P.&G. CHIEF IS OUT  | Procter & Gamble, a company that is one of the biggest holdings of the hedge fund manager William A. Ackman, said on Thursday that its chief executive, Robert A. McDonald, had resigned. Mr. McDonald is being succeeded by his predecessor, Alan G. Lafley, The New York Times’s Michael J. de la Merced reports.
Mr. Ackman, who is known for publicly challenging management teams, had criticized Mr. McDonald for the company’s poor stock performance. Mr. McDonald, 59, who had worked at the company for 33 years and became chief executive and president in 2009, notified the board a few days ago of his decision to retire, a P.& G. spokesman, Paul Fox, said, adding that the decision was not spurred by pressure from company directors. The stock price rose modestly in after-hours trading following the announcement. Mr. Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital has 27.9 million shares, worth nearly $2.2 billion as of Thursday.
“As we’ve said all along, we have confidence in the board of Procter & Gamble to do the right thing for the company and the shareholders,†Mr. Ackman said in a brief telephone interview on Thursday. In a memo to vendors, Mr. McDonald said, according to The Wall Street Journal: “When we get to a point where too much attention becomes a distraction, it’s time to change that dynamic.â€
4 SAC EXECUTIVES SUBPOENAED  | “Four senior executives of the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors have received subpoenas to testify before a grand jury as part of the government’s intensifying investigation into insider trading at the firm, according to people briefed on the case,†DealBook’s Peter Lattman reports. “The executives were issued subpoenas last week, along with the one served on Steven A. Cohen, the owner of SAC. The executives are Thomas Conheeney, the firm’s president; Solomon Kumin, its chief operating officer; Steven Kessler, chief compliance officer; and Phillip Villhauer, the head of trading.â€
The round of subpoenas angered SAC, which had been fully cooperating in the inquiry, Mr. Lattman reports. The fund on May 17 informed investors it was no longer fully cooperating with the investigation. “We don’t think it is unusual that in this investigation the government would interview our senior executives about how the firm operates,†said Jonathan Gasthalter, an SAC spokesman.
WHEN LOBBYISTS HELP WRITE BILLS  | In a push to soften financial regulations, bank lobbyists are helping lawmakers draft legislation, Eric Lipton and Ben Protess report in DealBook. “One bill that sailed through the House Financial Services Committee this month â€" over the objections of the Treasury Department â€" was essentially Citigroup’s, according to e-mails reviewed by The New York Times. The bill would exempt broad swathes of trades from new regulation.â€
“In a sign of Wall Street’s resurgent influence in Washington, Citigroup’s recommendations were reflected in more than 70 lines of the House committee’s 85-line bill. Two crucial paragraphs, prepared by Citigroup in conjunction with other Wall Street banks, were copied nearly word for word. (Lawmakers changed two words to make them plural.)â€
ON THE AGENDA  | Data on durable goods orders for April is out at 8:30 a.m. Abercrombie & Fitch reports earnings before the market opens. Thomas Lee, JPMorgan Chase’s chief United States equity strategist, is on Bloomberg TV at 9:15 a.m. Richard Branson of the Virgin Group is on CNBC at 10:40 a.m.
CONGRESSIONAL CONCERN OVER SOFTBANK’S BID FOR SPRINT  | With SoftBank of Japan looking to buy a majority stake in Sprint Nextel, Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York asked government regulators on Thursday to review the Asian company’s ties to Chinese telecommunications equipment makers, a sign that Congressional concern over the proposed deal is growing, Mr. de la Merced writes. Mr. Schumer urged the Treasury Department and the Federal Communications Commission to consider the widespread attacks by Chinese hackers. “The protection of our critical infrastructure is a topic of intense legislative scrutiny,†the Democratic senator wrote in the letter, which was reviewed by a reporter for the The New York Times. He asked the two agencies to take a close look “to ensure that our nation’s security is not placed at risk.â
Google, Too, Is Said to Be Looking at Waze  | Google “is considering buying map-software provider Waze Inc., setting up a possible bidding war with Facebook Inc.,†which also had been reported to be interested in the company, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Yet Another Corporate Tax Maneuver  | While many people were paying attention to Apple, there was a “surreptitious thrust at tax minimization†contained in the news release about the deal by Actavis to acquire Warner Chilcott, Steven Rattner writes in The New York Times.
