Today it was announced that a Dubai firm will invest $7.5 billion in Citigroup notes and be paid 11 percent interest, on top of being able to convert the stake to equity in the future. Clearly, these terms indicate how desperate Citigroup has become and should be a wake up call to depositors with large … Continue reading Citigroup Bankruptcy Implications: SEC, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Etrade
Category: News Analysis
Today a leading European financial publication based in the UK, Financial News, published a story regarding RiskMetrics IPO now being reviewed by the SEC. Riskmetrics primary clients are hedge and private equity firms, for which they construct math driven models resulting in many of the derivative based investments that are now destabilizing the financial industry. … Continue reading RiskMetrics IPO: SEC Chair Cox Silence Imperils Stock Market
On November 14, 2007 Nigel Jaquiss of The Willamette week, pictured above on left, wrote a story titled "Gambling with Kids Future." Jaquiss recently won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism, a remarkable achievement for a local weekly publication. Pictured on right are Ron Schmitz, PERS Chief Investment Officer, and Jay Fewel, Portfolio Manager. Schmitz … Continue reading Oregon PERS Gambles on Venture Capital with Kids Emergency Fund Assets
Just as Enron manipulated the power grid to create artificial profits, a private equity firm, Fortress, is now attempting the same game with key railroad infrastructure in the State of Oregon, and using Oregon Public Pension assets to do it. Oregon PERS invested an additional $125 million in Fortress in May 2007 (select May 2007 … Continue reading Enron Style Train Wreck? Oregon PERS, SEC, DeFazio, Fortress, Railamerica
On October 31, 2007 the NY Times wrote a story on former SEC Chair Levitt's public pension concerns yet decided to not include the single most important fact, that being that Levitt is on the board of directors of RiskMetrics, a firm which creates derivative products for hedge funds and is now attempting an IPO. … Continue reading Arthur Levitt Issues Pension Warning, SEC, RiskMetrics, ISS, Gates Foundation
Tektronix $2.8 billion sale to D.C. based Danaher Corporation is a dramatic example of top executives marketing a company's sale to benefit themselves and thereby breaching its duty to shareholders and other stakeholders. According to the WSJ, Merrill Lynch's CEO has tried the same trick yet the board is now considering firing him over making … Continue reading Tektronix Corporation Sale Mirrors Merrill Lynch CEO Attempt to Sell
Today Parish & Company formally requested the SEC to suspend RiskMetrics IPO due to inadequate disclosure regarding both RiskMetrics and ISS ownership structure. Such disclosure is the heart of proxy rule regulations given proxy firms unique role in the marketplace. In order to remedy this, RiskMetrics needs to file an ADV with the SEC and … Continue reading SEC Chair Cox called to suspend RiskMetrics IPO due to proxy rule deficiency
In his recent $100 gift to the University of Oregon, Phil Knight stipulated that the gift was to cover operating expenses and not be used for constructing a new athletic facility. True to his accounting roots, Knight understands the importance of funding operating costs, rather than funding a building that has no operating budget. It … Continue reading Nike’s Phil Knight Gives UO $100M
EU antitrust regulators vowed on Monday to scrutinise Canadian group Thomson Corp's takeover of British financial news and data provider Reuters over concerns the deal could stifle competition. With Rupert Murdoch now owning Dow Jones, parent to the WSJ and Barrons, one has to wonder what it will take for US regulators to more closely … Continue reading EU Regulators Examine Reuters Thomson Merger
It is ironic that in the 1990's by aggressivly destroying competitors and also prohibiting the sale of content on the internet by giving content away for free, Microsoft essentially paved the road for Google's business model, the sale of privacy to advertisers. Google is a great company yet it's business is simple, it sells privacy, … Continue reading Microsoft and Google’s Untapped Frontier