In its 2003 accounts, EDF had to make a provision of €855m, representing its estimate of the amount it would be over-paying Italenergia shareholders.If EDF controls Italenergia and thus Edison, it will also have to consolidate the debts of these firms.
Whatever the amount, it would be too great.
If a jury awarded that amount, it would be automatically tripled.
Still, even if the I.P.O. were to raise half that amount, it would be one of the biggest stock market debuts ever.
Companies would also have some discretion about whether to try to reclaim a bonus if the cost of pursuing the executive would exceed any amount it would be expected to recover.
They calculate that the efficiency of the Southern Ocean as a carbon sink has dropped by 30% compared with the amount it would be putting away if it had kept pace with levels of CO2.
Mr. Gomez is very unlikely to match Mr. Brown's $15 million, but if he were able to bring in one-half or one-third of that amount, it would be a sign that he was tapping into some of the same enthusiasm as Mr. Brown.
Just two years ago, Mr. Augusto, who became an owner of the company in 1978, and his partner turned down offers to sell their two buildings on West 125th Street, including the one that houses the store, for $9 million, an amount it would be unlikely to fetch today.
If Ernst & Young agreed to pay that amount, it would be the largest settlement since 1992, when Michael R. Milken, Drexel Burnham Lambert and about 40 other institutions agreed to pay about $1 billion to settle accusations that they persuaded savings and loans to buy junk bonds with federally insured deposits in the 1980's.
If wages for college grads rose by the same amount, it would be a wash.
