National Briefs

May 30, 02:53 PM

Current Headlines: By From news service reports

Consumer confidence rebounds

NEW YORK Consumer confidence bounced back unexpectedly in May, despite higher gasoline prices that could raise shoppers' worries about inflation, a private research group said Tuesday.

The New York-based Conference Board said its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 108.0 in May, up from a revised 106.3 in April. Analysts had expected the reading to fall to 104.5. The May reading was the highest since March when the index was at 108.2.

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Feds to weigh Google privacy

WASHINGTON The Federal Trade Commission will likely consider the privacy issues raised by Google Inc.'s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick Inc. as part of its antitrust review of the transaction, analysts said Tuesday.

When Google announced its plan April 13 to acquire DoubleClick, several consumer advocacy groups, led by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), urged the FTC to investigate the privacy implications of the transaction. The groups said in their April 20 complaint that the two companies, when combined, would have access to an unprecedented amount of data on consumers' Web usage and Internet search habits.

The FTC should block the acquisition unless Google publicly commits to improving its privacy policies, the groups said last month. The Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group joined EPIC in its complaint.

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IBM borrows $11.5B for buyback

ARMONK, N.Y. IBM Corp. disclosed Tuesday that it is taking on $11.5 billion in new debt to finance an aggressive acceleration of its stock repurchase plan, which the company believes is one of the largest such steps ever. IBM had already announced that it would be ramping up its already massive stock buyback, and the technology company also had said it expected to borrow money to get it done. But a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed the big scope of the project.

Like many other large companies, IBM is on a buyback binge. It has spent $80 billion on its own stock since 1995. By taking shares out of circulation, the move increases the company's earnings per share and gives IBM more shares it can dole out in stock options.

As part of a private transaction known as an accelerated share repurchase, IBM contracted with three banks to buy $12.5 billion worth of its stock 8 percent of all outstanding shares. The banks, which were not identified, borrowed the stock and gave it to IBM immediately; the banks plan to buy IBM shares to cover their positions over the next nine months. IBM would pay more if the stock rises in that time.

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Spitzer backs deregulation panel

NEW YORK New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who targeted Wall Street abuses of power when he was attorney general, said a new commission will examine ways to relieve financial firms of regulation that may hurt their growth and competitiveness.

The panel will have until June 2008 to propose legislative changes aimed at helping New York retain its status as the "world financial capital," Spitzer said in a statement. The group, led by Insurance Superintendent Eric Dinallo, will include heads of some of the world's biggest insurers, banks and securities firms, as well as representatives from consumer and government groups.

Spitzer said his push is consistent with the years he spent investigating biased stock research, improper mutual-fund trading and insurance bid-rigging as the state's attorney general. During an eight-year tenure that ended when he became governor in January, dozens of investment banks, mutual-fund firms and insurers paid at least $9.4 billion to settle probes with state and federal authorities including Spitzer.

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