ALTHOUGH he is still __________ things up at Dell, an ailing computer-maker, Carl Icahn has found time to tilt at another tech titan. On August 13th the veteran shareholder activist __________that he had built up a stake in Apple, though he stayed mum about exactly how many shares he had bought. Mr Icahns intentions, however, are crystal clear: he wants the consumer-electronics behemoth to expand plans to return some of its whopping $147 billion of cash and marketable securities to shareholders.
Mr Icahn is also after more money at Dell, where he has been lobbying with allies against a __________ buy-out plan put forward by Michael Dell, the firms founder, and Silver Lake, a private-equity firm. His pressing has already forced the buy-out group to raise its initial offer by over $350m, to $24.8 billion and he has taken his __________ to the courts in a bid to extract an even higher price.
Other tech firms have been attracting the attention of activist investors too. Earlier this year ValueAct Capital, an investment fund, said it had built up a $2 billion stake in Microsoft. Jaguar Financial, a Canadian bank, has been __________ fresh thinking at troubled BlackBerry, which announced on August 12th that it is exploring various __________options, including alliances and a possible sale. And Elliott Management, a hedge fund, has been lobbying for change at NetApp, a data-storage firm that it thinks could do more to improve returns to __________.
One reason tech firms have found themselves in activists crosshairs is that, like Apple, some built up big cash piles during the economic downturn and have been slow to use the money. Financiers hope to get them to loosen their purse-strings faster and to pocket some of the cash. Mr Icahn wants Apple to increase and __________ a share buy-back programme that is currently set to return $60 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015.
Another reason that tech firms make tempting targets for shareholder activists is that swift changes in technologies can trip up even the mightiest. Witness the case of Microsoft, which ruled the roost during the personal-computer era but has struggled to adapt to a world in which tablets and smartphones are all the rage. Investors hope to mint money by pushing companies to change more rapidly in response to such upheavals in their markets.
The rewards can be substantial. Egged on by Third Point, an activist hedge fund, Yahoo __________Marissa Mayer as its new chief executive in July 2012. By the time she celebrated a year in the job last month, the troubled web giants share price had risen by over 70%. In July the hedge fund sold a big chunk of shares back to Yahoo. Mr Icahn thinks Apples share price, which closed at $499 on August 14th, could soar too if the firm follows his advice on buy-backs. He tweeted this week that he had had a nice __________ with Tim Cook, Apples boss, about his idea, though he did not say what Mr Cook thought of it. If Apple drags its feet, expect things to turn nasty.
A) shareholders
B) strategic
C) communication
D) battle
E) conversation
F) encouraging
G) exciting
H) stirring
I) appointed
J) race
K) revealed
L) method
M) accelerate
N) proposed
雅思阅读解析对策:要“全”要“准”
雅思阅读选择题解题技巧
雅思阅读需抓好两类中心词
如何应对雅思阅读中的生词
雅思阅读:经济衰退期 女性钟爱化妆品
雅思阅读材料:How come you didn't see the whole of the Moon?
雅思阅读:肖申克的救赎
雅思阅读List of heading解题技巧
雅思阅读背景之颜色的不同涵义
雅思阅读:考前1个月倒计时复习计划
雅思阅读:你不知道的词义用法(上)
雅思阅读倒计时1个月复习计划
雅思阅读真题词汇:雪崩
雅思阅读电影:飞越疯人院
雅思阅读:电影《十二怒汉》
雅思阅读真题相似文章:生物防治病虫害
雅思阅读高频词汇:科技类
雅思阅读模拟真题:Dont wash those fossils
雅思阅读技巧之定位词
《剑桥雅思7》阅读题型分析
题目?文章?三种方法拿下雅思阅读
雅思阅读出题十大原则
雅思阅读:英国饮食文化之早餐篇
雅思阅读:世界上最慷慨的14人
雅思阅读各类题型的难度介绍
雅思阅读模拟试题:Dont wash those fossils
雅思阅读真题相似文章:人类文字进化史
雅思阅读真题词汇:老龄职工
考场注意事项:四步应对雅思阅读
雅思阅读:沃尔玛最能代表美国
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |