The Fortune 500 ranking of the US largest corporations have just been released. Exxon Mobil tops the list with $45,2 Billion in profits! Wowsa!

Here is the top ten list. The list is compiled from revenues and not profit. Some companies on the list may have huge revenues but showed losses in 2009.

Check out the Complete List here

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Watch out Luxury seekers, the next hottest thing will be floating real estate on the high seas! Utopia Residences of Beverly Hills has inked a deal for $1.1 billion with shipbuilders Samsung Heavy Industries to build the world’s most luxurious yacht that will offer 200 floating residences. Pretty much a sailing skyscraper!

The ship will measure 971 feet long and weigh over 105,000 gross tons. The 200 residences offered for sale will range in size from 1,400 square feet to 6,600 square feet.

The ocean liner named Utopia will also have a 204 room boutique luxury hotel, casino, spa, theater, night club, swimming pools, marina, signature restaurants and private residents club. The ocean liner will travel to ports during major cultural and sporting events such as the Cannes Film Festival, Monte Carlo Grand Prix, The Olympics, Carnaval, Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, Melbourne Cup and other well known worldwide events.

David Robb Chairman of Utopia Residences said, “The residents onboard this ocean liner will enjoy the time of their lives, learn about other cultures and experience the most luxurious and stress-free way to travel.”

Samsung and Utopia are planning to complete the ship construction and delivery in 2013.

I am so ready to sign up! Check out some pictures below!

Ship in bay.

Deck.

Living Room.

Dining Room.

Main Pool.

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Well not really…  but the mighty may have been dinged! A tiny Toronto based software manufacturer has successfully sued Microsoft, winning $290 million!

The 30-person firm called i4i won a judgment today against the powerhouse computer company Microsoft. The US federal appeals court decision was a long awaited victory for the small firm.

The journey began two years ago when the company sued Microsoft claiming it violated a patent with certain features found in Word 2003 and Word 2007. In August 2009, a Texas jury agreed with i4i and ordered Microsoft to pay 290 million in damages and stop selling Word in the U.S.

The decision was soon appealed by Microsoft, but today the federal appeals court upheld the judgment, issuing an injunction.  The injunction prevents Microsoft from selling versions of Word that contains the patent in question.  The ruling will take effect on January 11th.

Here is how they took down Microsoft:

1. i4i first step was to correctly protect their property. They filed for the patent in the US in 1994 and was issued patent no. 5,787,449 in 1998.

2. They worked tirelessly to prepare their case before they took it to the legal eagles. They spent a lot of time gathering every single detail.

3. They continued to run their company while they prepared the case. i4i did their best to make sure employees were not distracted and ensured clients that they had a solid future despite the outcome of the case.

4. They choose the right battle field. i4i made a decision to have the case heard in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.  Neither i4i nor Microsoft has headquarters there, but typically a lot of high-tech cases are tried there.

5. The company put thier money where their mouth was and paid to play with the big buys. The case cost them $10 million in legal fees.
“[A lawsuit] is a complete and utter commitment,” says Chairman of i4i Loudon Owen. “It’s not something to be taken lightly. The deposition process, the cross-examination, the whole series of allegations — it’s a very tough process to go through.”

Congrats to i4i for standing up to Bill Gates and claiming what is rightfully theirs. I guess it is an eye for (an) eye.

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Do you worry about whether you are making the best decision on lunch?  Could you imagine being know for making the worst business decision of all time? Makes that lunch decision seem small right?  We have compiled a list of the worst business decisions ever made, check it out.

1. The worst real estate deal of all time. Napoleon Bonaparte is known for many things, even had a complex named after him. Did you know he made one of the worst real estate decisions of all time.  In 1803, he accepted an offer on the Louisiana territory for sale for $15million.  The Louisiana territory was roughly half of the land that eventually became the US. If he had only waited he could of gotten an offer from the US for $10 million for Louisiana alone.

2.  The power of a patent. This is the lesson to be learned here. Edwin Laurentine Drake learned that the hard way. Drake, a retired railroad conductor had a vision on drilling for oil, an upgrade to shovels and picks that was used in the mid 1800s.  His idea of drilling for oil was thought to be crazy. In 1859 Drake successfully invented a devise that would drill for oil. Unfortunately he never patented the devise and many rushed in and became overnight millionaires. Drake died in poverty.

