Financing 2.0

2011-09-26T07:55:00.000-07:00

Today's Roundup - 24 stories, video or audio

2008-03-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

Derivatives the new 'ticking bomb' - Buffett and Gross warn: $516 trillion bubble is a disaster waiting to happen

2008-03-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

Derivatives the new 'ticking bomb' - Buffett and Gross warn: $516 trillion bubble is a disaster waiting to happen
Excerpt:
"Buffett tried to sell off Gen Re's derivatives group. No buyers. Unwinding it was costly, but led to his warning that derivatives are a "financial weapon of mass destruction." That was 2002.
Derivatives bubble explodes five times bigger in five years

Wall Street didn't listen to Buffett. Derivatives grew into a massive bubble, from about $100 trillion to $516 trillion by 2007. The new derivatives bubble was fueled by five key economic and political trends:"

Hedge Funds Frozen Shut - BusinessWeek

2008-03-06T05:42:00.000-08:00

Hedge Funds Frozen Shut - To buy time and stave off losses, more funds are blocking withdrawals. Are they just postponing the inevitable? - BusinessWeek
Excerpt:
"There's a chill spreading across the hedge fund industry. With more portfolios falling victim to the credit crunch, managers by the dozen are freezing investor redemptions, preventing a mad rush to the exits that would force funds to sell beaten-down assets to raise cash. But is this unprecedented move just postponing the day of reckoning for funds and the market?

Since November at least 24 hedge funds have barred or limited investors from taking their money out, tying up tens of billions of dollars for an indefinite period."

Microsoft's Takeover Tactics - BusinessWeek

2008-03-06T05:39:00.000-08:00

Microsoft's Takeover Tactics - A plan to reshape Yahoo's board from the inside may be a shrewder strategy than an all-out assault - BusinessWeek
Excerpt:
"Microsoft certainly knows how to play rough when its interests are at stake. So why has the hypercompetitive software maker been so cautious since it asked Yahoo!'s board on Feb. 1 to consider a $44 billion cash-and-stock bid—an entreaty that was quickly spurned by the portal's CEO, Jerry Yang? So far this takeover struggle has had all the acrimony of a croquet match.

Soon, that may change. On Mar. 5, Yahoo (YHOO) extended a Mar. 14 deadline for its investors to nominate directors to its board. Microsoft will have up to 10 days after Yahoo sets a date for its annual shareholders' meeting to make a move. The decision by Yahoo is expected in the coming weeks. Nominating Yahoo directors is likely to be Microsoft's next step in its takeover dance. Yahoo says the extension will allow its board "to explore all of its strategic alternatives" before dealing with any proxy challenges. Microsoft declined to comment."

Al Gore's Convenient IPO - Business Week

2008-03-06T05:34:00.000-08:00

Al Gore's Convenient IPO - CurrentTV's parent is launching a public offering whose terms, though sweet for the company's high-profile founder, may be inconvenient for investors - Business Week
Excerpt:
"Where's Gore getting the dough? From a tiny, lightly watched cable TV channel called CurrentTV. The channel is seen in roughly 19 million U.S. homes (about one-quarter the viewers of ESPN or CNN) and over the last three years has lost $31.5 million while increasing revenues to $53.5 million from $23.4 million three years ago. Still, CurrentTV may be the next hot thing—it won the Emmy last year for its ability to present a forum for user-generated content from its mostly younger viewers. "It is true participatory media," Gore told me in a Beverly Hills hotel room the day after the Emmy presentation, grasping the gold statue as he spoke.

Cash and Control

Or maybe it's an IPO bust waiting to happen? In the financial election of his life, Al Gore is betting that investors will vote with their dollars for him and his big idea. CurrentTV's parent company, Current Media, hopes to raise $100 million in a public offering it filed on Jan. 28. Some of the money will go to pay off lenders, who include a couple of Democratic Party biggies that joined the onetime Veep to launch a new style of citizen-journalism. Of course the IPO will also help make Gore, who sits on the board of Apple (AAPL) and is a senior adviser to Google (GOOG), a sizable bundle of cash."

Pequot Ventures Spun Off As FirstMark Capital

2008-03-05T11:43:00.000-08:00

Pequot Ventures Spun Off As FirstMark Capital
Excerpt:
"Pequot Ventures, the $2 billion venture arm of hedge fund Pequot Capital Management, is being spun off as a separate business and renamed FirstMark Capital. Over the past dozen years, the venture firm has opened seven funds, and it currently has $1 billion in actively managed and unallocated capital. The fund focuses on emerging media and advertising, data and analytics, and infrastructure startups. In the past it was an investor in First Advantage, Netgear, StubHub (bought by eBay), and Flarion (bought by Qualcomm)."

