Private Equity
South Has Fewer Bankruptcies: Consumer bankruptcy filings rose in July but the South is doing better than the rest of the country. UAE open to Blackberry Talks: The United Arab Emirates is open to discuss a solution although the decision to ban primary Blackberry services remains in place. CareCredit Probe: NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating CareCredit, a division of General Electric Co.’s GE consumer finance unit, saying users of its health-care credit card were misled about terms. Providence Looking to Raise $8 Bln: Providence Equity Partners, which is expected to begin fundraising later this year, is looking to raise $8 billion. Bartiromo Hits 15 at CNBC: Maria Bartiromo reflects on her 15 years at CNBC, in a surprisingly not very sarcastic piece from Dealbreaker. LinkedIn's First Deal: LinkedIn has made its first aquisition and is buying Pittsburgh-based mSpoke to help improve its ability to filter messages. Google buying Slide: Techcrunch is reporting that Google will announce Friday its $182 million buy of Slide, as it gets more serious about social games. Job Envy: The grass isn't always greener in the corner office. That's the message from a new report on compensation by the Association for Financial Professionals.
1 min read · 04 August 2010
Alleged Insider Trading at BP: The SEC is investigating whether people illegally profited at BP from trading on nonpublic information in the weeks after the Gulf disaster. CIC Wants Harvard Portfolio: China's $300 billion sovereign-wealth fund is eyeing Harvard University's endowment to buy the university's stakes in half a dozen U.S.-focused real-estate funds. Mexicana in Bankruptcy: Mexicana de Aviacion, Mexico’s biggest airline by passengers, filed for protection from creditors in Mexico and the U.S. Secret Web Meetings: Google Inc., AT&T Inc., and Verizon Communications Inc. executives are meeting behind closed doors with U.S. officials on proposed FCC rules on how to handle Web traffic such as Google’s YouTube videos. Mass. Pension Hire: Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Trust appointed Michael Trotsky as executive director after the previous head said the public fund doesn’t adequately compensate its employees. Forced To sell BlackRock Stakes: BofA and PNC may be forced to sell their stakes in BlackRock under far-reaching rules proposed last week by the Basel Committee of Bank Supervision. Young Investors More Cautious: A study from the Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Affluent Insights Quarterly says that young investors have become as risk averse as older investors, from Dealbreaker. New York a Tech Backwater: The New York tech scene will never equal Silicon Valley, according to adgrok. Diamond Lake Lawsuit: A hedge fund run by Dow Kim, a former senior executive of Merrill Lynch, is being sued by an ex-employee two years after the fund, Diamond Lake, failed to open. Science of Retweeting: A study finds that 29% of users had retweeted a link without actually looking at it while 36% said they retweeted to spread insight. American Idol Dumps Sony: TV juggernaut has signed a new distribution and marketing deal with Universal Music Group which CNET says could affect downloads for years.
2 min read · 03 August 2010
Two Investors Fight for Board Seats: Relational Investors LLC and the California State Teachers' Retirement System have launched a fight for board seats at Occidental Petroeum Corp. Huang Wants Liverpool Football: Kenneth Huang, a Hong Kong businessman, wants to take control of the Liverpool Football Club by the end of this month. Another E-Book Probe: Connecticut AG Richard Blumenthal disclosed a preliminary review of the pricing agreements between five of the country's largest book publishers and two leading digital retailers: Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. Bank Takes Bomber's House: The house of attempted Times Square Bomber Faisal Shahzad became the property of his lender after a public foreclosure auction over the weekend. Rapportive Gets $1 Mln: Gmail plugin Rapportive has received $1 million from a group of Angel investors, including Jason Calcanis and gmail creator Paul Buchheit. Top Party School: University of Georgia took top honors as the best party school while MIT students study the most and Brown students were the happiest. LBO Image Problem: David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group, says PE firms haven't solved their biggest problem: their image. Town Uses Google to Spy: The town of Riverhead, Long Island uses Google Earth to find out if neighbors have illegal swimming pools.
1 min read · 02 August 2010
Rising Ocean Temps: Rising sea temperatures can harm the tiny plant life that forms the base of the oceans' food chain as well as affect the diversity of marine life. AZ Immigration Law: A judge has blocked key parts of the Arizone immigration law. Does this mean AZ can host the 2011 All-Star game now? Bill Gross's Toilet Talk: PIMCO founder spends first half of August's outlook talking about the indignityof the automatic flush, from Dealbreaker. Hot Potato is a Hot Potato: Facebook is paying $10 million for social activity service, Hot Potato. CA's Money's Problems: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declares a state of fiscal emergency.
