JPMORGAN VOTE MAY HINGE ON LEAD DIRECTOR  | The shareholder vote at JPMorgan Chase on splitting Jamie Dimon’s roles of chairman and chief executive could hinge on whether Lee R. Raymond, the lead director, is seen as strong enough to stand up to Mr. Dimon, Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Susanne Craig report in DealBook.
Though Mr. Raymond, 74, was known for his ferocity as chief executive of Exxon Mobil, a growing number of investors are now wondering whether he had done enough to fortify risk controls and root out problems in the aftermath of JPMorgan’s multibillion-dollar trading loss last year, some big shareholders say. “I am really surprised that there has not been more blood spilled in the boardroom,†said Fadel Gheit, managing director of oil and gas research for Oppenheimer & Company. But Mr. Raymond has his defenders. “He has shown the ability to take serious and respective action in response to the trading losses,†said Lawrence A. Bossidy, a former chief of Honeywell International who served with Mr. Raymond on JPMorgan’s board. The results of the nonbinding vote will be announced on May 21.
“The vote on whether to separate the chairman and chief executive roles is sure to be close,†DealBook writes. “While Mr. Dimon has been careful not to tip his hand as to his plans in recent meetings with shareholders, according to various attendees who spoke on the condition of anonymity, investors are factoring in the possibility that Mr. Dimon may resign if they vote to split the roles.â€
On Friday, Mr. Raymond and William C. Weldon, the chairman of the board’s corporate governance and nominating committee, released a letter recommending shareholders vote against the proposal to split Mr. Dimon’s roles and endorsing the re-election of all the directors. “It bears mention that there is little evidentiary support for the proposition that a split of chairman and C.E.O. positions is in all cases good for company performance and beneficial to shareholders,†the letter said.
BLOOMBERG ADMITS TERMINAL SNOOPING  | “Reporters at Bloomberg News were trained to use a function on the company’s financial data terminals that allowed them to view subscribers’ contact information and, in some cases, monitor login activity in order to advance news coverage, more than half a dozen former employees said,†The New York Times’s Amy Chozick reports. After Goldman Sachs complained to Bloomberg last month, the company acknowledged that at least one reporter had gained access to customer information. On Sunday, Ty Trippet, a spokesman for Bloomberg, said that “reporters would not have been trained to improperly use any client data.â€
In an editorial published on Bloomberg View Sunday night, Matthew Winkler, editor in chief of Bloomberg News, said the practice of allowing reporters access to limited subscriber information dated back to the inception of the news arm of the financial information company founded by Michael R. Bloomberg. “The recent complaints relate to practices that are almost as old as Bloomberg News,†Mr. Winkler said. “Some reporters have used the so-called terminal to obtain, as The Washington Post reported, ‘mundane’ facts such as logon information.†He continued, “Our reporters should not have access to any data considered proprietary. I am sorry they did. The error is inexcusable.â€
As early as 2011, Erik Schatzker, a host on Bloomberg Television, said on his show that he had used a terminal subscriber’s data to report on a finance executive, BuzzFeed reported over the weekend. Bloomberg conducted an internal review after the remarks.
MAXINE WATERS’S NEW TACK  | Once known as “kerosene Maxine,†Representative Maxine Waters has adopted a softer stance toward banks since rising to become the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee at the start of this year, The New York Times’s Ben Protess reports. “You have a lot of good will right now,†she told bankers during a visit to her Los Angeles district in March. As for Dodd-Frank, Ms. Waters, a Democrat, said she was ready to defend the law but also asked the bankers to compile a “laundry list†of concerns. “I don’t want you to look at this as being impossible to tweak,†she said.
“The move may seem at odds with her track record as a rabble-rouser and consumer activist,†Mr. Protess writes. “But after two decades in Congress, she says she has learned to pick her battles.â€
ON THE AGENDA Â |Â Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, speaks to the German Council for Sustainable Development. Data on retail sales in April is out at 8:30 a.m. Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital is on CNBC at 8 a.m. The billionaire financier Kenneth G. Langone is on Bloomberg TV at 8 a.m.
A REPLACEMENT FOR LIBOR  | The Libor benchmark, which was plagued by scandal after revelations that banks tried to manipulate it, “is likely to be replaced by a dual-track system with survey-based lending rates running alongside transaction-linked indices as soon as next year,†according to The Financial Times. A parallel system would provide continuity while also allowing for a new benchmark tied more closely to actual data, the British regulator Martin Wheatley said, the newspaper reports. Still, the proposal may set up a conflict with United States regulators.
Elan in Deal on Drug Royalties  | Elan, an Irish drug maker that is the target of a hostile takeover, agreed to pay $1 billion for a share of royalties on new drugs from Theravance of the United States.
