E-VOTING NEWS: United Tech. Proposes Acquisition Of Diebold For $3.0 Bln - Quick Facts

[althecat]

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/BREAKING%20NEWS/1156665/

Sunday, March 02, 2008; Posted: 06:10 PM

(RTTNews) - United Technologies Corp. (UTX | news | PowerRating | PR Charts ) said Sunday that it has made a proposal to the board of Diebold Inc. (DBD | news | PowerRating | PR Charts ) to buy all the outstanding shares of Diebold for about $3.0 billion or $40.00 per share in cash.
UTC's proposal represents a premium of about 66% to Diebold's closing stock price on Feb. 29, 2008. The proposal is not subject to any financing contingency.

****

This will be nothing to do with the upcoming election. Nothing whatsoever. Nada... will all be about the rest of Diebold's business. Mark my words. Nothing to see here.... move on...

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/BREAKING%20NEWS/1156665/

I said move on... dammit!

al

[althecat]

1. Nothing to see here... move on....

[dmosh42]

2. Isn't Karl Rove on the board of United?? n/t

[Tesha]

3. Nope. But Christy Todd Whitman is, if that feeds your paranoia.

http://investors.utc.com/bios.cfm

Louis Chênevert
President and Chief Operating Officer

George David
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

John V. Faraci
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer,
International Paper

Jean-Pierre Garnier, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer,
GlaxoSmithKline plc

Jamie S. Gorelick
Partner,
WilmerHale

Charles R. Lee
Retired Chairman and Co-CEO,
Verizon Communications

Richard D. McCormick
Retired Chairman,
President and Chief Executive Officer,
US West Inc.

Harold McGraw III
Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer,
The McGraw-Hill Companies

Richard Myers
Retired Chairman,
Joint Chiefs of Staff

Frank P. Popoff
Retired Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer,
The Dow Chemical Co.

H. Patrick Swygert
President,
Howard University

André Villeneuve
Chairman,
Euronext.LIFFE

Harold A. Wagner
Retired Chairman,
Air Products and Chemicals Inc.

Christine Todd Whitman
President,
The Whitman Strategy Group

[TreasonousBastard]

4. So what? Voting machines are 2.4% of Diebold's gross...

sales and not the sort of thing UT is looking for.

[althecat]

5. Thats what i'm talking about... nothing to it... purely commercial...

[McCamy Taylor]

6. UT gets $5billion/year from the Pentagon. The Pentagon backs McCain. You do THE Math.

[autorank]

7. "Defending the vote" - who was it who warned of defense companies getting involved

in electronic voting. Hope it was someone I admire;)

Seriously, this is just dreadful. UTI is competent. We'll never find out what they're up to.

[althecat]

8. Coverage... courtesy of Google Alerts

Diebold, notorious voting firm, rejects $2.6 billion takeover
Salon - USA
Diebold, said John Lauer, the company's chairman, is worth a great deal
more than $40 a share. Observers of the voting industry would differ on
that score. ...
http://www.salon.com/tech/machinist/blog/2008/03/03/diebold/
See all stories on this topic:

The Political Thriller Behind United Technologies-Diebold
Wall Street Journal - USA
And it would help with the questions of secrecy, which have really
dogged
Diebold. I would try to turn the whole Diebold electronic voting
conspiracy
theory ...
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/03/03/the-political-thriller-behind-united-technologies-diebold/?mod=googlenews_wsj

A New Role for Defense Contractors?: Counting Votes
New York Times Blogs - New York,NY,USA
By The Editorial Board There has long been good reason to worry about
Diebold voting machines. Many are "black box" electronic machines that
do not produce ...
http://theboard.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/a-new-role-for-defense-contractors-counting-votes/

Tech, Boeing Lead A Late-Day Tumble; Dow Loses 100
FOXBusiness - USA
The deal represents a 66% premium on Diebold's closing price of $24.12
on
Friday. Diebold also makes business security systems and voting
machines.
..
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/market-overview/article/lateday-rally-brings-market_502128_42.html

