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TiVo co-founder, CTO Jim Barton resigns
Co-founder of TiVo and CTO Jim Barton has long outlasted our deathwatch, but his time as an executive at the DVR maker quietly came to an end this week according to documents filed with the SEC. CEO Tom Rogers thanked Jim for his "commitment to innovation" in a statement, and the filing indicates he will stick around as a $25,000 per month consultant in "patent matters and litigation" among other things -- nice work if you can get it -- until March 15, 2015, but his reason for stepping down is unspecified. As Multichannel News notes, Barton was working with fellow co-founder Mike Ramsay (who left in 2007) at Silicon Graphics on a project for Time Warner when they had the idea for the DVR and eventually founded TiVo in 1997. That early movement may not have resulted in dominance over pay-Tv provided DVRs, but some favorable legal settlements and successful partnerships like its deal with Virgin Media mean he's leaving the company with its prospects looking a bit better than they did back in the dark days of '05.[Thanks, David]
Barnes & Noble to release new e-reader, according to securities filing
It's not often that we get word of a new gadget by way of an SEC filing, but Barnes & Noble has broken with tradition with an 8-K report that reveals its intentions to introduce a new e-reader. The form, filed earlier today, says that the company "indicated it expects to make an announcement on May 24, 2011 regarding the launch of a new eReader device," and goes on to say that the form was filed "solely to satisfy the requirements of Regulation FD." Said regulation was instated back in 2000 to address concerns over insider trading. All that sounds good to us, but we wish there was a clause that required them to include a spec sheet. Considering the Nook Color just got Froyo, is it possible we'll be seeing a Honeycomb version come the 24th? It looks like we'll just have to wait and see.
Former HP CEO Mark Hurd rewarded with a $40m severance after being forced to resign over fraudulent expense reports
Worried that former HP CEO Mark Hurd might not know what to do with himself after getting caught falsifying expense reports to hide girl #2 and being forced to resign? Don't be: ol' Mark's getting a $12,224,693 severance payment in exchange for agreeing not to sue HP. Yep, Mark Hurd just got $12 million in cash for fraudulently filing expense reports to conceal his mistress -- not a bad trick if you can pull it off, we suppose. (We don't know how much he'll have to pay back, but we're guessing he'll have a little cash left over.) Oh, and he's also having his option to buy 775,000 shares of HP stock extended to September, which is pretty groovy considering HP actually upped its quarterly forecast today, some other assorted stock-related compensation, and 18 months of health and dental benefits. Whoever said a little white collar crime doesn't pay? Update: CNBC has sources claiming the total value of Hurd's severance including stocks is closer to $40-50 million, give or take. That's... well, that's a lot of ink cartridges.
Palm files 8-K with SEC on merger, VP of PR Lynn Fox leaving
Okay, we've got lots of Palm news tonight, so take our hand and let us walk you through it. For starters, the company filed a 8-K report with the SEC today, which is a requirement when major changes (e.g. a merger with HP) are happening. According to the paperwork, the transaction / acquisition was expected to close by July 1st... but it might actually be anytime within the first week of July. A PreCentral forums member claims to have listened in on a shareholding meeting today and heard that from VP of Investor Relations Teri Klein. Additionally, he also heard that under HP, current Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein will head up a smartphone / mobility unit that's culled from both his company and another HP unit. Finally, news has come in this evening in that VP of Public Relations Lynn Fox is joining the likes of Matias Duarte, Rich Dellinger, and Caitlin Spaan in leaving Palm. Though we understand she's staying with Palm through next week, she is definitely not sticking around -- according to her Facebook page, Fox "respectfully declined the opportunity to join HP after its acquisition of Palm" and will be pursuing other opportunities. So, when can we get back to talking about those mysterious new webOS devices? That aren't printers?
THQ stock option investigation over
Today seems to be a good day for video game publishers. First, Activision cleared up its stock option problems. Now THQ (THQI), the other video game company that had some 10-Q problems, is also out in the clear. Much to the relief of investors and THQ, the investigation into THQ's stock option plans was completed; happily for everyone, no fraud was found. The only inconsistency involved in an increase of $11 million in after-tax expenses. THQ is in the same situation as Activision. Both had stock option problems, both had that monkey pulled from their back and both are expected to have a good 2007. Their insistence on heavy Wii support is the reason. Let's hope we get some more good publisher news to add to these two.
Activision looking up
Activision (ATVI) hasn't been looking to bright these days from a shareholder point of view. While they're doing fine in terms of sales, their delayed 10-Q form due to stock option issues tends to worry investors. Now, Activision is starting to look up. In their recent 8-K filling, Activision placed on hold the concerns over the 10-Q. According to Activision, the stock option issue is in regards to the timing of the options, which may have fallen outside of SEC-allowed dates. The dates are mainly an issue with taxes and should be a minor issue at best (compared to other, bigger stock option issues like insider-trading that is). On top of the previously announced expectation that Activision will win big because of its strong support of the Wii, the easing of the tensions over stock options is a breath of fresh air to investors. Michael Pachter (the face of video game analysts) expects the company to do well in 2007. Seems that Activision is back on track.
