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Gina Rinehart ... November ultimatum. Photo: Claire Martin

THE gloves have come off in the battle for control of Fairfax Media with its major shareholder, Gina Rinehart, and the company exchanging increasingly personal salvos.

Mrs Rinehart and her company Hancock Prospecting sent two letters to the Fairfax chairman, Roger Corbett, yesterday. The first called on him to resign if he failed to meet a ''performance milestone'' of returning the share price to 87 and failed to reverse ''the five-year decline in paid circulation and revenue'' before November's annual meeting.

Fairfax Media, the publisher of the Herald, rejected the ultimatum, calling on her to bid for the company if she wanted control. ''Mrs Rinehart's letter today has once and for all unmasked her motives for her continual attacks on the company and its board,'' a company statement said. Readers would abandon the group's mastheads ''if Mrs Rinehart succeeds in this personal crusade''.

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Mrs Rinehart's chief lieutenant in her bid for Fairfax, John Klepec, then fired off another letter. Mr Klepec, who is the chief development officer for Hancock Prospecting, said two board seats out of 12 was not a majority, implying Mrs Rinehart would have limited influence.

''Mrs Rinehart has repeatedly advised that she would not use the publications to promote her private interests only,'' Mr Klepec said. ''It is incorrect for Fairfax to allege that this has been a 'personal crusade'."

In the initial letter Mrs Rinehart rejected the board's assertion that the charter of editorial independence was the key disagreement. ''Where we have differed most profoundly is not over the charter of editorial independence, contrary to much Fairfax reporting, but over how to save a business that is reportedly in danger of dying,'' she said.

The company responded: ''Contrary to Mrs Rinehart's repeated assertions that this isn't about editorial control - it is. It is also about her obtaining control of the company and not paying a premium.''

Mrs Rinehart said Fairfax's performance over the past five years had been ''distressing'' for shareholders. To Mr Corbett she wrote that the milestone share price would represent ''only a 50 per cent loss'' since he became chairman in October 2009.

See the article here:
Gina fires warning shot

By Jasmin Melvin and James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Friday rejected challenges to the Federal Communication Commission's U.S. media-ownership rules, longtime limits on cross-ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in a single market

The justices refused to hear appeals by Media General Inc, by broadcast and newspaper groups and by a broadcasting trade group arguing that the Supreme Court should reconsider past precedents that broadcast "scarcity" justified the ownership restrictions under the Constitution's First Amendment.

At issue before the Supreme Court was the FCC's loosening of some of its rules in 2008. Media owners challenged the rules on the grounds the FCC failed to go far enough to lift ownership caps.

A U.S. appeals court based in Philadelphia a year ago left most of the 2008 order intact, along with the FCC's authority to preserve media competition. That was a setback for proponents of fewer ownership restrictions, such as the National Association of Broadcasters.

The association appealed to the Supreme Court. The FCC opposed the appeal, saying the appeals court correctly upheld the local television ownership rule implementing a long-standing policy of limiting the number of licenses in a local market that a single entity may own or control.

The FCC narrowly approved a loosening of its three-decade-old restrictions on ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in the 20 biggest U.S. cities.

A number of broadcast and newspaper groups separately appealed to the Supreme Court. They included the Tribune Co, News Corp's Fox television, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Clear Channel Communications Inc and the Newspaper Association of America.

They argued that the so-called "scarcity doctrine" involving the broadcast industry dating back to a 1969 Supreme Court decision should be overruled, invalidating the FCC's media ownership rules.

The appellants said continued restriction on cross-ownership in the same market is unconstitutional because it singled out newspapers among all forms of mass communication for unequal treatment.

Read more from the original source:
High court won't consider FCC media ownership rules

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart is likely to succeed in wresting control of Fairfax Media, but it could take at least six months of manoeuvring, an academic says.

Mrs Rinehart's company Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd (HPPL) on Monday said unless Fairfax offers her board positions without 'unsuitable conditions,' she would be unable to assist Fairfax at this time.

'Hancock Prospecting may hence sell its interest, and may consider repurchasing at some other time,' HPPL said in a statement.

UNSW Australian School of Business lecturer Michael Peters says some people would ask questions if the largest shareholder of a business walked away and the share price fell, only to have the same investor re-appear to buy the shares.

Mrs Rinehart holds about 18 per cent of Fairfax stock and she is seeking as many as three board seats.

But on Wednesday Fairfax chairman Roger Corbett knocked back a request from Mrs Rinehart's for a board seat, saying the board could not reach agreement with her on the issue of Fairfax's charter of editorial independence and other board governance principles.

Existing directors are keen for her to sign a charter of editorial independence before any offer of a board position is made.

'It's got a minimum of another six months to play out, but I suspect she'll end up with the lot if the shareholders lose confidence,' Mr Peters told AAP.

He added that it would be unacceptable for Ms Rinehart to threaten to sell her shares if she was not given board seats.

'Someone's obviously drafted it (the statement) so that the Fairfax directors sit back and say, wow, she'll be back,' Mr Peters said.

