.S. Supreme Court case Board of Education v. Pico; Attitude of librarians towards book-banning attempts; Information on book-banning attempts that involve public libraries; Argument that modern-day book-banning incidents involve not public libraries, but school libraries and curricula; Characteristics and nature of book-banners; Argument pertaining to the censorship of school text books.

Focuses on physician William Lukash's rise to the position of the White House's official in-house physician. Information about his initial job as a part-timer in the White House; Traits of his personality which helped him to get notices at the President's house; Plan of Lukash to join the private sector after he is out of job in the administration of U.S. President Ronald Reagan; Contribution of Lukash in setting up diet and exercise regimes for his presidents that have kept them usually at the top of their games.

Presents a behind the scenes look at the antitrust trial of Microsoft Corp. Joel Klein, prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice; The role that Bill Gates, chief executive officer (CEO) of Microsoft, is expected to play; How Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has handled the case; A brief retelling of the events which occurred between October 19, 1998 and October 29, 1998.

Focuses on the impact of autumn 1998 global economic turmoil on the United States economy and financial markets. Differences between 1998 circumstances and previous market declines; Evidence of deflation; Role of corporate earnings; Declines in large capitalization stocks; Why selloffs are not always buying opportunities; Speculation about the market's recovery. INSETS: `We're okay as long as it's not a dead bear market';Counterpoint: The Bull Lives! by Nelson D. Schwartz.

Discusses change at the Conde Nast Publications company. Message of owner S. I. Newhouse and president and CEO Steven T. Florio that profits matter at Conde Nast; How the company is privately held; Substantive changes made by Florio at Conde Nast that helped return the company to profitability; Profit margins at Conde Nast that do not come close to other magazine companies; Conde Nast as a part of the Newhouse media empire known as Advance Publications.

Highlights the stock picks of three top fund managers. Dennis Delafeld and Vincent Sellecchia of the Delafeld fund; David Green and James Miles, co-managers of the Hotchkis & Wiley Small Cap Value fund; Patricia Falkowski, president of the Fiduciary Management Associates; Nine West; Vanstar; Bob Evans; Stock price. INSET: Battle of the Intel axes, round 2, by Joseph Nocera.

Considers the role of Elisabeth Goth, heiress to the Bancroft family, in making changes in the way that the Dow Jones does business. The efforts on the part of Goth and her cousin William C. Cox III to change the company's management; Their attempts to change the way the `Wall Street Journal' was run; The roles of Peter Kann, Ken Burenga and Roy Hammer;

Describes the effect that securities analysts have on the stock market. Change in the requirements that are placed on securities analysts; Desire of people to know what a stock is going to do in the short-term; Importance of analysts to the business of investment banking. INSET: Market movers, by Nelson D. Schwartz..