Buyout

Educate Inc. said yesterday that its top management and others proposed to take the company private by paying $8 a share, or about $344 million, in a move that could mark the latest reincarnation for the Baltimore-based operator of Sylvan tutoring centers. The buyout offer comes just two years after Educate became a public company by selling shares on the Nasdaq. Several analysts said yesterday that they expect the deal to go through as the company tries to turn around its struggling tutoring business.

State officials have decided to forge ahead with a controversial offer to buy out about 10 homeowners on Smith Island as part of a plan for helping Somerset County recover from superstorm Sandy. The Department of Housing and Community Development earmarked $1 million for buyouts on the island, out of $8.6 million in federal aid the county is to receive to help businesses and residents repair and rebuild after the fall storm. Many islanders had objected to the buyout, saying they felt it unfairly targeted Smith residents for relocation when other coastal areas on the mainland suffered more damage and are arguably more vulnerable to future storms.

As a soon-to-be 40-year state employee, I and many of my public safety peers are wondering about the fairness of Gov. Martin O'Malley's buyout offer, since virtually all of us — parole and probation agents and supervisors, state police officers and correctional officers, for example — are on the long exclusion list. However other employees of the same and other agencies who are in very limited or unique job classifications and who may have relatively limited experience apparently are not excluded.

Even the most jaded observer must acknowledge there's something admirable about the desire of so many living on Smith Island to see their community survive and prosper. Residents of this marshy (and shrinking in both population and real estate) archipelago on the lower Eastern Shore have had to overcome much in recent years, particularly as their chief means of livelihood, harvesting the seafood bounty of the Chesapeake Bay, has declined. But it's one thing to admire the hard work, independence and faith of Smith Island's residents - who number a mere 276, according to the 2010 Census - and it's another to deny the reality of their circumstances.

Workers at Advertising.com in Baltimore will be eligible to participate in a voluntary buyout program that its parent company, AOL LLC, is planning next month as part of a larger effort to cut one-third of its work force, or 2,500 positions. Advertising.com, which is AOL's online advertising network, employs about 400 people at the Tide Point office complex in South Baltimore. Time Warner Inc. is spinning off AOL, a one-time Internet giant, on Dec. 9, and the company will be accepting volunteers to leave between Dec. 4 and 11. AOL, which is based in New York City, has said that if it does not get enough volunteers, it will resort to involuntary layoffs.

Maryland has completed a negotiated buyout of defensive coordinator Todd Bradford's contract -- clearing the way for the school to hire a replacement. The Sun reported Dec. 22 that Bradford -- whose defense  ranked last in the Atlantic Coast Conference, surrendering an average of 34.2 points and 457.2 yards per game -- was likely out. The school has now reached a buyout agreement with Bradford. The terms are not yet public. "We appreciate Todd's efforts this past season and wish him well in his future endeavors," Maryland coach Randy Edsall said in a news release.

A proposed buyout of Smith Island homeowners to help them escape future damage from tropical storms and rising waters has been dropped amid vocal resistance from residents of the low-lying community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. The Somerset County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday not to offer buyouts with any of the $8.6 million in federal aid the lower Eastern Shore county is in line to receive to help it recover from the ravages of...

State officials have decided to forge ahead with a controversial offer to buy out about 10 homeowners on Smith Island as part of a plan for helping Somerset County recover from superstorm Sandy. The Department of Housing and Community Development earmarked $1 million for buyouts on the island, out of $8.6 million in federal aid the county is to receive to help businesses and residents repair and rebuild after the fall storm. Many islanders had objected to the buyout, saying they felt it unfairly targeted Smith residents for relocation when other coastal areas on the mainland suffered more damage and are arguably more vulnerable to future storms.

Would “Breaking Bad” spend the duration of “Buyout,” the follow-up to last week's morality rollercoaster “Dead Freight,” dealing with the fall-out? It seemed like a legitimate question given the gravity of last week's events: the crew pulled off an incredible heist only to have new-guy Todd kill a young, non-threatening witness on a dirtbike at the last frame. “Breaking Bad” has hinted as violence toward children (Walt and Brock last season being the most recent but not only example)

The buyout  that Maryland negotiated with former defensive coordinator Todd Bradford is to pay him $300,000, according to a copy of the agreement obtained under a public records request. The document, dated Jan. 12 and obtained today, says Bradford was to get $50,000 on Feb. 3 and will receive $250,000 on July 12. Bradford, hired from Southern Mississippi, was at Maryland for just one season and was replaced by the University of Houston's Brian Stewart. Bradford's contract had two seasons left and had guaranteed him $350,000 per year.

