BUSINESS BRIEFS
Bank of America to expand help for borrowers
Advertiser Staff and News Services
LOS ANGELES — Bank of America Corp. will expand efforts to help Countrywide Financial Corp. borrowers avoid foreclosure on trouble mortgages, a top bank executive said yesterday.
The announcement came as members of the Federal Reserve Board convened two days of public hearings on Bank of America's proposed $4.1 billion stock deal for Calabasas, Calif.-based Countrywide.
Liam McGee, president of Bank of America's global consumer and small-business banking operation, said the bank will modify at least $40 billion in problem loans from at least 265,000 borrowers over the next two years. That figure includes borrowers from both lenders, although most of the at-risk loans are held by Countrywide borrowers, McGee said after he delivered his testimony at a hearing called by the Federal Reserve.
U.S. GROUPS SEEK FREER CHINA TRADE
BEIJING — Three American business groups are appealing to Washington and Beijing to promote freer trade and reject protectionism amid slowing U.S. economic growth and a widening trade gap with China.
In an annual report on business conditions, American chambers of commerce for China, Shanghai and South China rejected calls by some in the United States for punitive measures over Beijing's trade surplus and currency controls. They also called on Beijing to repeal rules that limit foreign investment and competition.
"Defending and preserving the openness of the trade relationship should be a core commitment of both the U.S. and Chinese governments," James Zimmerman, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said at a news conference yesterday.
The United States said its gap with China in February was $18.4 billion — down 9.6 percent from the same month last year. Still, it was the biggest U.S. trade gap with any country.
PIXAR'S EX-CFO MAY FACE CHARGES
LOS ANGELES — The former chief financial officer of Pixar Animation Studios may face charges that she mishandled stock options, the latest fallout in the legal troubles that have plagued high-tech companies.
A lawyer for Ann Mather acknowledged that his client might become the target of a civil action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission for alleged stock option irregularities at the Emeryville, Calif.-based creator of such blockbuster hits as "Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles." Mather left Pixar in 2004.
"Ms. Mather acted diligently and responsibly at all times in her position as CFO at Pixar," Mather's attorney, Timothy J. Coleman of Dewey & LeBoeuf, said in a statement. "There is no basis for any legal action against her." Coleman declined to comment further.
Mather declined to comment.
Mather was notified April 23 that the SEC planned to recommend civil proceedings against her, according to a regulatory filing Monday from Google Inc., where Mather is a board member and chairwoman of its audit committee.
CABLEVISION MAY BID ON NEWSDAY
NEW YORK — Cablevision Systems Corp. appears poised to make an end-around bid for Newsday this week with an offer expected to top two competing $580 million bids by media barons Rupert Murdoch and Mortimer Zuckerman, sources familiar with the matter said.
But while Cablevision's controlling Dolan family may be willing to up the ante, they apparently do not have the behind-the-scenes influence that News Corp. chairman Murdoch has been employing to smooth the Newsday purchase with local politicians: former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato. D'Amato, whose Park Strategies Washington Group LLC is listed as a lobbyist for News Corp., last week made introductory phone calls for Murdoch to Nassau County executive Thomas Suozzi and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., among others, both officials acknowledged.
