Thank you, Peter Sutherland, for assuaging my Mad Max fears on oil: the BP chairman rejected as "apocalyptic" a prediction by Russian gas giant Gazprom of $250 a barrel oil by 2009.

Words of comfort also from John McCain. Recently voted as the most-small-business-friendly-candidate, he has vowed to clamp down on corporate malpractice and reckless conduct if elected president.

Decrying governmental complicity, double standards and “conduct that would leave any small-business owner broke,” he promises to give shareholders veto rights over executive pay while amping up federal prosecution for wrongdoing.

Office supplies retailer Staples was finally successful in its hostile-turned-friendly bid for Dutch wholesaler Corporate Express NV, itself under pressure from activist investors. Analysts like the $2.65 billion deal, which expands Staples' reach in the company contracts business.

While a shareholder lawsuit might "force Yahoo's board and senior executives to answer a lot of questions that they probably don't want to answer right now" in advance of the August showdown with investor activist Carl Icahn, CSX's board and management is learning some hard lessons about not engaging early with their investors.

Like some wacky British children's TV show, the railroad giant has gotten itself in a dodgy takeover scenario with The Children’s Investment Fund Management, an innocuous sounding but rough-and-tumble U.K. hedgie. The shenanigans include CSX holding its annual meeting in a desolate rail yard and concerns over national security. The Magic Roundabout, anyone? Thomas and Friends?

Also on corporate TV--a Texas soap opera involving XTO Energy's $4.2 billion purchase of iconic Hunt Petroleum. XTO chief Bob R. Simpson likes the deal's cash flow potential, but the sale may be undermined by long-running Hunt family feud involving an aggrieved great-grandson and his father.

I'll take due diligence for 1,000, Alex.

Jeff Heilman

6/12/08