Capital Stock

12 Months Ended

Aug. 31, 2011

Capital Stock [Abstract]

CAPITAL STOCK

NOTE 14. CAPITAL STOCK

Treasury Stock As of August 31, 2011, the Company had remaining authorization to purchase 8,259,647 of its common stock.

Preferred Stock Preferred stock has a par value of $1.00 a share, with 2,000,000 shares authorized. It may be issued in series, and the shares of each series shall have such rights and preferences as fixed by the Board of Directors when authorizing the issuance of that particular series. There are no shares of preferred stock outstanding.

Stockholder Rights Plan On July 30, 2011, the Company’s Board of Directors adopted a stockholder rights plan (“Rights Plan”) pursuant to which the Board declared a dividend to stockholders of record as of August 11, 2011, of one Preferred Stock Purchase Right (“Right”) on each outstanding share of the Company’s Common Stock. The Rights initially will be represented by and will trade with the Company’s Common Stock. The Rights will not become exercisable or trade separately from the Common Stock unless one or both of the following conditions are met: a public announcement that a person or group has acquired 10% or more of the Common Stock of the Company (including in the form of synthetic ownership through derivative positions), or a tender or exchange offer is made for 10% or more of the Common Stock of the Company. Should either of these conditions be met and the Rights become exercisable, each Right will entitle the holder to buy one one-thousandth of a share of Series B Junior Participating Preferred Stock at an exercise price of $70.00. Each such fractional share of Series B Junior Participating Preferred Stock will have economic and voting terms similar to those of one share of Common Stock. In addition, under certain circumstances, the Rights will entitle the holders to buy shares of the Company’s Common Stock or shares of an acquirer’s stock at a 50% discount.

The Rights Plan may be redeemed by the Company for $0.001 per Right at any time until the tenth day following the first public announcement of the acquisition of beneficial ownership of 10% of the Company’s Common Stock. The Rights Plan exempts any person or group owning 10% or more of the Company’s Common Stock as of the announcement of the Rights Plan. However, the Rights also will be exercisable if a person or group that already owns 10% or more of the Company’s Common Stock acquires any additional shares (including through derivatives, but other than pursuant to a dividend or distribution paid or made by the Company or pursuant to a stock split or reclassification). The Rights Plan will expire on August 1, 2014.