Dell directors collect $59 million

Dell Inc.’s directors and top executives received a combined $59.1 million as part of the $24.9 billion leveraged buyout by Michael Dell and Silver Lake Management LLC.

The payout included partial compensation for options that couldn’t be exercised because their conversion prices were more than the purchase offer of $13.75 a share, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that were made public last week.

While the board and top managers received cash for their shareholdings in line with the offer, they should not have been rewarded for out-of-the-money stock options, according to Charles Elson, director at the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. Dell took the company he founded in 1984 private to bolster its standing in the troubled personal-computer market and expand into corporate hardware and software. Shareholders approved the buyout in September and the stock was delisted Wednesday.

Options holders were paid 10 cents to 70 cents a share for their out-of-the-money options, depending on the exercise price. Employees at the third-largest PC maker also received cash for their underwater options, said David Frink, a spokesman for Round Rock, Texas-based Dell.

Multiple probes focus on JPMorgan

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said that the U.S. Department of Justice is conducting at least eight separate investigations into the bank’s activities, ranging from recruitment in Asia to its relationship with Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff.

The largest U.S. bank disclosed for the first time in a filing last week that the Justice Department is examining its energy-trading practices, which were subject to a $410 million civil settlement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in July. Investigations are also focusing on mortgage-bond sales, interest-rate rigging, the credit-derivatives market, and the bank’s trading loss last year, according to the filing.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has said that it’s a priority for his department to hold banks accountable. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon visited Holder in September to try to negotiate a settlement of mortgage-related cases against the bank.

Bond mutual funds reverse their money-losing ways

NEW YORK » A funny thing has happened since investors pulled more than $100 billion from bond mutual funds during the summer as they worried that the 30-year run for bonds was coming to an end. Bond funds are no longer losing money. Almost every kind has made money over the past month.

To be sure, the gains are over only a short period and are modest, but money managers say conditions are in place for bond funds to offer flat to modestly positive returns over the next year or so, a better outcome than many investors feared.

"The ingredients that typically are necessary for an upward trend in bond yields — for a true bear market — are simply not in evidence," says Jim Kochan of Wells Fargo Funds Management.

TOTAL RECALL

About 69,000 Circo-brand Chloe and Conner sitting stools have been recalled. The children’s stools were sold as part of the Circo-brand Chloe & Conner Collection. Item numbers 249200218 (red), 249200207 (white), 249200217 (navy), 249200208 (pink) are on a sticker on the underside of the stools. They were sold at Target stores from April 2012 through June 2013. The stabilizing bar can crack and cause the stool to collapse. There have been seven reports of the stools breaking or collapsing and causing a child to fall. Bumps, bruises and cuts occurred. Call Target at 800-440-0680, email guest.relations@target.com, or visit www.target.com and click on Product Recalls, then select "Children’s & Baby Products."

COMING UP

» Today: Commerce Department releases factory orders for August and September. Kellogg Co. reports quarterly results.

» Tuesday: Institute for Supply Management releases its service sector index for October. CVS Caremark Corp. and Tesla Motors Inc. report quarterly financial results.

» Wednesday: Matson Inc., Tesoro Inc., Toyota, Time Warner Inc., Duke Energy Corp., CBS Corp., Whole Foods Market Inc. and Mondelez International Inc. report quarterly financial results.

» Thursday: Labor Department releases weekly jobless claims. Federal Reserve releases consumer credit data for September. Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., Wendy’s Co. and Walt Disney Co. report quarterly results.

» Friday: Labor Department releases employment data for October. Commerce Department releases personal income and spending for September.

SHIP AHOY!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures: