BNET Daily Dispatch: Dell, Bausch & Lomb, Amazon, and Blackstone
By
Joseph De Avila
May 16th, 2007 @ 10:04 am
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Categories: General
Tags: Dell Computer Corp., Bausch & Lomb Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Copy Protection, Joseph De Avila
- The New York State Attorney General has sued Dell over consumer complaints against the computer maker. The suit contends that Dell engaged in deceptive financing practices by misleading customers with enticing financing offers that carry many restrictions. The Attorney General’s office wants an injunction against Dell’s practices and unspecified damages to affected customers.
- Private equity firm Warburg Pincus has agreed to buy Bausch & Lomb for $3.67 billion. The eye-products maker was dealt a severe blow last year when its contact-lens solution was recalled. The recall resulted in charges of $25 million and $19 million in lost sales from returns and rebates.
- Amazon.com said today that the company would start a digital music store this year with millions of songs, free of copy protection technology that limits where consumers can play their music. The music industry has demanded copy protection technology to curb piracy by preventing users from making multiple copies. EMI has licensed its digital catalog to Amazon, the second such deal in a month.
- The AFL-CIO asked the SEC to force changes to an IPO by Blackstone Group, one of the first major U.S. private equity firms to go public. The union wants Blackstone to register as an investment company and submit to oversight under the same law mutual funds follow. The AFL-CIO told the SEC that Blackstone “deliberately structured its public offering … to hide the fact that the Blackstone Group LP is actually an offering of interests in pools of investment securities.”
