TheCorporateCounsel.net

We have posted the survey results regarding the latest stock buyback trends, repeated below:

1. Does your company use a Rule 10b5-1 plan for corporate buybacks:
– Yes – 58.1%
– No – 41.9%

2. If your company uses a Rule 10b5-1 plan for corporate buybacks, does the company publicly disclose the adoption of the plan:
– Yes – 31.6%
– No – 68.4%

3. If your company uses a Rule 10b5-1 plan for corporate buybacks, is there a waiting period between execution of the Rule 10b5-1 plan and the first repurchase:
– No – 57.9%
– Yes, and it is the same waiting period that our insiders use in connection with their Rule 10b5-1 plans – 31.6%
– Yes, we have a waiting period – but it’s not the same as the waiting period for insiders – 10.5%

4. If your company uses a Rule 10b5-1 plan for corporate buybacks, what is the typical duration of the plan:
– Approximately equal to the blackout period – 42.1%
– 2 months to less than 6 months – 21.1%
– 6 months to less than 12 months – 31.6%
– 12 months or greater – 5.3%

5. If your company uses a Rule 10b5-1 plan for corporate buybacks, are purchases made only during the company’s blackout periods:
– Yes, plan purchases are made only during the blackout periods – 36.8%
– No, sometimes we make plan purchases outside the blackout periods too – 63.2%

6. If your company uses a Rule 10b5-1 plan for corporate buybacks, does it enter into a plan:
– Once per year that covers all of the blackout periods for the year – 5.3%
– More than once per year, one for each blackout period – 15.8%
– On an ad hoc basis – 78.9%

7. If your company uses a Rule 10b5-1 plan for corporate buybacks, has it implemented more than one plan at a time for repurchases:
– Yes – 5.3%
– No – 94.7%

8. Has your company used accelerated share repurchase (ASR) programs for corporate buybacks:
– Yes – 38.7%
– No – 61.3%

9. If your company has used ASRs, has your company announced the ASR programs separately from any general announcement of a buyback authorization:
– Always – 35.7%
– Never – 35.7%
– Depends on size of the ASR – 28.6%

10. If your company has used ASRs, has there been a waiting period between execution of the ASR and the start of its valuation period:
– Yes, and it is the same period we use for 10b5-1 buyback plans – 7.7%
– Yes, but it is not the same period we use for 10b5-1 buyback plans – 15.4%
– No – 76.9%

11. Has your company used other derivatives (e.g. call options, capped calls, “Sub-VWAP forward” or other forward purchases) for corporate buybacks:
– Yes -10.0%
– No – 90.0%

Please take a moment to participate in this “Quick Survey on Blackout Periods” – and this “Quick Survey on Pay Ratios.”

Chinese Hackers Breached US Chamber of Commerce Computers for Possibly a Year

As noted in this Reuters article, Chinese hackers breached the Chamber’s computers and gained access to everything stored on its systems, including information about its three million members. According to the article, the complex operation involved at least 300 Internet addresses and was discovered and shut down in May 2010. It is possible the hackers had access to the network for more than a year before the breach was uncovered. Security failures continues to be one of the primary challenges for companies today…

Webcast: “Activist Profiles and Playbooks”

Tune in tomorrow for the DealLawyers.com webcast – “Activist Profiles and Playbooks” – to hear Bruce Goldfarb of Okapi Partners, Dan Katcher of Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher, Damien Park of Hedge Fund Solutions LLC and Darren Wallis of Alara Capital identify who the activists are – want what makes them tick. Over 20 activists will be dissected!

– Broc Romanek