Java Jive, Diebold Deflects, Cleveland Rocks
Barron's - USA
Diebold suggested it was flattered, but basically disinterested, in
United
Tech's $40 a share, $2.6 billion offer to buy up the maker of ATMs and
voting ...
http://blogs.barrons.com/stockstowatchtoday/2008/03/03/java-jive-diebold-deflects-cleveland-rocks/?mod=googlenews_barrons

UTC makes $3bn bid for ATM maker Diebold
The Money Times - Mumbai,Maharashtra,India
The company faced severe criticism in 2004, when it provided flawed
electronic voting machines for the elections in Ohio and elsewhere.
Diebold
recently ...
http://www.themoneytimes.com/articles/20080303/utc_makes_3bn_bid_for_atm_maker_diebold-id-1018171.html

United Technologies Proposes $3 Billion Takeover Of Diebold
InformationWeek - Manhasset,NY,USA
.. it was willing to pay nearly $3 billion in cash to buy Diebold, one
of
the leading makers of automated teller machines and electronic voting
systems. ...
http://www.informationweek.com/hardware/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206901334

Diebold's Fuzzy Numbers
New York Times - United States
It was also in July that new questions emerged about whether
Diebold-made
voting machines in Florida were vulnerable to being hacked. At the time,
a
Diebold ...
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/diebolds-fuzzy-numbers/?hp

Diebold Lives!
Motley Fool - USA
By Rich Smith (TMFDitty) March 3, 2008 It's election season in Ohio, and
North Canton-based voting machine maker Diebold (NYSE: DBD) finds itself
once again ...
http://www.fool.com/investing/value/2008/03/03/diebold-lives.aspx

United Technologies Falls Over For Diebold
Forbes - NY,USA
Diebold, based in Canton, OH, makes ATMs, business security systems and
voting machines. Diebold has rejected United Technologies' overtures,
even
formally ...
http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/03/03/diebold-united-technologies-markets-equity-cx_cg_0303markets21.html

[althecat]

9. Did Someone Just Buy All The Votes In Texas And Ohio

Did Someone Just Buy All The Votes In Texas And Ohio

Another Scoop contributor Catherine Austin Fitts brought this to our attention yesterday. It is a remarkably timed financial announcement and the full text of Catherine's blog is repeated here for the benefit of media truth seekers who - having first read Michael Collins tale of New York - would now like to delve a little deeper into the decay of American democracy:

Catherine Austin Fitts Blog - March 3, 2008 at 10:53 am •

This weekend, mega defense contractor United Technologies announced an offer for Diebold (1) (2) at a 66% premium to the current stock market price. Leading this effort is the board of directors of United Technologies. United Technologies board includes Jamie Gorelick, partner at WilmerHale, who was the former Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton Administration who played such a significant role in promoting prison privatization and was a member of the 911 Commission.

Gorelick is a large contributor to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Her firm, WilmerHale, is a large backer of the Clinton campaign. Not surprisingly, Gorelick is mentioned as a likely Attorney General in a Hillary Clinton Administration. In its February 2008 Proxy, United Technologies described its lead investor as follows:

In a filing made with the SEC, State Street Bank & Trust Company, acting in various fiduciary capacities, reported that it held as of December 31, 2007 sole voting power with respect to 37,348,324 shares of UTC Common Stock, shared voting power with respect to 65,761,775 shares of UTC Common Stock, and shared dispositive power with respect to 103,110,099 shares of UTC Common Stock. State Street Bank & Trust Company serves as Trustee for UTC’s Employee Savings Plan and disclaims beneficial ownership of the reported shares.

Hence, it is hard to determine who exactly will control a significant percentage of the voting machines during the upcoming Presidential election. Question is, what does offering a $14 per share premium in a down stock market to the people who control Diebold have to do with Tuesday’s vote counting in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont?

Is Hillary Clinton suddenly back in the race?

Whatever happens Tuesday, my bet is UT will be positioned to win lots of new sales and contracts from the Pentagon in the new Administration. What do you think? Is owning the voting machines a government contractor’s most creative marketing strategy? If it is, Diebold has now indicated they want more than $14 per share:

Diebold Rejects United Tech Takeover Offer As Too Low
By Reuters (3 Mar 2008)


Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results of 2008 Election Early

[bobthedrummer]

10. k