NEW YORK TIMES
Dish Moves to Arrange Financing for Sprint Bid  | Dish Network “took one step closer to arranging $9 billion in committed financing†for its proposed $25.5 billion takeover of Sprint Nextel, according to The Wall Street Journal.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Yahoo’s Design Chief Is Leaving  |Â
NEW YORK TIMES BITS
Campbell Soup to Buy Plum Organics, Baby Food Maker  |Â
REUTERS
Rue21 to Sell Itself to Apax for $1.1 Billion  | The leveraged buyout caps the resurgence of rue21, a seller of cheap, trendy clothing for teenagers that had filed for bankruptcy in 2002 and re-emerged the next year. In recent years, its stock has surged.
DealBook »
Retailers Attract Private Equity Buyers  | “While rue21 is an attempt to capture rising sales, other potential private equity deals for department stores, such as Saks Fifth Avenue, would be about squeezing greater efficiency out of more mature businesses,†The Financial Times writes.
FINANCIAL TIMES
DealBook »
At Goldman, an Increased Emphasis on Reputation  | Goldman Sachs “linked bonuses and promotions to employees’ success in protecting the firm’s reputation and put new restrictions on some client transactions to avoid a repeat of the damage to its standing in the wake of the financial crisis,†Bloomberg News writes.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Swiss Banking Secrecy Is Under Pressure  | The New York Times writes: “Now that Luxembourg and Austria have given ground on bank secrecy rules, the spotlight has turned to Switzerland, a country famous for the anonymity it provides in equal measure to the rich, the famous and those who want to hide their money.â€
NEW YORK TIMES
Warm Welcome at Deutsche Bank Meeting, Followed by Rancor  | The annual Deutsche Bank shareholders meeting began with applause for Anshu Jain, the bank’s co-chief executive, but attention quickly turned to the myriad problems that the bank has been trying to shake.
DealBook »
Icahn Said to Seek Financing for Dell Proposal  | “Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc have initiated talks with banks and asset managers to line up commitments for as much as $7 billion in bridge loans to back their leveraged recapitalization proposal for Dell,†Reuters reports, citing unidentified “banking sources.â€
REUTERS
British Firm 3i Offers to Buy Barclays Fund Business  | The British private equity firm 3i said it made an offer to buy Barclays’ European infrastructure fund business, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Remarks About Women Were ‘Off the Cuff,’ Jones Says  | The hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones offered an explanation of controversial remarks that surfaced in a video published by The Washington Post.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Goldman Sachs Provides Seed Capital to New Hedge Fund  |Â
ABSOLUTE RETURN
Tremor Video Files for I.P.O. Â |Â The video advertising company Tremor, which competes with Facebook, Hulu and Google, is looking to raise up to $86.3 million in an I.P.O.
REUTERS
With New Feature, Twitter Lets Brands Reach TV Watchers  | The new product, Twitter Amplify, uses commentary on Twitter to help brands send messages to selected people who have likely seen their ad on television, The New York Times reports.
NEW YORK TIMES
S.E.C. Changes Continue as Obama Names 2 Senate Aides for Posts  | The nominees, Kara Stein and Michael Piwowar, are familiar with the Wall Street regulatory agency’s business through their work.
DealBook »
I.S.S. Settles Investigation Into Leaks of Shareholder Vote Data  | Institutional Shareholder Services agreed to settle civil charges that it failed to prevent an employee from improperly selling confidential investor vote data.
DealBook »
An Agreement Opens Some Chinese Audit Papers to the U.S. Â |Â Years in the making, the deal was hailed as a step toward more enforcement cooperation between the two countries.
DealBook »
Regulator Cites Flaws in Ernst & Young’s Audit Procedures  | The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board said the firm found a fraud risk in nine audits in 2009 but did not sufficiently follow up on the risk.
DealBook »
Fed Fears Send a Shudder Through Global Markets  | “Investors are contemplating a future without support from one of the biggest engines of the global economy in recent years: the Federal Reserve,†The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Apple’s Corrosive Tax Strategy  | “The shameful thing is that we have a tax system that seems to allow multinational companies to choose what they want to pay,†Floyd Norris, a columnist for The New York Times, writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
Ally to Pay Residential Capital $2.1 Billion to Settle Claims  | Ally Financial agreed on Thursday to pay Residential Capital, its bankrupt mortgage lending unit, $2.1 billion to settle claims filed by the division’s creditors.
DealBook »
