Private Equity
2 min read · 12 February 2009
2 min read · 11 February 2009
5 min read · 10 February 2009
3 min read · 10 February 2009
2 min read · 09 February 2009
5 min read · 08 February 2009
Okay, so he’s a billionaire genius who lives in a 50,000-square-foot $125 million mansion. But Bill Gates isn’t so unlike the rest of us. When he wants to unwind, he sometimes does so by trying to learn something new, through teach12.com, a 19-year-old, Virginia company that sells CDs and DVDs on courses on everything from medieval history to fine arts and music. So he tells Arianna Huffington, who spoke privately with Gates at this week’s TED conference, and who has just posted part of that interview at her site. The conversation is mostly. For example, Gates teasingly tells Huffington that if he doesn’t sleep at least seven hours a night, “my IQ gets lower.” More interesting is what Gates reveals about his views on the current economy, which has drained the
2 min read · 06 February 2009
For 20 years, Nancy Albertini has been recruiting candidates into the tech industry, most recently through her three-year-old firm Albertini Group. Though the small, 11-person, outfit is based in Dallas, Albertini works out of Silicon Valley, conducting executive searches for both startups and bigger corporate behemoths. We talked for a few minutes just now about where we are in terms of layoffs, and new job opportunities, in the Valley. The layoffs are really starting to pile up out here. Do you think there’s been an overreaction to the economic downturn, or have people yet to react strongly enough? Boy, this is a very difficult market. Overall, the venture community has a more global view than startups and they believe this crisis is deeper than the operational people do. So in some cases, I think they’ve pressed for cuts that are too deep, hoping to cut just once. At the same time, we’re
4 min read · 05 February 2009
A year ago, News Corp. was one of a handful of names that consistently arose alongside talk of M&A. Now, getting acquired by the company seems as remote a possibility as flying unicorns -- especially after today's earnings call. Earlier this afternoon, the media conglomerate reported a $6.4 billion net loss for the most recent quarter, after taking an $8.4 billion writedown on its newspaper, TV and information service business divisions.
1 min read · 05 February 2009
2 min read · 04 February 2009
