The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "merger" ...
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Fools rush in: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the unmaking of AOL Time Warner
This book examines the aftermath of the AOL Time Warner merger, once hailed as "the deal of the century": $200 billion lost in shareholder value, investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department, shareholder lawsuits against the company, and the "civil war" that broke out inside the company, "complete with backstabbing and personal betrayals."
Tags: BOOK; AOL; America Online; Time Warner; corporate mergers; Steve Case; Jerry Levin; Bob Pittman; Ted Turner
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Poll: Voters Undecided
This story shows the results of some local polls about possible school district mergers. The results showed that registered voters think the school board is effective and that the merger is not going to make a difference. This story is significant because it used computer assisted reporting to analyze polling data; it could provide guidance for other journalists trying to do similar stories.
Tags: None
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Stealth Merger: Drug Companies and Government Medical Research
This investigation is about how the National Institute of Health allows its scientists to take side jobs as consultants for drug companies. The articles show how this conflict of interest can affect their work, and how it can be detrimental to the health of America. Not only does the agency allow for the conflict of interest, but it allows top-paid employees to keep their consulting confidential.
Tags: pharmaceutical industry; drug companies; NIH; FDA
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Power Failure
After having choreographed the grandest media dance in corporate history, AOL and Time Warner have developed insensate feet. A merger charted by the likes of AOL head Steve Case and Time Warner's Jerry Levin became bitter after stock prices crashed by more than 70%. Employee morale at the companies is in its depths and accusations are flying across from either side. No wonder then, that AOL Time Warner's new heads- new C.E.O Richard Parsons, chariman Steve Case , and C.O.O Bob Pittman are scrambling to get the show together, again.
Tags: AOL; Time Warner; Merger; Acquisition; Media; Corporate
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Unmasking Qwest: Wired for Trouble
The Denver Post's three part series. "Part 1: The merger of Qwest and U.S. West creates culture shock as deal-driven revenue becomes king. Publicly the picture is rosy but, in private, doubts grow. Part 2: As the telecom industry crashes, Qwest unravels unable to hold off critics and investigators who question the company's accounting. Part 3: A new leader tries to restore credibility, but Qwest remains besieged by federal investigations and unhappy shareholders." Includes a timeline graphic of major events.
Tags: Qwest; U.S. West; telephone; telecommunications; telecom; accounting; federal investigation; mergers; business deals; business; spending; costs; accounting gimmicks; fraudulent accounting; Joe Nacchio
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Back to the Fray: Displaced by Mergers, Some Bankers Launch Their Own Start-Ups
The Wall Street Journal tells the story of Steve Aaron, a former bank executive entering the banking business himself. "As giant bank gobbles up giant bank, they are leaving behind crumbs. All over the country but especially in the South, experienced but displaced bankers such as Mr. Aaron are scrambling to reassemble the pieces -- capital, managers, and even buildings and equipment -- back into new, tiny banks."
Tags: stocks and bonds; business; equity; shareholders
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Sizing Up: BNP Joins Bank Quest For Bigness, but It Is No Industry Cure-All
Is bigger really better? The Journal addresses the question in light of ongoing bank mergers. The story finds that "while mergers can help banks cut costs and gain customers, they won't necessarily stave off of the forces that have been making banks less important as sources of capital and advice." The article includes tables of the top ten biggest banks in the world in 1998 and 1988, ranked by assets.
Tags: deregulation; Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP); investment banking; UBS AG; Europe; Switzerland; Japan
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A Long Haul: America's Railroads Struggle to Recapture Their Former Glory
The Wall Street Journal examines the railroad industry and the various problems it is experiencing in terms of quality of service and attention to customers' needs.
Tags: railroads; trains; truckers; mergers; railroad service; delays
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Boxcar Battle: Railroads See Promise In a Freight Revival That Many Towns Fear
The Journal reports that "after a decade of sweeping mergers and hostile takeovers, the railroad industry is on the verge of its largest remapping in history -- a 25,000-mile rejiggering of tracks that will straighten out routes, speed up shipments and make railroads a better competitor against trucks. But the plans also put the industry on a collision course with residential America. Many of these new routes would cut through the heart of hundreds of cities and towns, subjecting them to long, lumbering freight trains."
Tags: business; corporate interests; transportation; Union Pacific; noise pollution; litigation; Burlington Northern Santa Fe
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The Deal Makers
An investigation by the Washington Post revealed that America Online "was using a series of unconventional transactions to sustain the appearance of breakneck growth in ad revenue" -- even after the Internet boom subsided and it merged with Time Warner. " Time Warner executives were "mesmerized by the hundreds of millions of dollars in online advertising pouring into AOL ... (and) even when the bubble popped and dot-coms collapsed, AOL continued to report record-breaking growth in ad revenue, reinforcing its image as the medium of the future and overwhelming any second thoughts from Time Warner shareholders and employees." What Time Warner didn't know was that, "among other things, AOL turned legal disputes into ad deals, converted long-term contracts into one-time balloon payments, shifted revenue from one division to another, bartered ads for computer equipment and sold ads on behalf of eBay while booking all the sales as its own... (The) stories immediately prompted two federal investigations of AOL Time Warner."
Tags: America Online; AOL; Time Warner; AOL Time Warner; Enron; advertising revenue; merger; balloon payments; contracts; Internet boom; dot-coms