21.  Last month, dissident shareholders led by Western investors put pressure on a subsidiary of Yukos Oil to drop a stock offering they feared would dilute their shares.

22.  Lawsuits have been exchanged between current and former leaders of the fund, and dissident shareholders constitute a third, overlapping group.

23.  Mesa Inc., threatened with a takeover by dissident shareholders a few weeks ago, demonstrated Thursday that it had recovered the power to set its own course.

24.  New management was brought in, but dissident shareholders contend that it only made things worse.

25.  NEWSWEEK ENDS RUSSIAN ALLIANCE Newsweek is ending its partnership with Itogi, the Russian weekly newsmagazine, after dissident shareholders seized control of the magazine and fired its staff.

26.  Others were taken by dissident shareholders.

27.  Representatives of the dissident shareholders could not be reached for comment Friday.

28.  Sokaiya are corporate blackmailers who are sometimes hired by companies to intimidate dissident shareholders.

29.  Some analysts had expected the company to beat estimates this quarter, the last earnings report before RJR faces a proxy fight with dissident shareholder Carl Icahn in April.

30.  Sokaiya threaten to disrupt annual shareholders meetings or intimidate dissident shareholders for the company at these meetings.