Today in business: 5 things you need to know

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last updated 11 January 2015

1. ISS BACKS DELL DEAL

Institutional Shareholders' Services, a leading shareholder advisory firm, encouraged Dell Inc. shareholders to approve the $24.4 billion buyout offer from founder Michael Dell. Dell's proposal "offers a 25.5 percent premium to the unaffected share price, provides certainty of value, and transfers the risk of the deteriorating PC business and the company's ongoing business transformation to the buyout group," said ISS. The firm urged shareholders to reject activist investor Carl Icahn's proposal, which suggested borrowing money to pay out shareholders instead of taking Dell private. [The Wall Street Journal]

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Hedge Fund Perry Capital is accusing the Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency of illegally seizing profits from mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. In 2008, as part of their $188 billion bailout deal with the U.S. government, Freddie and Fannie agreed to pay 10 percent dividends to the Treasury each quarter. Then last year, the Treasury amended the contract, requiring the firms to pay the majority of their profits. Payments have so far topped $132 billion. Perry Capital is not requesting damages, but rather wants to reverse the changes to allow Freddie and Fannie to build enough capital to benefit shareholders. [The Washington Post]

Douglas Dayton, the businessman responsible for transforming Target from a family department store into the second largest retailer in the U.S., died Friday at 88 at his home in Wayzata, Minn. In 1948, Dayton took over the family department store started by his grandfather, and by 1966 had expanded the chain beyond Minnesota. Dayton has said he heard customers calling it "Tarjay" — Target with a highfalutin' French accent — as early as 1962. [Bloomberg]

Warren Buffett, the world's third richest man, donated 17.5 million of his company’s Class B shares as his annual gift to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a present worth $2 billion. "The truth is I have never given a penny away that had any utility to me," said Buffett, a trustee of the Gates Foundation, at the Forbes 400 Summit on Philanthropy last month. He also donated over a million shares each to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation. [Bloomberg]

Carmel Lobello is the business editor at TheWeek.com. Previously, she was an editor at DeathandTaxesMag.com.

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