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Pension fund sues Mattel for insider trading

By Times Wires
Published October 11, 2007

DOVER, Del.

Attorneys for a Michigan pension fund alleged in a shareholder lawsuit filed Wednesday that Mattel Inc. has misled investors by delaying the reporting of defects in its toys to federal regulators. The lawsuit, filed in Delaware's Court of Chancery, also accuses three current members and one former member of Mattel's board of directors of engaging in illegal insider trading by dumping more than $33-million in stock before the company's massive toy recalls this summer. Since August, Mattel has announced three separate recalls of some 21-million toys because of dangers to children from lead paint or from tiny magnets that can be harmful if swallowed. Attorneys representing the Sterling Heights, Mich., police and fire pension fund allege that Mattel knew about the defects for months but failed to report them to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, as required by federal law.

GAINESVILLE

Tampa exec lends UF program a hand

The University of Florida's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation said Wednesday that Tampa executive Thomas S. Johnson would serve later this month as its entrepreneur-in-residence. Johnson, a UF alum and the CEO of Tampa-based Global Imaging Systems, will discuss acquisition-based business growth. Xerox Corp. acquired Global Imaging this year for $1.5-billion.

WASHINGTON

Greenspan: Growth to slow into 2008

While U.S. economic data look good in the third quarter, the growth rate will continue to slow and the housing market will weaken further, former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said Wednesday. Economic growth should continue to slow through the rest of the year and into the first quarter of 2008, while home prices have further to drop, Greenspan said, speaking before attendees at the World Business Forum, held Wednesday and today in New York. "The critical question is the price level of homes in the United States, which are almost certainly going to fall," Greenspan said, as the hefty inventory of unsold homes continues to drive down prices. "What we don't know at this stage is whether, in fact, the decline in home prices will be a large one or a modest one," he said. Given the current climate, the odds that the United States will skirt a recession now look better than 50/50, Greenspan said.

MIAMI

Italian firm to build Cunard cruise ship

Luxury cruise provider Cunard Line and an Italian shipbuilder announced a $700-million deal Wednesday to build a new 2,092-passenger ship to be named Queen Elizabeth. Cunard Line, a unit of Miami-based Carnival Corp., said the 92,000-ton Queen Elizabeth will be built at Fincantieri's Monfalcone shipyard with delivery expected in the fall of 2010. The new ship is one of 18 set to be built by 2011 for units of Carnival Corp., the world's largest cruise operator. The Queen Elizabeth will be the second-largest Cunard has ever built. Cunard ships are known for their opulence, dating back to the introduction of the Mauretania in 1907. Queen Elizabeth's home port will be Southampton, United Kingdom.

[Last modified October 11, 2007, 00:36:34]