Monday, August 06, 2007

Catching up, Looking around.

Yeah it is time to try to clear my desktop again, so here are some of the interesting articles I have been meaning to mention:

From the NY Times DealBook:

A "Jerk Premium"?
"Daniel Gross of Slate has an additional theory: Part of the price — possibly as much as a billion dollars, he estimates — was simply the amount that Mr. Murdoch had to pay to compensate for his off-putting reputation. Mr. Gross’s story summarizes the concept more bluntly with this headline: “The Jerk Premium.”"
When it comes to mergers, are highly rated investment banking firms worth it?
"...It turns out that if you look at the stock market performance of companies that made acquisitions in recent years, having Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley in your corner may not always have been the best choice according to an exhaustive new analysis by Capital IQ, a unit of Standard & Poor’s...."
While I am pretty sure three years of data can hardly be called "exhaustive", but it is interesting. BTW, as a side note to this one, several Bona grads work as Investment Bankers at Deutsch Bank, so it is worthwhile to note this particular quote:
"Deutsche Bank...has advised on deals in which buyers appear to have wildly outperformed others in their sector."
Over at Bear Stearns the news just keeps coming. Last week it was reported that a third fund was in trouble. As a result Bear told investors they could not redeem shares right now. Then for his Nero imitation (he was reportedly away at a bridge championship as the turmoil boiled), Co-president and co-COO Warren Swartz was let go. Bonaventure Grad Samuel Molinaro Jr. takes on the responsibilities of COO in addition to his current role of chief financial officer.

CFO.com wishes a Happy 5th Birthday to Sarbanes-Oxley. However, as they also point out that accounting regulation may be getting too complex: "many members blame the growing number of restatements — 10 percent of public companies restated their financials in 2006, a number of them said — on the complexity in the current U.S. financial reporting system in the United States."

In a week where Bear Stearns continues to have troubles based off of the mortgage market, American Home Mortgage essentially shut down and filed for bankruptcy, CBS' s Market Watch worries that....
"...the turmoil in the markets in the past few weeks be the precursor of a full-blown credit crunch that could force the U.S. and global economies into a recession?"
Which while true, pretty could be taken from any business news report at any time in recorded history. I confess I read it since the headline included a Katrina reference. But alas, it is fun and easy to report. That said, of course the sky could be falling. Which brings us to Jim Cramer.
I think the guy is smart and a great showman. But come on. This is a bit extreme. Indeed it will make us totally forget Howard Dean's tame meltdown.








Want another video? This is awesome. It is a look back at Broadcast.com and the powerpoint slides that Mark Cuban used during their IPO which took place 9 years ago.

I was surprised by this one. Robert Nardelli (yeah the guy who used to run Home Depot) was named the new head of Chrysler.

The XM-Sirius possible merger is still very murky (will be be approved? will it be allowed?) but at least we now know where the Archbishop of NY Edward Egan stands on the issue. He is for the merger. I know I will sleep better now.

More on a religious note, MSNBC just reaffirms what we all know but act as if we don't: namely that money can not buy happiness.
"We ultimately get satisfaction from our relations with family and friends, the love we give or receive, the meaning we find in work, service, religion or hobbies."
And finally a link with almost no finance content, Tyler at the Marginal Revolution (one of my favorite econ blogs), writes on Twinkies. Really. I am glad I do not eat them!

Ok, time for me to get to work. :( School starts soon. Too soon!

BTW if you get a chance, check out the newly redone BonaResponds.org website! It is where most of my time has been going of late.

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