Henry's Room Is Going To Be Crowded...

More sinisterness from Corporate America. The bastards:

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

 

 

FORM 8-K

 

 

CURRENT REPORT PURSUANT

TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE

SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

 

Date of report (Date of earliest event reported): March 26, 2010

 

 

3M COMPANY

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Its Charter)

 

 

Delaware

(State or Other Jurisdiction of Incorporation)

 

File No. 1-3285		41-0417775
(Commission File Number)		(IRS Employer Identification No.)

 

 

3M Center, St. Paul, Minnesota		55144-1000
(Address of Principal Executive Offices)		(Zip Code)

 

 

(651) 733-1110

(Registrant’s Telephone Number, Including Area Code)

 

 

(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)

 

 

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 

o    Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 

o    Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 

o    Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 

o    Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

 

 

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Item 8.01 Other Events

 

On March 26, 2010, 3M Company issued a press release describing the one-time charge the Company expects to take in the first quarter of 2010 as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed by the President on March 23, 2010, including modifications made in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 passed by Congress. The press release is attached as Exhibit 99 and incorporated herein by reference.

 

Under an existing Federal program, many companies including 3M receive a tax-advantaged subsidy to encourage them to provide retiree prescription drug coverage.  The tax advantage of the subsidy has been eliminated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590) including modifications included in the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (the “Act’) passed by Congress on March 25, 2010. Although the elimination of this tax advantage does not take effect until 2013 under the Act, 3M is required to recognize the full accounting impact in its financial statements in the period in which the Act is signed. Because future anticipated retiree health care liabilities and related tax subsidies are already reflected in 3M’s financial statements, the change in law will result in a reduction of the value of the company’s deferred tax asset related to the subsidy. This reduction in value will create a one-time non-cash charge to 3M’s earnings in the first quarter of 2010 of approximately $85 to $90 million after tax (approximately 12 cents per share). 3M’s 2010 GAAP per-share earnings expectations, as provided in 3M’s Form 8-K dated January 28, 2010, were based on tax law in effect as of that date and therefore did not include the impact of the Act. In its first-quarter 2010 earnings release, 3M will provide both 2010 GAAP earnings and earnings excluding this one-time special item.

 

 

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Item 9.01.  Financial Statements and Exhibits

 

(d) Exhibits

 

Exhibit Number		Description
99		Press Release dated March 26, 2010

 

 

 

SIGNATURE

 

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.

 

 

	3M COMPANY
	By:	/s/	Gregg M. Larson
			Gregg M. Larson,
			Deputy General Counsel and Secretary

 

 

 

Dated: March 26, 2010

Comments

[TmjUtah]

The objective is to crash the system.

Health Care is simply terrain between the barbarians and the city.

[JeffS]

It's gonna be crowded in Waxman's committee meeting. Maybe he should lay on cattle cars so as to minimize the carbon footprint.

[3M CEO]

Everybody love your body
'Cause it's here that you got to stay
Take you chances
Find romances
But you still got your bills to pay
When nothin's on my mind
He can't be far behind
Oh, beggin' me to stay
Or pushing me to crime
And I feel so helpless everytime

Mr. Waxman can you hear me?
'Cause I know that you got one too
Down your jock strap
Don't you talk back
'Cause he's still got a hold of you

[Allen]

Whoops, ole Henry is probably going to be pissed when his office's Post It Notes budget goes up. Good grief I just thought of that, Waxman will probably demand the record on Post Its. It's about his speed.

[richard mcenroe]

SO do you think any of these big deal CEO's will have the stones to stand up and say, "you fools are incompetent to regulate the industries you are assuming authority over. You've never met a payroll or had to worry about a shareholder; you have no idea how to balance risk against profit, and you have no idea what anybody outside this malarial swamp of a capital really needs?"

[TmjUtah]

I imagine that the CEO's are all planning end game strategies about now.

This is going to end with a bang. Quite a few of them, actually.

[just passin by]

I would be singing through my asshole if a few business leaders had the stones to do what Richard suggested...I just don't think that they will.

Most of THEM are Ivy League dipshits, too.

[Amanduh Marcotte]

Gregg M. Larson is taking advantage of his white male privilege to have people take him seriously because of his extensive business training. 3M needs to hire me as their new Directorperson of Gender-Neutral and Non-Heteronormative Accounting Practices, immediately. I'm not using any more Scotch Tape or Post-It Notes until that happens. The ball is in your court, 3M...YOUR! COURT!

[Copper Quark]

AT&T decided to play politics.

And Waxman is not?

[Mike C.]

It's not often that corporate accounting and SEC regulations rise to the status of high humor, but by golly, it is possible.

Whether the estimates are high, low or dead on is irrelevant. The fact is that nobody in congress or the administration realised that this was going to happen.

The Law of Unintended Consequences is as close as mankind has come to "proven" science.

[Mike C.]

PS - Dennis probably knows, but I'll just bet there's some SEC regulation that says those estimates had better be at least in the ballpark.

[Phil Smith]

I wish they would give Waxman et al the verbal beatdown they've so richly earned, but unfortunately, it would cost them customers. The shareholders would then rightly demand their heads.