Anne M Mulcahy

Xerox Corp. Chief Executive Anne M. Mulcahy opened a speech before a group of business executives in March by citing a Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." Then the woman named by Fortune magazine as the sixth-most powerful female executive in the country quipped: "I'd like to try living for a while in less interesting times." That's unlikely, particularly given Friday's disclosure that the world's biggest copier maker inflated revenue by $6.4 billion over five years.

Xerox Corp. Chief Executive Anne M. Mulcahy opened a speech before a group of business executives in March by citing a Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." Then the woman named by Fortune magazine as the sixth-most powerful female executive in the country quipped: "I'd like to try living for a while in less interesting times." That's unlikely, particularly given Friday's disclosure that the world's biggest copier maker inflated revenue by $6.4 billion over five years.

Xerox announced its first quarterly cash dividend in six years and predicted double-digit earnings growth in coming years, citing new products and a stronger balance sheet. A dividend of 4.25 cents a share will be payable Jan. 31 for shareholders of record Dec. 31. "Declaring a dividend and our continued share repurchase initiatives reflect the health of our business and our belief in the long-term value we're creating for Xerox shareholders," said Anne M. Mulcahy, chief executive.

Xerox Inc. said strong demand for color printers and office services led to a third-quarter profit that beat Wall Street expectations, although earnings fell 53% from year-ago results that were boosted by a tax gain. The Stamford, Conn.-based office equipment maker earned $254 million, or 27 cents a share, down from $536 million, or 54 cents, a year earlier.

Xerox Corp. on Thursday named as its new chief executive Anne M. Mulcahy, who has led the company's effort to return to profitability. Mulcahy, 48, succeeds Paul A. Allaire, who will continue as chairman until his retirement at the end of the year. Allaire had reassumed the CEO position on an interim basis after Richard Thoman was ousted in May 2000, just 13 months after taking the helm. Mulcahy was named president and chief operating officer at that time.

Xerox Corp. reported Monday a fourth-quarter net loss of $4 million, citing weak economic conditions that contributed to a 13% decline in revenue. The Stamford-based printer and copier company's per-share loss amounted to 1 cent, narrower than the year-earlier loss of $20 million, or 4 cents a share. Excluding one-time items, earnings were $108 million, or 15 cents a share. That exceeded the consensus estimate of a loss of 1 cent a share from analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call.

The drumbeat of corporate misdeeds grew louder Friday when Xerox Corp. disclosed that it had improperly recorded $6.4 billion in revenue over a five-year period, far larger than the $3 billion estimated in April when federal regulators slapped the copier giant with the largest fine for fraud in corporate history. The restated financial results, ordered in April as part of Xerox's $10-million fine to settle fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission, reduced Xerox's revenue by $1.

Xerox Corp. said Tuesday that its third-quarter net loss widened to $211 million, or 29 cents a share, but company executives remain cautiously optimistic about returning to profitability in the next quarter for the first time in more than a year. The printer and copier company's year-earlier loss was $191million, or 30 cents a share. Revenue fell 13% to $3.9 billion from $4.5 billion a year earlier, hurt by the weak economy and the Sept. 11 attacks.

In the latest salvo in the Securities and Exchange Commission's campaign against misleading corporate accounting, Xerox Corp. said Monday that it agreed to pay a record $10-million fine and to restate five years of financial results. The agreement in principle, subject to final approval by SEC commissioners, would settle an investigation launched in 2000 into Xerox's alleged premature booking of more than $2 billion in revenue from equipment leases from 1997 through 2001.