Scandalous.
Hold me baby, hold me like you ain’t mine to hold
Oh kiss me baby kiss me, like you don’t care who knows
Oh love me baby love me like Kennedy and Monroe
Hushed smiles across the table, clandestine meetings. There's something exhilarating about sharing a secret in front of the entire world. Just the two of you. Food's better, the Sun warmer, nights longer.But affairs have no future.
In the tightly bound world of third-party toner manufacturers, evaporating equipment placements, Monday morning sales meetings, earnings reports, tumbling clicks, and Sunday afternoon barbecues, the copier life is almost too much to bear.
Scandal and intrigue.
"I'd sell Xerox. That's a house of pain." - Cramer
The Xerox affair is a reflection of the industry; Mixed up, ruled by The house of Boys; Desperate.
"As Xerox goes, so goes the industry" or is it "As the industry goes, so go we all."?
- Remember when Ricoh bought Ikon? Remember when Panasonic exited?
- How about when HP split?
- The assimilation of Muratec or the bifurcation of Xerox?
- Don't forget the Chinese purchase of Lexmark.
- And now, the Xerox, Fuji-Xerox, six billion dollar escapade.
"The new board - the majority now consisting of directors backed by Icahn and Deason - will begin evaluating strategic alternatives; Icahn and Deason have said XRX could be sold to a competitor or private-equity firm.""Sold to a competitor..." HP?
"...or private-equity firm..." Blue Horseshoe loves Anacott Steel?
So what will be the next shoe to drop? Will Ricoh succumb?
Will Sharp or Toshiba bail? Can K/M survive? Canon? Truly, everyone(except one) is circling the drain.
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| Those are negative operating profit figures. |
From one of many articles:
-‘Sleepless Nights’ and 'Project Juice'
"... Dec. 7, 2017, letter written by Xerox director Cheryl Krongard to the company’s chairman Robert Keegan, titled “4 sleepless nights”. In that letter, Krongard called Jacobson a “rogue executive” who disobeyed the board to secretly negotiate a deal with Fujifilm.
In the letter -- purportedly sent less than two months before Xerox agreed to the deal -- Krongard also writes: “This board exhausted every ounce of patience and coaching to make our current CEO a success. We then decided, unanimously, for a variety of reasons, he was not the leader we need.” Krongard adds that the company had identified a CEO replacement who, she says, Keegan had said was “head and shoulders better than Jeff”.
The letter continues: “Jeff was told by you, as directed and supported by the board, that the board was disappointed by his performance and would likely look at outside talent. Additionally, you told him in no uncertain terms, that he was to discontinue any and all conversations with FX and F regarding Juice. He blatantly violated a clear directive”.
Project Juice was the code name given to deal discussions, while F and FX refer to Fujifilm and the Fuji-Xerox joint venture, respectively.
Xerox (NYSE:XRX) says it has reached a settlement agreement with investors Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason and will end its merger deal with Fujifilm (OTCPK:FUJIF, OTCPK:FUJIY).
XRX says CEO Jeff Jacobson has resigned and John Visentin, a former tech executive who had been working with the activists, will become the new CEO.
XRX appointed five new members to the board, including Icahn Enterprises (NYSE:IEP) CEO Keith Cozza as Chairman, and five existing members resigned in addition to Jacobson.
The new board - the majority now consisting of directors backed by Icahn and Deason - will begin evaluating strategic alternatives; Icahn and Deason have said XRX could be sold to a competitor or private-equity firm.
