2014 06 24 cmyk na 04online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/pageone062414.pdf · ndean foods and...
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* * * * * * TUESDAY, JUNE 24, 2014 ~ VOL. CCLXIII NO. 146 WSJ.com HHHH $2 .00
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TODAY IN PERSONAL JOURNAL
Stand Up for Good PosturePLUS The Push to Test Young Athletes’ Hearts
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What’sNews
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World-WidenMaliki pledged to beginforming a new government onJuly 1 as pressure grew for theIraqi president to step aside. A1n Sunni rebels attacked a po-lice convoy just 20 miles fromBaghdad, triggering a shootoutthat left at least 81 dead. A8n The U.S. can unleash adrone strike on a U.S. citizenabroad if he is plotting to at-tack Americans and can’t beapprehended, a memo said. A2nAVAwatchdog playeddown the effect of treatmenterrors and appointment delays,a special counsel alleged. A3n Syria’s chemical weaponshave all been removed fromthe country, a Hague-basedwatchdog agency said. A9nAn Egyptian court sen-tenced three Al Jazeera jour-nalists to prison on chargesthey aided a terrorist group. A9nThe Obama administrationagreed to allow aWhite Houselawyer to testify at a Househearing on lost IRS emails. A4n The Afghan election chiefresigned but denied any in-volvement in an allegedpresidential-voting fraud. A9nThe Supreme Court said theEPA can require greenhouse-gas controls on power plantsand other big polluters.A4nUkraine separatist leadersagreed to join a government-declared cease-fire. A10n The FBI said a nationwidecrackdown on child prostitu-tion yielded 281 arrests. A3
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The Ex-Im Bank has sus-pended or removed four
officials in recent monthsamid probes into allegationsof gifts and kickbacks. A1n Seven auto makers saidthey would recall vehiclesequipped with Takata airbags that could explode un-der certain circumstances. B1n The Supreme Court gavefirms more leeway to fend offsecurities-fraud suits andseparately gave a broad read-ing to a bank-fraud law. C1nDean Foods and Cloroxhave been asked for informa-tion in an insider-trading probeof Icahn and two others. A1nHouse lawyers sought adeal with the SEC to shield acongressional aide who figuresin an insider-trading probe. C2n Pension funds and univer-sity endowments missed outon much of the stock rally af-ter pushing to diversify. C1n The Dow eased 9.82 pointsto 16937.26. The S&P 500shed 0.26 point to 1962.61. C4nAmerican Apparel’s CEO isseeking arbitration to keep histitles as president and CEO. B1n Sales of existing homesjumped 4.9% inMay but re-main shy of last year’s pace. A2nAmazon andWarner Bros.are close to resolving a movie-disc-pricing dispute. B4n The Justice Departmentplans more cases against fi-nancial firms in a probe of al-leged scam transactions.C3
Business&Finance
Washington Plan to Tax Yoga Leads to Political Posturingi i i
Fans Inflexible When It Comes to Health Levy; ‘Up-Dog, Breathe In’
WASH I N G T ON—Mu s i cthumped through Freedom Plazaone recent Monday as more than100 spandex-clad figures heldwarrior poses under the unforgiv-ing noontime sun.
“How do you tax energy, en-ergy that’s moving through—leftfoot forward, step” the event’s MCexhorted, mixing political com-mentary and yoga directions. “Nottaxing human beings for gettinghealthy—hands down low, push-up, up-dog, breathe in!”
Yoga devotees revel in com-bining Zen-like calm and tough-minded determination. That’sbad news for the Washington,
D.C., council.Washington’s government,
whose John A. Wilson Building isa stone’s throw from the popularprotest spot, is trying to expand
its sales tax to include servicessuch as yoga instruction and gymmemberships. In response, yogaaficionados have united with gymowners, CrossFit trainers, cyclinginstructors and acupuncturists tounleash a no-holds-barred lobby-ing barrage.
“I think there’s a sense of easy-goingness in the community,” saidIan Mishalove, a co-owner of FlowYoga Center who attended thedemonstration. “But it doesn’tmean that the community is filledwith a bunch of pushovers.”
The 5.75% levy, variouslyknown as the “Yoga Tax,” the“Gym Tax” or, as fitness activistsprefer, the “Wellness Tax,” is one
PleaseturntopageA12
BY MICHELLE HACKMAN
Just days before Chief Execu-tive Gregg Steinhafel resignedfrom Target Corp., a small groupof senior executives huddled to-gether to discuss ways to improvethe flagging retailer’s fortunes.Shortly after their gathering onMay 2, executives delivered amessage to the board: If Mr.Steinhafel didn’t leave immedi-ately, others would.
The following Monday, theCEO was out. Several top man-agers are now leading the Minne-apolis company until a permanentreplacement is found.
The sequence of events, ac-cording to people close to the sit-uation, was the climax of a tensenarrative that had been playing out within Target’stop ranks—even before a massive credit-card databreach and a money-losing expansion into Canadaexposed serious weaknesses in the chain’s opera-tions.
The big-box retailer was longknown for a “cheap chic” stylethat drew shoppers looking tospend $20 on everyday basics butwho left with $100 worth of “im-pulse purchases”—items theydidn’t expect to buy. The creativeforce behind Target’s hip imagewas fueled by a freewheeling cor-porate culture where executiveswalked stores with board mem-bers and managers had the lati-tude to make their own calls oneverything from product picks tospecial promotions.