Read more from the original source:
Rinehart may control Fairfax in six mths

MILPITAS, CA--(Marketwire -06/28/12)- Sigma Designs, Inc. (SIGM), a leading provider of connected media platforms, today announced that it is mailing the following letter to its shareholders:

Dear Fellow Shareholder:

We are writing to provide you additional information that you may find helpful in voting at Sigma Designs' Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on August 7, 2012. We urge you to use the enclosed WHITE proxy card to vote for Sigma's approved slate of directors for the reasons outlined below. We urge you to discard any Gold proxy card you may receive from Potomac Investment Partners III, L.P., a dissident hedge fund, as submitting it will cancel any previous vote you have submitted.

SIGMA CONTINUES TO EXECUTE ON ITS STRATEGIC PLAN; IF POTOMAC'S NOMINEES TAKE CONTROL OF THE BOARD, THEY WILL DISRUPT THE STRATEGIC PLAN YOU HAVE INVESTED IN JUST AS IT GAINS MOMENTUM

Sigma has developed a strategic plan to transform itself into the leading provider of semiconductor solutions for intelligent media platforms, building on the Company's significant role in the delivery of digital entertainment throughout the home. As a result of its intense research and development efforts and strategic acquisitions, Sigma is poised to leverage its leading technologies in the IPTV set-top box, home connectivity, SmartTV, connected media player and home control and automation markets to provide a comprehensive solution for the Digital Connected Home.

The development and execution of this strategic plan all comes under the leadership of the current Sigma Board. This strategic plan was created through the vision of your Board members who are industry veterans, intimately familiar with Sigma's target customers, end markets and industry trends. As the result of their extensive operational experience, each of your Directors also understood that significant investments in leading technologies, through internal development and strategic acquisitions, take time to develop into operational success. But, with a solid foundation of compelling product solutions across the entire Digital Connected Home, this strategic plan is beginning to bear fruit and the Sigma Board is excited about what lies ahead.

By contrast, Potomac is seeking control of your Board and company with three out of four directors, but refuses to tell you what it plans to do with such control - what is its program to create shareholder value. Not only does Potomac refuse to tell you this important information, in their most recent communication they claimed that their costly, disruptive proxy fight for three out of four directorships was "not seeking control of Sigma"!

Now is not the time to turn over control of your Company to a hedge fund operator and his hand-picked nominees who do not have the knowledge and experience to oversee the successful implementation of this program, who refuse to tell you their plans if they do gain control of your Board and Company and who even refuse to acknowledge the self-evident fact that they are seeking control of your Board and Company.

While we have serious concerns about the future of Sigma if the Potomac nominees were in control of the Board, we also believe that it is not in the interests of the shareholders to have a costly and disruptive proxy fight. As Potomac had suggested originally, we have offered to establish a five member Sigma Board that would include two Potomac representatives.

Instead, Potomac, a 7.9% shareholder, is distracting you from the simple questions that it refuses to answer: (1) what does Potomac intend to do with control of your Company, (2) why will Potomac not pay you a premium for that control and (3) why does Potomac continue to believe that 75% control of the Board is appropriate for a 7.9% shareholder instead of the 40% representation previously offered by Sigma's Board?

Original post:
Sigma Designs Challenges Qualifications of Potomac's Nominees to Control the Board of Directors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

24/7 Media, WPPs marketing technology company, announced today the promotion of Dan McKinney to Director of Platform Strategy and Development. McKinney reports to Rob Schneider, SVP, Platform Strategy and Development.

Im delighted to announce Dan McKinneys promotion to Director, said Schneider. His strategic thinking and knowledge of the digital marketplace make him an integral part of the Platform Strategy and Development team.

McKinney has held various positions during his eight year tenure with 24/7 Media, including roles in account management, training, sales engineering, product management, and most recently on the partnerships and mergers and acquisitions team.

As Director of Platform Strategy and Development, McKinney will focus on finding best-of-breed partners and companies that compliment 24/7 Medias technology stack and product suite, offering the most comprehensive end to end solution available in todays marketplace. He and the team will ensure that 24/7 Media provides its advertiser and publisher clients with innovative tools and technology that simplify the complexity of digital advertising, optimize their return on investment and provide a competitive advantage.

This promotion is effective immediately.

About 24/7 Media, Inc.

24/7 Media, Inc., formerly 24/7 Real Media, is a leader in digital marketing technology, serving advertisers, agencies and digital publishers worldwide. The company has been in the forefront of media innovation for fifteen years. The 24/7 technology platform spans every digital channel, providing users with unprecedented control and consolidated data analysis. This technology powers two specialized business units: Real Media Group helps marketing organizations engage their audiences with superior precision, transparency and return on investment. The group also helps digital publishers monetize their properties and manage advertising operations more effectively. Media Innovation Group provides advertisers and agencies with strategic consulting and implementation services that deliver competitive advantage in fields being transformed by technology.

24/7 Media is a WPP Digital company headquartered in New York with 18 offices in a dozen countries. For more information, please visit http://www.247media.com.

24/7 Media is a member of the NAI and adheres to the NAI privacy principles that have been applauded by the FTC. These principles are designed to help ensure Internet user privacy. For more information about online data collection associated with ad serving, including online preference marketing and an opportunity to opt-out of 24/7 Media cookies, go to: http://www.networkadvertising.org.

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Dan McKinney Promoted to Director of Platform Strategy and Development at 24/7 Media