That old man Fisher, he must be rolling ...

When famed investor Mario Gabelli leaned on Fisher Communications last week to "monetize" (read: sell or otherwise dispose of) its big chunk of Safeco stock, he was taking aim at a decades-old connection between two old Seattle institutions. Surely O.D. Fisher wouldn't appreciate Mario's meddling.

Fisher owns 3 million Safeco shares, worth more than $196 million. The stake dates to 1923, when O.D. — son of the man who founded what is now Fisher Communications — became a founding investor in the General Insurance Company of America, which evolved into Safeco; he served as its chairman for many years.

As a miniconglomerate, the enterprise long called Fisher Cos. also used to own flour mills, food-distribution operations and a bunch of commercial real estate until selling those off in a restructuring that began in 2001.

But Safeco and Fisher have remained intertwined. Former Fisher CEO William Krippaehne, for example, sat on Safeco's board from 1996 until 2005; one of Fisher's directors, James Cannon, is a former Safeco executive (though he plans to step down this summer). Fisher's stake of about 2.8 percent makes it the insurer's eighth-largest shareholder. The Safeco stock accounts for 38 percent of Fisher's assets and generated $3.3 million in dividend payments last year.

— Drew DeSilver

China's booming, yet shaky economy

Seattle attorney David Tang was chatting recently with a Chinese man near his other office, in Beijing, when it dawned on him just how enormous is China's appetite for luxury goods. The man, an auto dealer, talked excitedly about his first trip to Britain — a trip he won for selling more Rolls-Royces than any other dealer in the world.

But underneath this plush carpet of an economy there are some sizable lumps, as Tang, the managing partner for Asia at law firm K&L Gates, told the Wharton Club of Seattle this past Tuesday.

Strong points include a 9 percent average annual rise in the GDP over the past 25 years; $1 trillion in foreign currency reserves; 150 cities with more than 1 million people each; 150 million Internet users; and a new port in Shanghai with a capacity of Long Beach, Oakland and Seattle combined.

The underside of China's economy includes environmental degradation, health problems and social tensions.

"I honestly can't remember a full day with blue sky in any major city," Tang said.

Among the dark clouds: 400,000 premature deaths a year related to air pollution; severe drought in the north; 10 million HIV infections projected by 2010; vast income inequality; and 80,000 incidents of civil unrest.

At least the air will be cleaner next summer, when factories shut down briefly for the Beijing Olympics.

China's "coming out party" will give rise to expressions of nationalism, Tang said.

That nationalism also has its dark side, and Tang speculated that even during the Games, Chinese leaders wouldn't hesitate to quash any move to independence by Taiwan.

But since China's military isn't known for its amphibious capability, he said, any invasion across the strait would be more like "the million-man swim."

Sino-U.S. relations have benefited from "benign neglect" while the U.S. was preoccupied with the Middle East, he said.

Now the U.S. sees China as a rule violator and corporate America is no longer China's foremost champion. A period of stability in the relationship might be coming to an end.

If that happens, he said, one of the big losers is Washington state.

— Kristi Heim

Boeing scandals can be thesis fodder

The man who took charge when scandals drove two Boeing chiefs from office is being memorialized in an ethics fellowship at the prestigious Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The Lewis Platt fellowship is part of a Wharton doctorate program that concentrates on "ethical and legal norms of conduct in management" — and Platt's tumultuous time on Boeing's board of directors could provide material for a lot of dissertations.

After running Hewlett-Packard for seven years, Platt joined the Boeing board in 1999. When defense-contracting scandals forced out CEO Phil Condit in 2003, Platt was named nonexecutive chairman.

New CEO Harry Stonecipher preached that Boeing must uphold the highest ethical standards.

But when Platt learned in March 2005 that Stonecipher was carrying on with a female Boeing exec and had sent her lurid e-mails that could embarrass the company, he led eight days of board discussions that decided Stonecipher, too, had to go.

Platt died in September 2005, after recruiting James McNerney from 3M to Boeing as chairman and CEO.

The fellowship has an endowment of more than $1 million, thanks to support from HP and Joan Platt, his wife, as well as a gift from Boeing and smaller individual contributions.

— Rami Grunbaum

For links related to column items, see seattletimes.com/businesstechnology.

Rami Grunbaum: rgrunbaum@seattletimes.com