Demand Media Buys Pluck for $75 million

2008-03-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

Demand Media Buys Pluck for $75 million
Excerpt:
"Demand Media, a big buyer and operator of Internet domain name companies, completed negotiations to acquire Austin-based Pluck last night after about two months of negotiations. The price is not being disclosed but is rumored to be in the $50 million range. Update: We’ve confirmed the number from an inside source - $75 million, all cash. Pluck revenues are around $10 million/year."

Dealipedia: 26 deals ($1.4 Billion+) including Bloo Solar, Enturia, Sunext Design and InfraReDx

2008-03-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

Dealipedia: 26 deals ($1.4 Billion+) including Bloo Solar, Enturia, Sunext Design and InfraReDx
"Moberg Derma receives a $6.5 million investment from Baltic Sea Foundation
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=10146

YieldBuild receives a $6 million investment from Storm Ventures...
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=10147

Ubiquisys Ltd receives an investment from T-Mobile Venture Fund
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=10148

iRise receives a $20 million investment from Morgan Stanley Venture Partners...
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=10149

Invision Inc receives a $30 million investment from ABS Capital Partners...
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=10150

NewBay Software receives a $9.88 million investment from Fidelity Ventures...http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=10151

NetCentrum merges with Centrum.cz
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_merger.php?r=10152

NetCentrum merges with Atlas.cz
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_merger.php?r=10153

Nuprecon merges with CRS Environmental
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_merger.php?r=10156

NCO Group Inc acquires Outsourcing Solutions Inc for $325 million
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_acquisition.php?r=10157

Rockwell Collins Inc acquires Athena Technologies Inc
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_acquisition.php?r=10159

Polypore International Inc acquires Microporous Products for $76 million
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_acquisition.php?r=10160

HSBC Private Equity acquires Britton Group for $152.93 million
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_acquisition.php?r=10162

Cardinal Health Inc acquires Enturia Inc for $490 million
http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_acquisition.php?r=10164

Dealipedia: 24 deals ($2 billion+) including Akimbo, Covad and Gamesa

2008-03-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

Dealipedia: 24 deals ($2 billion+) including Akimbo, Covad and Gamesa

"NextIO Inc receives a $18.8 million investment from Adams Capital Management...http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=10121

Xirrus Inc receives a $25 million investment from Canaan Partners...http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=10123

Mzinga Inc receives a $32.5 million investment from W Capital Partners...http://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=10125

Qcept Technologies Inc receives a $9.5 million investment from Siemens Venture Capitalhttp://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=10126

Assured Guaranty Ltd receives a $1 billion investment from WL Ross & Cohttp://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_investment.php?r=10127

Arsenal Capital Partners acquires DSM Special Productshttp://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_acquisition.php?r=10128

Charterhouse Capital Partners acquires Gileshttp://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_acquisition.php?r=10129

Palladium Equity Partners acquires American Gilsonite Co for $74 millionhttp://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_acquisition.php?r=10130

Platinum Equity acquires Covad Communications Group Inc for $417 millionhttp://www.dealipedia.com/deal_view_acquisition.php?r=10131"

Dealipedia, a wiki for deal information

2008-02-29T07:31:00.000-08:00

Dealipedia, a wiki for deal information
Excerpt:
"Dealipedia is a new wiki for information about acquisitions, private investments and other business deals.

It solicits people to submit information about their deals, so that investors and entrepreneurs know how deals are structured and what the outcomes are."

Cleantech investment in 2007 up 43 percent, tops $3 billion

2008-02-29T06:33:00.000-08:00

Cleantech investment in 2007 up 43 percent, tops $3 billion
Excerpt:
"The Dow Jones numbers look even more bubbly in some ways than the Thompson Financial / NVCA stats we reported back in November, which had cleantech investment for the first three quarters of the year at $2.6 billion. Dow Jones counts deals differently, and didn’t include some of the mega-fundings like the $500 million investment in Delta Hydrocarbon BV that Thompson factored into its total."

Yelp Raises $15 Million Fourth Round, Rumored Valuation $200 Million

2008-02-27T10:31:00.001-08:00

Yelp Raises $15 Million Fourth Round, Rumored Valuation $200 Million
Excerpt:
"Yelp, the popular local review site, will soon announce a new $15 million dollar round of financing led by DAG Ventures. The valuation is rumored to be in the $200 million range. Yelp says that they will be using the money to expand geographically, add onto their sales team, and establish an office in NYC (they are based in San Francisco). This is Yelp’s fourth round of funding since their founding in 2004."

Cake Financial Now Lets You Track Your Friends’ Stock Portfolios on Facebook

2008-02-26T06:00:00.000-08:00

Cake Financial Now Lets You Track Your Friends’ Stock Portfolios on Facebook
Excerpt:
"Of all the apps on Facebook, here is one that might actually make you money—depending on how smart your friends are. Cake Financial, a social finance site that lets you track and share the performance of your actual brokerage accounts, just launched its Facebook app. The app lets you compare your real stock-picking prowess to that of other Facebook members who install it on their profile pages. These are not fantasy portfolios. They show your actual returns in percentage terms (no dollar amounts are revealed), and let you compare your returns with that of your friends across brokerage accounts. Every time you or a friend makes a trade, it shows up in your feed. Talk about timely information.

Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business

2008-02-25T08:22:00.000-08:00

Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business
Excerpt:
"You know this freaky land of free as the Web. A decade and a half into the great online experiment, the last debates over free versus pay online are ending. In 2007 The New York Times went free; this year, so will much of The Wall Street Journal. (The remaining fee-based parts, new owner Rupert Murdoch announced, will be "really special ... and, sorry to tell you, probably more expensive." This calls to mind one version of Stewart Brand's original aphorism from 1984: "Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive ... That tension will not go away.")"

Salesforce Shopping Itself To Oracle For $75/ Share?

2008-02-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

Salesforce Shopping Itself To Oracle For $75/ Share?

Ticket Scalpers Seatwave Take $25 Million Series C

2008-02-11T11:02:00.000-08:00

Ticket Scalpers Seatwave Take $25 Million Series C

Carl Icahn, Blogger. Seriously.

2008-02-07T12:04:00.000-08:00

Excerpt:
"Now, it appears, he’s about to get his own platform: a blog. (This is not a joke.)

Mr. Icahn is preparing to launch The Icahn Report, the billionaire told Reuters on Tuesday. It will focus on corporate governance, a topic on which Mr. Icahn has rarely kept silent."
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/carl-icahn-blogger-seriously/

Warren Buffett: Bank woes are "poetic justice"

2008-02-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

Excerpt:
"The woes in the U.S. financial sector are "poetic justice" for bankers who designed and sold complex investments that have since gone sour, billionaire investor Warren Buffett said on Wednesday.

The head of the Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (BRKb.N: Quote, Profile, Research) group of companies also played down worries about a credit crunch by saying that recent interest rate cuts mean low-cost funds are readily available."
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN0631767220080207?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

Democrats seek subprime role for Fannie, Freddie

2008-02-07T09:32:00.000-08:00

Democrats seek subprime role for Fannie, Freddie
Excerpt:
"Democrats sought to expand the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in affordable housing and the subprime market on Thursday as a proposed increase in the companies' conforming loan limit ignited some protest from Republicans."

Some New York City Stores Accept Euros

2008-02-07T09:29:00.000-08:00

Some New York City Stores Accept Euros
Excerpt:
"In the latest example that the U.S. dollar just ain't what it used to be, some shops in New York City have begun accepting euros and other foreign currency as payment for merchandise."

Would Northwest-Delta Deal Spur Others?

2008-02-07T09:28:00.000-08:00

Excerpt:
"In events that could reshape the airline industry, merger talks have picked up pace between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines, a combination that could force other carriers to seek partners, people with knowledge of the talks said Wednesday."
http://money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/would-northwest-delta-deal-spur-others/20080207094209990001

Wikinvest To Add Unique Comp Data For Stock Research

2008-02-06T12:07:00.000-08:00

Wikinvest To Add Unique Comp Data For Stock Research
Excerpt:
"Financial and stock research sites like Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, Marketwatch, or CNNMoney have done a lot to democratize investment research by bringing reams of financial data for any publicly traded company to investors at the click of a button. But when it comes to financial metrics, much of the data they provide is the same for every company: revenues, earnings, PE ratios, market caps, assets, liabilities, analyst estimates, and so on. To really understand a company, this data is just a starting point. By the end of next week, Wikinvest is planning on introducing a new feature to help investors dig deeper. Says co-founder Michael Sha:"

Perception and Irony at Davos - The New York Times Column

2008-01-29T08:44:00.000-08:00

Perception and Irony at Davos - The New York Times Column
Excerpt:
"“Behind every great fortune there is a great crime,” David M. Rubenstein said with a sardonic smile.

Mr. Rubenstein, the founding partner of the Carlyle Group, one of the country’s largest private equity funds, doesn’t really believe that famous quote from the French writer Honoré de Balzac. Or at least he doesn’t believe it applies to his industry."

Microchips Everywhere: a Future Vision

2008-01-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

Microchips Everywhere: a Future Vision
Excerpt:
"Here's a vision of the not-so-distant future: Microchips with antennas will be embedded in virtually everything you buy, wear, drive and read, allowing retailers and law enforcement to track consumer items - and, by extension, consumers - wherever they go, from a distance.

A seamless, global network of electronic "sniffers" will scan radio tags in myriad public settings, identifying people and their tastes instantly so that customized ads, "live spam," may be beamed at them.

In "Smart Homes," sensors built into walls, floors and appliances will inventory possessions, record eating habits, monitor medicine cabinets - all the while, silently reporting data to marketers eager for a peek into the occupants' private lives.

Science fiction?"