Cisco Systems said it would be booking a one-time tax charge of about $130 million to $150 million in its current fiscal 2009 fourth quarter after a ruling Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a case between Xilinx and the Internal Revenue Service related to stock-based compensation expense.
Although not named in the case decided, th Read the rest of this entry »
On Friday, ground will be broken on the Southwest Hall Lawn of the University of the Pacific’s Stockton campus to kick-off construction of the John T. Chambers Technology Center (artist rendering of the project pictured), a $12 million dollar facility that will serve as the new home to the university’s school of engineering and computer science.
The 24,000-square-foot center, which is to include Read the rest of this entry »
It’s official: Cisco’s chief executive, John Chambers, is now a member of Silicon Valley’s jet set. In fact, it’s a requirement.
Last month, Cisco’s board “adopted a travel policy” under which Chambers “is generally required to utilize a private airplane for business travel because his responsibilities on behalf of Cisco entail substantial national and international travel.” (But that’s nothing new, right?)
To help Chambers comply with the new ruling, Cisco will Read the rest of this entry »
One of the three proxy advisory services recommended today that Cisco System stock owners vote in favor of a shareholder proposal that the company’s board of directors opposes.
The proposal, put forward by Boston Common Asset Management, requests that “the board publish a report to shareholders, within six months, providing a summarized listing and assessment of concrete steps the company could reasonably take to Read the rest of this entry »
Stanford President John Hennessy, who sits on the board of directors at both Google and Cisco Systems, added his voice to the rising chorus calling for resolution sooner rather than later to the credit crisis enveloping the U.S. economy, in an interview with Bloomberg News. Read the rest of this entry »
Cisco Systems, the San Jose networking giant, said Thursday that the compensation committee of its board of directors approved its “fiscal 2009 merit-based granting” to eligible employees of restricted stock units good for about 28 million shares. The committee also approved “merit-based right to receive future grants of performance-based restricted stock units for certain employees, based on Cisco’s financial performance in fiscal 2009, in a target amount of approximately 3 million restricted stock units.”
That adds up to approximately 31 million shares, which had a combined value of about Read the rest of this entry »
Although we spend most of our efforts needling Silicon Valley companies when we uncover bits of corporate shortcomings, we also have a soft spot in our hearts when it comes to the efforts by local companies to give back to the communities in which they live. Read the rest of this entry »
If we are reading this press release correctly, Cisco Systems announced an initiative to
invest up to $1.5 billion worth of of information and communication technology in the United Arab Emirates over the next five years. The investment is intended to “support the 2015 vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum,” who is the vice president and prime minister of the UAE and “ruler” of Dubai, and to fuel the nation’s growth and development plans.
And presumably sell a bunch of Cisco equipment and services in the process.
Cisco said that as part of the “investment,” which it expects to create over 650 new jobs by 2010, the company will open a new regional headquarters office in Dubai this April,
that will host one of the company’s “most advanced customer briefing centers,” allowing Cisco to showcase its latest wares. Cisco will also open an office in Abu Dhabi in June 2008 to serve the growing customer base in the country’s capital.
“Unburdened by legacy technology, the UAE is able to deploy the most advanced IP solutions, placing the country at the forefront of the Internet economy,” said Paul Mountford, Cisco’s president of emerging markets said in a statement.
Ah, to be unburdened by legacy technology! There are lots of places in the world like that, but few of them as wealthy.
Cisco Systems (ticker:CSCO) recently appointed Michael Powell, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and current son of former Secretary of State Colin Powell, to its board of directors. And that’s created a somewhat odd situation at the the San Jose networking company.
According to a story in The New York Times on Sunday, Powell can’t serve on certain committees such as the audit and compensation because he’s not considered independent enough. Why? The company once paid his father more than $100,000 in speaking fees.
On the other hand, Cisco director Richard M. Kovacevich is considered independent, even though he is chairman of Wells Fargo which may let Cisco borrow as much as $120 million.
To understand the tortured logic, check out the Times story here.
After spending $7.8 billion in fiscal 2007 buying back 297 million shares of its own stock, Cisco Systems is asking shareholders to approve more than doubling the number of shares left in its current stock incentive plan to 394 million, according to its proxy filed Wednesday.
Two years ago Cisco asked its shareholders to approve a stock incentive plan covering 350 million shares, which, along with shares left over from a previous plan, gave it a bank of 567 million shares with which to reward its workforce.
Since then the company has doled out to employees a net total of 413 million shares by way of option grants and other stock awards. The 154 million shares they have left in the plan won’t cover the estimated 185 million shares Cisco will give out in its current fiscal year, so its asking shareholders to approve adding 209 million more.
And although the company is asking its shareholders to extend the plan through fiscal 2012, it says that the new batch of stock will only last through 2009, after which it will need to seek more.
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