ECONOMICS REPORT - Jury Finds Martha Stewart Guilty; Michael

ECONOMICS REPORT - Jury Finds Martha Stewart Guilty; Michael Eisner Faces Investors¹' Judgment²
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Friday, March 12, 2004

This is Bob Doughty³ with the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Last Friday, a jury in New York found that businesswoman Martha Stewart lied and tried to interfere⁴ with a federal investigation⁵. She is in the business of advice and products for home design. But the case did not involve Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. She built that company and headed it until the charges last June.

The case involves her sale of shares of a biotechnology company, ImClone Systems. In December of two-thousand-one, Martha Stewart sold her shares for two-hundred-twenty-eight-thousand dollars. The next day, some bad news about ImClone caused the share price to drop. Government lawyers charged that she had illegally used inside information from a friend, the man who started ImClone. She denied any wrongdoing.

At the end of February, the judge cancelled a charge of insider trading. But the jury found her guilty of all four other charges. Her stock trader was found guilty of similar charges and also lying to the court.

Her lawyers have been preparing their appeal. Sentencing is set for June and could result in prison. Martha Stewart is one of a number of business leaders accused recently of crimes.

But last week another business leader faced a different kind of judgment. This came at a shareholders⁶ meeting of the Walt Disney Company. Investors had to vote yes or no to re-elect Michael Eisner as chairman and chief executive officer. Forty-three percent voted no.

The Disney board of directors answered within hours. It kept Mister Eisner as chief executive. But it made board member George Mitchell acting⁷ chairman. Mister Mitchell is a former Senate majority leader and diplomat⁸.

Many shareholders, including former directors Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, were not satisfied. They say Mister Eisner has done a poor job. He has led the company for twenty years. Critics also say Mister Mitchell is too much of his friend.

The Disney board also again rejected an offer by the cable television company Comcast to buy Disney. Last month, Comcast offered more than sixty-thousand-million dollars in stock and acceptance of debt. Since then, Disney shares have gone up; Comcast shares have gone down. Comcast chief executive Brian Roberts said this week that Disney was not a "must-have" for his company.

This VOA Special English Economics Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Bob Doughty.

1 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

2 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

3 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。

4 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。

5 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

6 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

7 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

8 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。