Stocking Up on Loopholes

摘要

Du pont, the company that used to boast of creating "Better things for better living through chemistry," ought to update its slogan. These days, Du Pont seems to be making a better living through alchemy —specifically, alchemy of the financial sort. Just last month, you may recall, Du Pont bought 156 million of its own shares from Seagram Co., the liquor company that had been its biggest shareholder. Thanks to some smart lawyers and a friendly tax code, it turns out, Du Pont is making around a billion dollars by helping Seagram duck a whopping tax bill and by using a loophole of its own. When you can make that kind of money by shuffling a few papers around, why bother making titanium dioxide and building zillion-dollar Lycra factories?