Companies are facing increasing pressure to put their cash to good use. Here are five sitting on vast hoards of unspent dollarsThe pressure is on for companies hoarding enormous amounts of cash. Investor activists like Carl Icahn have been hounding cash-rich companies to put their unspent dollars to use for their shareholders. The question is, which cash-laden company could be next in the crosshairs?
Icahn's latest target was Motorola (MOT). On Jan. 30, the cell-phone maker disclosed that the billionaire financier was seeking a seat on its 13-member board of directors (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/31/07, "Icahn Sets His Sights on Motorola"). In recent years, Icahn has also pushed for change at ImClone Systems (IMCL), Time Warner (TWX), and Lear (LEA).
Motorola was sitting on $14.8 billion in cash as of Sept. 30, 2006, according to Standard & Poor's(MHP). That would be good enough to place the handset maker among the five U.S. stocks with the biggest cash stockpiles as tracked by S&P. However, a Motorola spokesman says the company's "gross" cash position—adjusted for acquisitions—was a significantly smaller $11.3 billion at the end of 2006. (Motorola plans to make a regulatory filing next week to resolve this confusion.)
Read More
