orlando interview itculture business is business: or is it?

Business LoungeBY NEVIO BOCCANERABig BusinessLast month Italian aerospace and defense companyFinmeccanica SpA purchased New Jersey defense companyDRS Technologies, Inc.The deal, valued at $5.2 billion, is the latest strategicmove by European aerospace and defense companiesmaneuvering for better footholds in the world's biggestdefense market. It is also a big national-security test for U.S.regulators, given the Italian government's roughly one-thirdownership of Finmeccanica.DRS is a major supplier to the U.S. military, which uses itsequipment in such frontline systems as the Aegis destroyerand Abrams tank. Law-enforcement agencies and the U.S.Department of Homeland Security also use its technologies.The company, founded in 1968, registered revenues of$2.82 billion last year.Settling U.S.Class-Action SuitItalian dairy group Parmalat SpA reached an agreement tosettle the securities class-action case against it in the U.S.Southern District Court of New York, removing the threat ofa lawsuit that has been weighing on its stock.Under the agreement, Parmalat will issue $10.5 millionin existing shares to class members "in full satisfaction ofany and all claims asserted against it in the class action,worldwide." Based on current prices, the stock issue willcost Parmalat around $36.8 million, compared to an originalclaim of $8 billion.Parmalat will also pay up to $1.5 million of the cost ofnotifying the class members of the settlement. Classmembers were former company shareholders and otherinvestors, who claimed they had been damaged byParmalat's bankruptcy.Parmalat faces another key legal test when it brings a caseagainst Citigroup Inc., alleging the U.S. bank contributedto its spectacular bankruptcy in 2003. Enrico Bondi, chiefexecutive of the new Parmalat, has been pursuing dozensof banks that he alleges helped the dairy giant collapseunder a debt of €14 billion, in Europe's largest corporatefailure. So far, he has obtained more than €1.3 billion insettlements from financial institutions in Europe and the U.S.Digital LeadershipThe Italian-French company STMicroelectronics, one ofEurope's largest chip makers, recently closed an importanttransaction, buying digital-television chip maker GenesisMicrochip Inc.Founded in 1987, Genesis Microchip Inc. is the establishedleading supplier of display image processors in both theflat-panel TV and LCD monitor markets. The world‘s leadingtelevision and PC manufacturers rely on Genesis‘s awardwinning,patented technologies and display controllersolutions to produce visibly better and more vibrant imagesin their displays. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California,Genesis operates on a global scale to serve customers intheir own countries with sales and support centers in Taipei,Taiwan; Seoul, Korea; Shenzhen, China; Tokyo, Japan andSingapore. In addition to its administrative and developmentcenter in the Silicon Valley, the company also maintains twodevelopment sites in Toronto, Canada and Bangalore, India.The acquisition of Genesis strengthens STMicroelectronics’ability to expand its leadership in digital consumertechnologies. STMicro's shares are traded on the New YorkStock Exchange, on Euronext Paris, and on the Milan StockExchange. In 2007, the company's net revenues were $10billion..27