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Thursday, June 10, 2010

Florida AG Seeks At Least $2.5B Escrow Account From BP

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum asked BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) to put at least $2.5 billion into an interest-earnings escrow account to ensure money is available to cover potential losses.

The oil giant has pledged to cover all claims related to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

McCollum, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor this year, said in a statement that in light of the likely "staggering blow" to Florida's economy in the wake of the spill, "it is essential that BP establish immediately a dedicated escrow account solely for the purpose of paying claims and damages to Florida and its citizens."

A BP spokesman wasn't immediately available to comment.

Its American depositary shares closed up 12% Thursday after a 16% slump a day earlier, finishing at $32.78.

Friday, May 21, 2010

New Link Marketplace for Adult


SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—The most controversial online marketing companies have always been text link brokers. From the first start-ups like Text Link Ads to new power houses like Conductor, text link ad brokers have been the easiest way to rank high on Google. Unfortunately none of them have ever worked with adult companies. For years the only way for adult companies to acquire back links to raise their search rankings have been through spam link exchanges and reciprocal link forms which are ineffective.

Launched in 2009, Adult Link Market gave the adult industry the first SEO specific text link marketplace. Websites in the adult space can now search ALM’s hundreds of relevant websites and blogs to drive targeted traffic and raise their rankings in Google, Bing and Yahoo.
Read the whole story on AVN

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Ford’s Mulally Not Taking Cost Over Health-Care Law (Bloomberg)

(Adds analyst’s comment in the fourth paragraph.)
By Keith Naughton and Katie Merx

March 31 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally said the automaker won’t record a cost related to the new U.S. health-care law. Ford isn’t affected by the way the legislation reduces the corporate benefit for contributing to retirees’ Medicare and prescription-drug costs, Mulally said today at the New York auto show. The automaker is avoiding charges disclosed by companies including Boeing Co. and AT&T Inc. because liability for United Auto Workers retirees’ health expenses was shifted to a so- called Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association, or Veba, in 2007. General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC have the same contract provisions. “Ford, GM and Chrysler are no longer responsible for current or future retirees’ health-care or prescription-drug costs because of the VEBA,” said Kristin Dziczek, director of the labor and industry group at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Health-care costs related to the law may shave as much as $14 billion from U.S. corporate profits, according to an estimate by benefits consulting firm Towers Watson. Ford fell 59 cents, or 4.4 percent, to $12.69 at 11:28 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker has gained 27 percent this year.

--With assistance from Bill Koenig in Southfield, Michigan, and Will Daley in New York. Editors: Jamie Butters, Ed Dufner