News Digest for December 13, 2006

There are 7 items … Nasdaq Starts Push for Majority Control of London Market | SEC raises the bar for fund investors | Only 16% of execs believe analysts understand their company | Climate change catching voter attention around world | Google Offers Employee Stock Option Market | Ceres-ACCA Announce Finalists for Sustainability Reporting Awards | Survey: Text Messaging Traffic Set to Double by 2010 | Our “What is a Perk” Survey Results

Nasdaq Starts Push for Majority Control of London Market
The exchange encouraged investors to do nothing until it issued its defense document in 14 days. The timing of Nasdaq’s official offer is shrewd, bankers and lawyers here said, because it will force London exchange advisers to work through the Christmas holiday.

SEC raises the bar for fund investors
US regulators are proposing to prevent all but the very wealthy from investing in hedge funds by more than doubling the current investment threshold for individuals to $2.5m.

Only 16% of execs believe analysts understand their company
Among the respondents, 16% believe that analysts really understand the fundamentals of their company and 23% believe that analysts have poor, or no knowledge; less than 40% have a specific strategy for enhancing market value; only 51% companies believe that share price is important to strategic decision-making and 12% feel that their strategy is not understood by the market.

Google Offers Employee Stock Option Market
Under the program, Google will grant employees a new type of option, called a transferable stock option. The company will work with Morgan Stanley to set up a market that will enable financial institutions and other investors to bid for those options.

Climate change catching voter attention around world
Mainstream parties in Germany, Britain, France, Canada, the United States and Austria believe tackling climate change is a vote winner while established Green parties in Germany and Austria are experiencing a renaissance.

Ceres-ACCA Announce Finalists for Sustainability Reporting Awards
Of the 102 sustainability reports received, 19 were selected for further consideration by the judges’ panel that meets next month. The final winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Toronto and at the Ceres Annual Conference in Boston.

Survey: Text Messaging Traffic Set to Double by 2010
The number of messages transmitted over short message service (SMS) systems in 2005 was estimated at 936 billion, according to British market research group Gartner.

Our “What is a Perk” Survey Results
The CorporateCounsel.net releases results from its member survey on what they consider to be a “perk” under securities regulations.

Please Support Our Work
Email your friends about us. Subscribe to our paid publication Online IR Trends Quarterly. Get us to recommend improvements to your IR website (we're really good at it).