BPO boss: $800 Mill stake
By Ria Sharma

On Sept 28, 2009, US company Xerox announced that it would be acquiring Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) in a cash and stock transaction worth $6.4 billion.

Xerox employs 54,000 people and describes itself as the world's leading document management, technology and services enterprise, providing the industry's broadest portfolio of color and black-and-white document processing systems and related supplies, as well as document management consulting and outsourcing services.

Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) employs 74,000 professionals supporting thousands of multinational corporations and government agencies in over 100 countries from 500 locations. It offers BPO support in areas that include finance, human resources, information technology, transaction processing, and customer care.

Even thought ACS has huge offices at Kochi and Bangalore in India, this fact is not reflected in its American website. Techgoss had also reported in August, 2009 that’s ACS’s Chairman and largest individual stake holder, Mr. Deason, was being provided security worth half a million dollars every year. In all my years of reporting, this was the first that I had heard of a BPO boss being provided with 24 by 7 security.

But there were many things equally mystifying in this Xerox takeover of ACS.  Footnoted.org is reporting

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In recent filings by Xerox with the US Government’s SEC, some interesting new details have emerged about Deason’s severance, which Xerox now estimates will cost the company $41.3 million plus another $17.4 million to cover the tax gross-up. Remember: this is on top of the roughly $800 million that Deason is set to receive from his holdings of ACS stock, including the Class B shares. We also liked this new addition to yesterday’s Xerox’s filing with SEC:

The $62 per share price for the ACS common stock was a substantially higher price than Xerox would have offered had they not received information regarding conversations between Blackstone and each of Citi and Mr. Deason.
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(Techgoss had published the following on Aug 29, 2009)

BPO boss $500K security
By Ria Sharma

Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) is one of the largest BPO and IT services company in the world.  Founded in 1988, it has grown to a $6.2 billion company employing 70,000 workers.  ACS operates in more than 100 countries.

While the US-headquartered ACS international website makes no mention of India, its local site has more details.  ACS India BPO’s and tech centres in Bangalore and Kochi have more than 3000 employees 

ACS has just told the American SEC that’s its Chairman, Mr. Deason, needs security worth hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. But the CEO and other senior executives do not require any security.

Footnoted.org is reporting on documents filed by ACS with the US Govt yesterday:

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We maintain an overall security program for ACS Chairman Mr. Darwin Deason due to business-related security concerns. Mr. Deason is provided with security systems and equipment as well as security advice and personal protection services. The cost of these systems and services are incurred as a result of business-related concerns and are not maintained as perquisites or otherwise for the personal benefit of Mr. Deason. As a result, we have not included such costs in the “All Other Compensation” column. We expended $498,132 in fiscal year 2009, $480,698 in fiscal year 2008, and $423,011 in fiscal year 2007 for such security advice and personal protection services. With regard to the personal protection services, other executive officers and members of our Board of Directors receive the incidental benefit of these services when attending a meeting or other function at which Mr. Deason is also present; such incidental benefit has not been calculated or allocated for purposes of this table.
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Interesting is it not?  The ACS American site mentions European operations but has no word on India.  Now their company says it has to provide security worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to only their Chairman.