A proposed buyout of Smith Island homeowners to help them escape future damage from tropical storms and rising waters has been dropped amid vocal resistance from residents of the low-lying community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. The Somerset County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday not to offer buyouts with any of the $8.6 million in federal aid the lower Eastern Shore county is in line to receive to help it recover from the ravages of...

Tim Wheeler 's report on the future of Smith Island and the state's idea to buy residents out so they may relocate tells a heartbreaking story of people whose attachment to the island goes back many years, 400 years in some cases ("Smith Islanders debating a state buyout proposal," May 13). If the buyout is taken by just some residents, it may make life untenable on the island for those who want to stay. They have organized a letter-writing campaign to fight the buyout idea. It is very important to fight climate change on the local level.

Superstorm Sandy barely laid a glove on Smith Island last fall, to hear residents tell it. Though storm-driven flooding damaged hundreds of homes in Crisfield and the rest of Somerset County, only a couple islanders got any water in their homes from the surging Chesapeake Bay. Yet with the island slowly shrinking and sinking into the bay, the state is considering using $2 million of the federal storm recovery aid it's received so far to buy out...

Aside from the business suit he was wearing, which he joked was rented for the occasion, Sam Zell was never more himself than when he appeared at a New York lender conference in April 2007 to hawk his $8.2 billion buyout of Tribune Co. Slinging one-liners and a couple of his trademark expletives, the self-assured billionaire held a crowd of potential backers in thrall as he explained why he was willing to bet his reputation on a transaction that...

Legg Mason Inc.'s stock retreated Friday, a day after shares shot up on a report that the company's board rejected — at least for now — a proposal by senior managers at its affiliates and private equity investors to take the company private. The Baltimore-based money manager's stock rose by more than 3 percent Thursday, but Friday the stock dropped 32 cents to close at $26.52 per share. The decline was driven largely by newly released figures Friday showing that money continued to flow out of Legg funds in the last quarter, said Jeffrey Hopson, a senior analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. in St. Louis.

Northrop Grumman will cut up to 350 jobs from its electronics systems sector, with most of the reductions likely in the Baltimore area, the defense giant said Tuesday. The company said it will offer buyouts first and turn to layoffs early next year if it doesn't get enough volunteers. The cuts are the latest round for Northrop Grumman, which said it needs to manage costs to "remain competitive in the defense marketplace. " Defense contractors are trying to respond to an unknown level of budget cuts — either sharp, automatic reductions starting Jan. 2 or some other plan, if Congress can negotiate a compromise on deficit reduction.

THE magic word in business these days is "buyout." xTC Companies are feverishly offering their employees buyout contracts so that they will leave and reduce the work force of the institution. More money is being made from buying out employees than there is from manufacturing a product.The great success story of the buyout strategy is the Lean and Mean Screwdriver Company. The buyout vice president is Warren Tenderloin. When I arrived he was sitting at a card table in front of the main gate of his factory with a stack of bills in front of him. There was a line of people as far as the eye could see. Warren was counting out the bills and shaking hands with each (( person.

Even Stuart Berger called his $300,000 buyout "foolish" and "a lot of money to give someone for doing nothing." He added, "I feel bad about it."The former Baltimore County school superintendent probably isn't alone in that feeling. Odds are plenty of county taxpayers feel not only "bad" about it but downright outraged.Dr. Berger, relieved of his duties earlier this week, can't be faulted for taking the payoff. When he realized his tenure was nearing an end, he hired an attorney to land as good an offer as he could get. The county school board came through with an offer that was better than good.

Would “Breaking Bad” spend the duration of “Buyout,” the follow-up to last week's morality rollercoaster “Dead Freight,” dealing with the fall-out? It seemed like a legitimate question given the gravity of last week's events: the crew pulled off an incredible heist only to have new-guy Todd kill a young, non-threatening witness on a dirtbike at the last frame. “Breaking Bad” has hinted as violence toward children (Walt and Brock last season being the most recent but not only example)

The buyout  that Maryland negotiated with former defensive coordinator Todd Bradford is to pay him $300,000, according to a copy of the agreement obtained under a public records request. The document, dated Jan. 12 and obtained today, says Bradford was to get $50,000 on Feb. 3 and will receive $250,000 on July 12. Bradford, hired from Southern Mississippi, was at Maryland for just one season and was replaced by the University of Houston's Brian Stewart. Bradford's contract had two seasons left and had guaranteed him $350,000 per year.