Earlier this year, two other AOL Time Warner shareholders - the University of California and the Amalgamated Bank's Long View CollectiveInvestmentFund - alleged in a lawsuit that some of the firm's top executives boosted its share price through bogus transactions.
Their successes, such as the IRA and 401(k) legislation, fueled the boom in mutual fund and other collectiveinvestment vehicles aimed at the retail investor.
"Collective trusts provide the overall benefits of a mutual fund such as professional investment management, a broadly diversified portfolio of holdings, and the like generally at a much more effective price point, " says Winfield Evens, a partner and director at Aon Hewitt, a human-resources consulting firm based in Lincolnshire, Ill.