But interviews with more thantwo dozen former and currentTarget executives, managers andvendors reveal a deep malaisewithin a chain that, increasingly,had lost its way. Management be-came mired in a new thicket of
bureaucracy. Creative leeway—once the DNA of thechain affectionately dubbed ‘Tar-zhay’—took a backseat to rigid performance metrics.
Some executives took their grievances to Target’sPleaseturntopageA12
BY PAUL ZIOBROAND SERENA NG
OFF TARGET
Aides Rebelled After CEOTweaked ‘Tar-zhay’ Formula
Stalled in the AislesNumber of customer transactions,change from a year earlier
The Wall Street Journal
Source: the companies
0
–6
–4
–2
%
’13 ’14
TargetWal-Mart
The U.S. Export-Import Bankhas suspended or removed fourofficials in recent months amidinvestigations into allegations ofgifts and kickbacks, as well as at-tempts to steer federal contractsto favored companies, severalpeople familiar with the mattersaid.
One employee, Johnny Gutier-rez, an official in the short-termtrade finance division, allegedlyaccepted cash payments in ex-change for trying to help a Flor-ida company obtain U.S. govern-ment financing to exportconstruction equipment to LatinAmerica, according to a personfamiliar with the inquiry. Mr. Gu-tierrez was escorted from the Ex-Im Bank building in April, saidtwo people familiar with thematter.
Mr. Gutierrez’s lawyer, Doug-las McNabb, confirmed his clienthad been placed on leave afteran investigation by the agency’sinspector general, but hewouldn’t comment on details ofthe investigation. Mr. Gutierrezcouldn’t be reached for com-ment.
Of the four employees, Mr.Gutierrez’s responsibilities weremost central to the agency’s coremission of financing exports.Two of the others are being in-vestigated over allegations ofimproperly awarding contractsto help run the agency; the thirdis being investigated over allega-tions of accepting gifts on behalfof a company seeking financing,according to people familiar withthe matter. The identities of the
PleaseturntopageA4
BY DAMIAN PALETTA
OfficialsAtEx-ImBankFaceProbes
Longtime Lawmakers Locked in Primary Battles
OLD GUARD: Two of the longest-serving members of Congress—Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, left, of Mississippi and Democratic Rep. CharlesRangel, right, of New York—face primary elections on Tuesday that could end their political careers. See WSJ.com for full coverage.
Tim
Isbell/Th
eSu
nHerald/AssociatedPress(Cochran);DarrenOrnitz/Re
uters(Rangel)
Federal authorities havesought information from twocompanies in connection with aninsider-trading probe examiningthe activities of investor CarlIcahn, sports bettor William T.Walters and professional golferPhil Mickelson, according to peo-ple familiar with the matter.
Dean Foods Co., a Dallas-baseddairy and soy company, in recentweeks received a subpoena fromcriminal authorities ordering thecompany to produce information,said a person familiar with thematter.
Clorox Co., a cleaning productscompany, received a request for
information from the Securitiesand Exchange Commission in2011 related to trading in thecompany’s shares, according to aperson familiar with the matter.Mr. Icahn also received a requestfor information from the SECaround that time.
The government investigationbegan after Mr. Icahn accumu-lated a 9.1% stake in Clorox inFebruary 2011, said peoplebriefed on the probe. On July 15,2011, he made a $10.2 billion offerfor Clorox that caused the stockto jump. Investigators are lookinginto whether Mr. Icahn tipped Mr.Walters about his actions involv-ing Clorox, the people said.
While Mr. Icahn never ownedPleaseturntothenextpage
BY SUSAN PULLIAMAND MICHAEL ROTHFELD
U.S. Seeks Data in InquiryTied to Dean Foods, Clorox
BAGHDAD—Iraqi parties raisedpressure on Prime Minister Nourial-Maliki to step down, as the U.S.said it drew pledges from the em-battled leader and other top Iraqipoliticians to begin forming anew government by July 1.
The Obama administration isbetting that a new more concilia-tory leadership—with or withoutMr. Maliki—that unifies Iraq’s
sparring sectarian parties willhelp neutralize the mountingthreat posed by Islamist insur-gents in Iraq by undercuttingtheir political support.
U.S. and Iraqi officials met inBaghdad on Monday as the Is-lamic State of Iraq and al-Sham,or ISIS, made further alarmingadvances across Iraq.
On Monday, the Sunni extrem-ists launched an attack on a po-lice convoy just 20 miles fromBaghdad’s center that left at
least 81 people dead, a day afterthey captured nearly all of Iraq’sremaining border crossings withneighboring Jordan and Syria.
“This is clearly a momentwhen the stakes for Iraq’s futurecould not be clearer,” Secretaryof State John Kerry said aftermeeting with Mr. Maliki in Bagh-dad. “[ISIS’s] campaign of terror,their grotesque acts of violenceand repressive ideology pose agrave danger to Iraq’s future.”
Mr. Kerry said President Ba-
rack Obama maintained the rightto strike ISIS targets at any timenow that the U.S. military movedmilitary assets into the region,including U.S. aircraft carriersstationed in the Persian Gulf.
Still, some U.S. officials wereskeptical that Mr. Maliki or otherIraqi politicians would respect
PleaseturntopageA8
BY JAY SOLOMONAND MATT BRADLEY
Iraqi Parties Pressure MalikiSearch for Alternative to Prime Minister Grows; He Pledges to Form New Government
Journal ReportCFOs: Upbeat about business,but not about Washington.CFO Network, C7-C11
Rebel attacks near Baghdad... A8 Afghan election chief resigns
amid fraud claims........................ A9
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