Monday, August 6, 2001
State of the corporation - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER -- Since I am not a shareholder or investor in any major, for that matter minor, corporations, I miss out on the gamut of annual reports that make the portfolio circuit in the spring. It’s left for me in these, the dog days of summer, to get the scraps as left behind by big business. The other day I was thumped with a pile of annual reports. One more than I could really know what to do with.
The annual report, as we all know, is the annual report of a company, corporation or business. It’s supposed to inform the shareholders on the state of the company, plus -- spread around well -- entice future investors. In the last number of years, what would have been mere financial statements and a letter from the CEO, has become a handsome, sleek and oh so corporate document with snazzy designs on heavy stock. Such is the one received from the good people at Hollinger.
The Hollinger annual report always attracts attention. The media holdings company owned by Conrad Black never fails in the corporate and power respect with its annual design. Once a proud owner of almost every newspaper in the country, Hollinger, in the last year or so has consolidated and almost-Lord Black merely controls half of Canada’s National Post, The Jerusalem Post, Great Britain’s Daily Telegraph and The Chicago Sun-Times. (If we were to compass them on the political spectrum, it’s safe to say they register to the right.)
This year’s Hollinger annual report dons a handsome black cover with words flowing across a strip on the front. All words are with the prefix ‘in’. Hollinger we are to believe is a company that is: interconnected, influential, innovative, insightful, international, interactive, intelligent etc.
Inside you’ll find an 8½ by 11” colour photograph of The Honourable Conrad M. Black, P.C., O.C. He is without the Order of Canada lapel pin he proudly sported in last year’s edition. The mug prefaces his annual ‘Chairman’s Letter to the Shareholders.’ Black, known for his gift of prose flows eloquently about the ups and downs of the corporate world.
Black wrote what is considered the seminal work on Maurice Duplessis, the former autocratic Quebec premier. There’s a story about a bloke, actually a former Ontarian premier, who wanted to brush up on his French. For his summer holiday’s he brought along a copy of Black’s bio and a French dictionary just in case. After a couple of pages, an English dictionary was needed as he couldn’t understand what some words meant, they were so ‘big’.
In his letter he makes reference to King Lear, as well as uses two words I’ve never come across: inveighing and spurious. (To those that care, the former means to protest or complain bitterly, while the latter means false or not genuine.)
He doesn’t mince words either and his political views are for the taking. His recent renunciation of his Canadian citizenship, along with his rows with Jean Chrétien leads him to muse: “Canada is ... with uneven industrial relations, but is hobbled with parochial and restrictive foreign ownership rules in the media...” Then there is of course, the plethora of financial statements all verified by KPMG LLP. (I’ve always wondered what the LLP stands for... I’ve seen that one a lot lately. If you do know, e-mail me please.)
My favourite part of the Hollinger annual report is the listing in the back of all the people who serve on Hollinger’s advisory panels and boards of directors. To namedrop, one can find Black as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the whole outfit, while Vancouver’s own F. David Radler serves as Deputy Chair, President and C.O.O. You’ll find Mrs. Black, Maclean’s columnist Barbara Amiel Black as a Board of Director, as is Allan Gotlieb, a former Canadian ambassador to the US.
The ‘must-see’ list is that of illustrious “Senior International Advisors” to Black and Co. No less than: Margaret Thatcher, former British PM (The Right Honourable, The Baroness Thatcher, L.G., O.M., F.R.S.) and former French president Valéry Giscard D’Estaing serve. Alongside do former NATO secretary general, Lord Carrington, The Hon. Dr. Henry Kissinger and former Washington insider (another Honourable) Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Dr. Giovanni Agnelli, associated with Fiat, Dwayne O. Andreas, associated with Archer Daniels Midland, William F. Buckley, conservative extraordinare, Newt Gingrich and columnist George F. Will serve on a subsidiary board too. You’ll also find Sir Evelyn De Rothschild amongst the directing bunch. Ditto with The Right Honourable, Lord Tebbit, C.H.
For a gossip and snoop like me, screw the state of the corporation and give me the bloody low-down on who’s on board. In actuality, I wouldn’t invest in this joint. Income was down significantly in the fiscal year 2000 than that of the previous 1999.
Such is the state of my summer.
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