Filed under: Bad news, Consumer experience, Scandals, Yum Brands (YUM), EntrepreneursAs a city dweller, believe me, I know. There are few things more disgusting than rats. I've dealt with a rats in my parking garage where, much to our horror, we found evidence of rats rummaging around our Ford Taurus. When there was construction on my street, I was afraid to use the sidewalk at night for about six months one year for fear of having a furry rodent scurry across my shoes. Most recently, a soup kitchen and food pantry near my home suffered a rat infestation and had to shut down to clear the beasts out.Rats are a fact of life in the city. As horrifying as each of these incidents were, they were eventually brought ...
February, 2007
Filed under: Private equityThe Super Return conference in Frankfurt is the main event for private equity. David Rubenstein, the founder and managing director of the Carlyle Group certainly gave an interesting speech. He started the firm in 1987 and has been a part of a variety of major deals. He is also a lawyer and has a deep political background, which seems to be a valuable skill set nowadays for private equity operators. For example, he served as President Carter's Deputy Assistant on domestic policy. Well, according to his presentation at Super Return, he thinks private equity is not overheated. That is, do not expect a crash since private equity firms primarily focus on companies that produce real revenues and cash flows.That's the good news.However, everything will not ...
NEW YORK—A New York federal judge has approved a settlement of a class action lawsuit over Holocaust insurance claims involving Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A. U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday approved the agreement, which contains a special...
WASHINGTON—The chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee vowed again Wednesday to seek "a more permanent federal commitment" to the existing federal terrorism insurance backstop. Before he heard a panel of witnesses offer their opinions on what should be done about the...
For some reason, the latest fashion appears to be issuing convertible notes. The practice allows companies to reduce the apparent share count, but assuming the share price rises (which stockholders are presumably rooting for) the shares willl just come right back. We’ve seen this with Ceradyne (CRDN) and Finisar (FNSR), and now Xilinx prices $900
Mid Cap Watch List member South Jersey Industries (SJI) reported earnings that exceeded consensus estimates.South Jersey Industries (NYSE: SJI) today announced income from continuing operations for 2006 of $72.3 million, and restated income from continuing operations of $39.8 million in 2005. Earnings per share from continuing operations for 2006 totaled $2.47 compared with the prior
Filed under: Major movement, Apple Inc (AAPL), Newsletters, Walt Disney (DIS)Was yesterday's action the beginning of a major sell-off," asks analyst Nate Pile? Or was it simply a "one-day overreaction on the part of investors who have been waiting for months for an excuse" to take some profits? The editor of Nate's Notes admits, "I do not claim to know what the market is going to do on a given day or week." But, he says, "I do know that the most important thing to do in situations like the one we were confronted with today is remain calm and avoid making any spur of the moment investment decisions."He explains, "On the pessimistic side of the coin, there was clearly a hint of bearish sentiment in the market ...
Filed under: DealsThe New Republic magazine is a political institution (hey, it was founded in 1914). Its mission: to provide its readers "with an intelligent, stimulating and rigorous examination of American politics, foreign policy and culture."And the company is based where the action is: Washington, DC.But, like most printed publication, it faces many challenges.Well, now the publication is getting some corporate backing from CanWest Global Communications. This week, the firm bought out Martin Peretz, who has been part of the New Republic for over 30 years. This is according to a report in Reuters.The deal terms were not disclosed. However, it looks like there will be an infusion of capital.No doubt, there will be some changes. For example, now the magazine will be printed every two weeks, not ...
William Trent submits: As reported yesterday, January durable goods orders tumbled 7.8%. New orders for U.S.-made durable goods fell by a much sharper-than-expected 7.8 percent in January as nondefense goods orders saw their biggest monthly decline ever, a government report showed on Tuesday. A steep drop in orders for Boeing Co. (BA) airliners
John Bethel submits: Yesterday I posted that Nikko Cordial (NIKOY) ADRs had largely recovered from their price drop since the accounting scandal. So, of course, the stock plunged nearly 15% in Japan overnight in reaction to a media report that the company would be delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The TSE denied the report.The