DealBook »
Chinese Automakers Put Down Roots in Detroit  | The New York Times reports: “Chinese-owned companies are investing in American businesses and new vehicle technology, selling everything from seat belts to shock absorbers in retail stores, and hiring experienced engineers and designers in an effort to soak up the talent and expertise of domestic automakers and their suppliers.â€
NEW YORK TIMES
SoftBank, in Bid for Sprint, Plans Silicon Valley Office  |Â
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Danone Acquires Baby Food Company  | Danone paid “hundreds of millions of dollars†for Happy Family, which makes organic food for babies and toddlers, The Wall Street Journal reports.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
What Lies Ahead for Dell After Icahn’s New Demand  | A new proposal by Carl C. Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management presents some new complications for Dell’s special board committee. But in some ways, it simplifies matters a bit.
DealBook »
Actavis in Preliminary Talks With Warner Chilcott  | Actavis, the maker of generic drugs, said it was in early talks to acquire Warner Chilcott.
DealBook »
Lloyds Bank Chairman to Retire  | Winfried Bischoff, chairman of the Lloyds Banking Group and a former interim chief executive of Citigroup, will step down by May 2014.
DealBook »
Salomon Sues Citigroup Over Secretary  | William R. Salomon, the onetime leader of Salomon Brothers, has sued Citigroup over Karen Febles, the secretary provided by the bank who was convicted of stealing from him, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Short-Seller Takes Aim at Standard Chartered’s Debt  | Carson C. Block, the founder of Muddy Waters, said he is betting against the debt of the British bank Standard Chartered, warning of “deteriorating†loan quality, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
What Board Members Don’t Do  | “The risk-management fiasco at JPMorgan was an obvious failing, but directors of public companies often let down their outside shareholders in ways that are more subtle, but equally important, say some experts on public company board practices,†Gretchen Morgenson, a columnist for The New York Times, writes. “Directors commonly neglect chief executive succession planning and inadequately analyze company performance as it relates to managers’ pay.â€
NEW YORK TIMES
Alan Abelson, Longtime Columnist for Barron’s, Dies at 87  | Mr. Abelson wrote “a pugnacious, sagacious stock market column that denounced Wall Street hucksterism and routinely rocked share prices,†The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
A Private Equity Tax Move Said to Draw I.R.S. Interest  | Clifford Warren, a senior Internal Revenue Service official, said at a recent legal conference that the agency was “studying†a technique that can lower taxes on private equity management fees, The Wall Street Journal writes.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
TowerBrook to Purchase True Religion Apparel for $835 Million  | The buyout by the private equity firm underscores the rise of premium-priced jeans as a high-fashion staple and status symbol.
DealBook »
Warburg Pincus Closes Latest Fund at $11.2 Billion  | It is one of the biggest private equity fund-raising rounds since the end of the financial crisis.
DealBook »
How Cooper Union’s Endowment Failed  | “Cooper Union may be an extreme example, but it’s hardly the only college suffering from a combination of decades of bad decisions and recent treacherous markets,†James B. Stewart, a columnist for The New York Times, writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
A Strong Response to Paying Board Nominees  | Eight partners at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz are proposing that company boards consider adopting a bylaw prohibiting shareholder activists from compensating director nominees, Steven M. Davidoff writes in the Deal Professor column.
DealBook »
Hedge Funds Increase Bet on Greek Banks  | Farallon Capital and York Capital Management are among the hedge funds putting money more into the Greek banking sector, according to The Financial Times.
FINANCIAL TIMES
A Social Media View of the Davos of Hedge Funds  | A look at some of the social media dispatches from SALT conference in Las Vegas. The SkyBridge Alternatives Conference brings together more than 1,800 wealthy investors and hedge funds for four days of conferences, concerts and revelry.
DEALBOOK
An Emerging Recovery in I.P.O.’s  | Companies in the United States “are on track to raise the most money through initial public offerings since before the financial crisis,†The Wall Street Journal writes.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
AirAsia X Said to Seek Up to $300 Million in Malaysia I.P.O. Â |Â
REUTERS
Twitter Estimated to Be Worth Nearly $10 Billion  | The valuation of Twitter was based on the value of shares held by GSV Capital, according to Bloomberg News.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Musk Abandons Technology Industry Lobbying Group  | The technology titan Elon Musk, a founder of Tesla and an exponent of clean energy, has stepped down from Fwd.us, the advocacy group spearheaded by Mark Zuckerberg that has sponsored advertisements in favor of an oil pipeline, The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Even Tech Elites Need Time Without Mobile Devices  |Â
NEW YORK TIMES BITS
As a Tool to Launder Money, Art Is Invaluable  | Law enforcement officials say criminals have increasingly turned to the famously opaque art market to hide illicit profits, as other forms of money-laundering come under closer scrutiny, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
Bernanke, the ‘Washington Super-Whale’  | Some hedge fund traders likely view the Federal Reserve as an enormous trader distorting market prices, akin to the so-called London Whale, the economist Brad DeLong writes.
BRAD DELONG
In Germany, Recovery Is Relatively Fast  | “The euro zone’s troubles have helped Germany’s export-oriented economy,†Floyd Norris, a columnist for The New York Times, writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Tax Crackdown in Greece Yields Little Revenue  | “Politicians, business executives and bankers are being raked through the headlines or incarcerated in a white-collar crackdown as the Greek government goes after people suspected of tax dodging,†The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Lehman May Sell Off Some Unsecured Claims  |Â
ASSOCIATED PRESS