1 min read · 28 July 2010
Who Leaked: Bradley Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, is being investigated by the Pentagon to see if he's the sources of leaks to WikiLeaks. Who says whistleblowers are protected? iPhone App Flaw: Citigroup told its U.S. mobile banking customer to upgrade their iPhone application after the bank's original verison was found to have a flaw. Sniff-and-Go Tech: Fisabled people, quadriplegics and those “locked in” by complete paralysis can use a device operated by nose sniffs to use computers or operate wheelchairs, according to an Israeli study. Reality Show Trader: Ross Mandell, the Sky Capital founder who was accused of conspiracy and securities fraud, plans to use a reality show to portray his innocence. Porsche's Electric Car: Porsche confirmes that it's developing an all-electric sports car based on its Boxter, according to TechCrunch.
1 min read · 26 July 2010
Goldman, the Movie: Goldman Sachs, once the nation's most hated company (before BP came in and took the title) is coming out with a movie about itself. iPhone Delay: Manufacturing problems delay release of white iPhone 4. Facebook forgery: Facebook says that a contract from a man who claims he owns 84% of the company is likely a fake. Toys "R" Us Debt: Toys "R" Us, which has filed for an IPO, is seeking a $1.8 billion revolving line of credit. Who's Afraid of Steve Jobs: Not Consumer Reports. The 74-year-old magazine made Jobs apologize and Toyota roll over. Oracle Says Oops: Oracle President Charles Phillips mispoke on conference call this week when he said the company would double the pace of acquisitions over the next five years. That was wrong. iMac Reboot: Apple may be preparing to overhaul its entire computer line from the Macbook Air, MacPro and iMac, according to TechCrunch. $35 laptop: India has come out with the world's cheapest "laptop" at$35.
1 min read · 23 July 2010
Deutsche Bank Fined: Finra (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) has fined Deutsche Bank $7.5 million for "negligently misrepresenting delinquency data" in connection with the issue of subprime securities. Suing BP: Pension funds in New York and Ohio hope to be lead plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit against BP. Starbucks Sizzles: Instant coffee sales causes Starbucks third quarter profit to climb 37%. A Failed Love: President Obama and Wall Street apparently now hate each other, according to DealBreaker. Google Gets Legal Gun: Google has hired Elizabeth Moody to assist them with negotiations with music labels and other rights holders for their upcoming Google Music service, according to TechCrunch. Facebook Makes it Official: Facebook, in one of the most over-hyped and least surprising tech milestones, confirmed Wednesday that it has hit 500 million users. iPad Fix: Cafe Ease in Tokyo provides an iPad on every table for users to get their Net fix.
1 min read · 21 July 2010
The Economy: Seven Reasons Why a Double Dip Recession is unlikely. Good News On HIV Front: A vaginal gel containing Gilead Sciences Inc.’s AIDS drug Viread cut HIV infections by as much as 54 percent in a trial in South Africa. Calsters Up: The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the second-biggest U.S. public pension fund, earned 12.3% in the year ended June 30. Madoff's Sorrow: Ruth Madoff seeks redemption in Boca Raton, from Dealbreaker. Bad for Books: Books sold on the Kindle are now outpacing the hardcover books Amazon sells, according to TechCrunch. How to Work for Mayor Bloomberg: The Bloomberg administration selects children of rich and connected for internship. Sadly, we are not surprised.
1 min read · 19 July 2010
Apple Isn't Perfect: Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, apologizes to customers for iPhone 4's reception problems and offers to give them a free protective cover. That just makes everything so much better. Gulf Disaster Stopped: BP says that a newly placed cap is withstanding testing and stopped the oil gushing out of the Gulf. But do we believe them? An Olympic Deal: Dow Chemical has signed on to be a global sponsor of the Olympics and hopes to make $1 billion over the next 10 years by supplying building materials for game facilities. Vanishing Skype: Skype, which has offered an iPhone application for quite a while, has mysteriously vanished from the iPhone Apple store. PE Lawsuits are Cool: A (very) brief history of private equity lawsuits, from Jennifer Rossa.
1 min read · 16 July 2010
NY Teachers Pick Hamilton: New York City’s $37 billion pension fund for schoolteachers plans to hire Hamilton Lane Advisors as a consultant as it reevaluates its private-equity investments. Microsoft iPhone Prediction: Kevin Turner, Microsoft COO, predicts that iPhone 4 might be Apple's Vista and he's "okay with that. " BP a good Investment: T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire energy investor, says that BP is a good investment since the shares are rebounding. Avandia Stays: An FDA has voted to keep Avandia on the market despite the risks of heart attacks. Oil disaster and M&A: The Gulf disaster is affecting bank mergers in the region. Bankers sue doggie day care: Heartless negligence leads to pet's death and banker couple sues Doggie Love, according to Dealbreaker.
1 min read · 14 July 2010
