|
leveraged buyout
leveraged buyout the takeover of a company, financed by borrowed funds. Often, the target company's assets are used as security for the loans acquired to finance the purchase. The acquiring company or group then repays the loans from the target company's profits or by selling its assets. Many lever...
Read more
|
|
|
John William Mackay
John William Mackay , 1831-1902, American financier, b. Dublin, Ireland. He immigrated to the United States in 1840. In 1859 he joined the rush to Nevada, where silver had been discovered. He and J. G. Fair , later joined by William Shoney O'Brien and J. C. Flood, acquired control of valuable silve...
Read more
|
|
|
public land
public land in U.S. history, land owned by the federal government but not reserved for any special purpose, e.g., for a park or a military reservation. Public land is also called land in the public domain. Except in Texas, which made retention of its public lands one of the conditions for joining t...
Read more
|
|
|
Henry Clay Frick
Henry Clay Frick 1849-1919, American industrialist, b. Westmoreland co., Pa. He worked on his father's farm, was a store clerk, and did bookkeeping before he and several associates organized (1871) Frick & Company to operate coke ovens in the Connellsville coal district. He strengthened his pos...
Read more
|
|
|
John Hay Whitney
John Hay Whitney 1904-82, American public official and newspaper publisher, b. Ellsworth, Maine. After an active career in business and in various government posts, Whitney served (1957-61) as ambassador to Great Britain. In 1958 his company acquired control of the New York Herald Tribune, and in...
Read more
|
|
|
dividend
dividend that part of the net earnings of a corporation that is distributed to its stockholders. Dividend disbursements are based on a percentage of the par value of the stock or are a certain sum per share of no-par-value stock. They become payable only when approved by the board of directors and ...
Read more
|
|
|
Sir Richard Francis Burton
Sir Richard Francis Burton 1821-90, English explorer, writer, and linguist. He joined (1842) the service of the East India Company and, while stationed in India, acquired a thorough knowledge of the Persian, Afghan, Hindustani, and Arabic languages. In 1853, in various disguises, he made a famous j...
Read more
|
|
acquired characteristics
acquired characteristics modifications produced in an individual plant or animal as a result of mutilation, disease, use and disuse, or any distinctly environmental influence. Some examples are docking of tails, malformation caused by disease, and muscle atrophy. The belief in the inheritability of...
Read more
|
|
|
Elisha Gray
Elisha Gray 1835-1901, American inventor, b. Barnesville, Ohio. He patented many electrical devices, most of them having to do with the telegraph . His telautograph (1888) for transmitting handwriting and line drawing was widely used. While experimenting in 1875 with the idea of sending musical no...
Read more
|
|
|
Krupp
Krupp , family of German armament manufacturers. The family settled in Essen in the 16th cent. The core of the great Krupp industrial empire was started by Friedrich Krupp, 1787-1826, who built a small steel plant c.1810. His son, Alfred Krupp, 1812-87, known as the "Cannon King," introduced...
Read more
|
