peHUB First Read

* Oil at $25 per barrel? * Could the BCE acquisition -- which would be the largest leveraged buyout in history -- become just another PIPE deal? * Paul Graham: "When VC funding dried up after the Internet Bubble, startups dried up too. There were not a lot of new startups being founded in 2003. But startups aren't tied to VC the way they were 10 years ago. It's now possible for VCs and startups to diverge. And if they do, they may not reconverge once the economy gets better." * Mixed start for U.S. futures as investors wait for payroll data, FTSE down on oil, rest of Europe falls on miners and banks, Nikkei slips and Hong Kong rallies. * Simon Walker: “There is some truth in the accusation that in recent years, with the availability of easy credit, private equity has maybe got a bit lazy." Remove all the equivocation Simon, and you've got it nailed.