Description: Facebook is opening a data center in April in Prineville, Oregon, and has promised to create jobs in exchange for tax breaks. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 02/11/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2011/02/11/t-facebook-oregon-data-jobs.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Summarize the financial structure of this investment by Facebook from the firm’s point of view and then from the other… Read more »
Monthly Archives: February 2011
Nokia and Microsoft hook up
Description: The software and phone giants have teamed together to compete in the Smartphone market against Apple and other rivals. Source: CNNMoney.com – video report Date: 02/11/2011 Link: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/02/11/n_nokia_ms_quest.cnnmoney/ Questions for discussion: Do you believe this collaborative effort will prove to be successful? How can this arrangement help cash flow and budgeting concerns for Nokia?… Read more »
U.S. housing market going private
Description: Let the great unwind begin. A report released by the Obama administration on Friday laid out a plan to reform the American housing finance market, saying the government should be more focused on oversight and consumer protection rather than direct involvement. Source: BNN.com – video report Date: 02/11/2011 Link: http://www.bnn.ca/News/2011/2/11/US-housing-market-going-private.aspx Questions for discussion: Summarize… Read more »
Banks slashed small business lending by $43 billion
Description:Â The numbers back up what small business owners have been saying for two years: Main Street suffered a brutal credit crunch. Source:Â CNNMoney.com Date: 02/11/2011 Link:Â http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/11/smallbusiness/small_business_lending_drop/index.htm Questions for discussion:Â Do you believe there was a credit crunch for small business? How differently were bigger businesses treated by the banks? How much affect do… Read more »
Borders Nearing Bankruptcy Filing
Description: Borders Group Inc. is in the final stages of preparing a bankruptcy filing after failing to persuade publishers and others to go along with a plan to refinance the troubled bookstore chain’s debt. Source: Marketwatch.com Date: 02/12/2011 Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704329104576138353865644420.html?mod=MKTW Questions for discussion: What is Borders’ value today? Make the case for a merger with another firm as… Read more »
At Center of Derivatives Debate, a Gung-Ho Regulator
Description:  Gary Gensler has his work cut out for him. As chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, he is leading the charge to overhaul the murky $600 trillion derivatives market, which was at the center of the financial crisis. The Dodd-Frank Act, the financial overhaul law enacted last year, requires Mr. Gensler’s agency to… Read more »
Public Investors in Privately Held Companies
Description: The lengthening time frame it takes for privately held companies to be acquired or to file for an IPO is spurring interest in startups that cater to investors who want to trade in shares of non-public companies. MarketWatch’s John Letzing interview with Thomas Foley, founder of Xpert Financial Inc., in San Francisco. Source:Â Marketwatch.com… Read more »
Venture Capital As Patient Capital
Description: Wall Street is in a transactional business, but venture capitalists are in a more long-term business of building companies — a sort of patient capital, according to legendary VC Bill Draper, author of “The Startup Game.” Jonathan Burton reports. Source: Marketwatch.com – video report Date: 02/04/2011 Link: http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/venture-capital-as-patient-capital/DC3C301D-95FD-4CB6-ABFC-43C0F8398F6A Questions for discussion: Summarize the relationship… Read more »
Good news. Yield ahead!
Description:Â Savers and investors relying on fixed incomes have been punished for several years. Many healthy companies sat on their growing piles of cash instead of boosting dividends. Some struggling firms were forced to cut or even suspend quarterly payouts during the financial crisis. And the Federal Reserve’s easy money policies (rates near 0% plus… Read more »
Stock-Hedging Lets Bankers Skirt Efforts to Overhaul Pay
Description:  Intent on fixing a banking system that contributed heavily to the recent financial crisis, lawmakers and regulators pushed Wall Street to overhaul its pay practices. Big banks responded by shifting more compensation into stock, a move intended to align employees’ interests more closely with those of investors and discourage excessive risk-taking. Source: NYTimes.com  … Read more »