3. Not recognizing the future in technology. The Western Union Telegraph Company made a horrible mistake by calling the telephone an “Electronic toy” and turning down the patent for the telephone. The patent was offered for only $100,000.  The telephone is recognized as one of the most valuable patents in history.

4. Who says no to the Beatles? Well Decca Records did. In 1962 Decca records invited the Beatles to audition. After two weeks they decided that the band was not what they were looking for. EMI Records later signed the Beatles. The Beatles have sold over 600 million albums worldwide and have become one of the most commercially successful recording artists of all time.

5. When negotiations goes wrong. Ross Perot, two time US presidential runner had offered to buy Microsoft in 1979 for $15 million. Bill Gates wanted $60 million. Negotiations broke down and the two could not see eye to eye. Perot walked away never buying the company. Microsoft has a market value today of over $265 billion!

6.   Who wants to be Bill Gates? Well in 1980 Gary Kildall had the opportunity to do so but passed to fly his plane. At that time IBM was looking for a company to supply an operating system for what they call the personal computer (PC). IBM had scheduled a meeting with software guru Gary Kildall, but Kildall missed the meeting to fly his plane. IBM later turned to Bill Gates of Microsoft. The rest is history. Microsoft currently has an 88 percent market share of the US PC market.

7.  Atari who? Today everyone either owns an Apple product or has at least heard of Apple, but how many have heard of Atari, unless you are ‘of a certain age”  Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, co founders of Apple Computer went to Atari to sell their personal computers. Atari flat out said no. “So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.’ So, then we went to Hewlett-Packard and they said, ‘Hey, we don’t need you; you haven’t even got through college yet’.” How hard are they kicking themselves? Apple has a market value of $184 Billion. Their market share of PC users is nearly at 10 percent and steadily growing.

8. Another Excite who? Former CEO of Excite George Bell had the opportunity to buy Google for ONLY $1 million in 1999. He passed on the opportunity. Google is now the number one search engine with an average 70 percent of the market share of ALL search engines. It currently has a market value of $163 billion.

9. Enron was a hard lesson to be learned. One of the seventh-largest companies in the US in 2001, the company became one of the largest business scandals of all time. With revenues in excess of $100 Billion, the company became embroiled with fraud and corruption scandal from widespread accounting fraud. Over 20,000 employees lost 2 billion in pensions and shareholders lost over $74 billion.

10.  When to do what? Investment firm Lehman Brothers’ would follow the Enron scandal and eclipse it as the biggest bankruptcy in US history. The company’s main holdings were in real estate and subprime mortgages. When the subprime mortgage crisis first hit in 2006-07, the firm took out enormous loans based on their liquid assets instead of selling off their huge shares of failing mortgage propriety. In 2008 it all came to a crashing end.

Whatever the business decision is, I think someone should invest in a time machine! No one can tell the future and where inventions or start ups would end up.  You just have to be confident in your decision at the time. Never look back, and just hope you name does not end up on this list anytime soon!

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It’s been one year since Bernie Madoff called his sons into his office and confessed to one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in modern history, bilking a reported $50 billion dollars from investors.  Madoff takes the top spot in our list of top 10 Ponzi schemes of all time.
Ponzi Schemes are any scams that pay early investors returns from the investment from later investors.

Here are the top 10 most noteworthy Ponzi schemes of all time.

1. In December of 2008  Bernie Madoff confessed he was struggling to meet $7 billion in redemptions to his sons. The confessions lead to questions that would direct authorities to the arrest and conviction of the man that would leave many wealthy people poor in a matter of hours. Madoff swindled a reported $50 Billion from charities, business men and celebrities – the who’s who of the rich and powerful. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 150 years in prison. During Madoff’s plea allocution, he stated that he began his Ponzi scheme in 1991. He admitted he had never made any legitimate investments with his clients’ money during this time; instead, he deposited the money into his business account.  Many of his clients never received a dime despite liquidating his assets.

2. In 2009, the Stanford International Bank and proprietor Robert Allen Stanford were accused of “massive fraud” by the SEC. The apparent Ponzi scheme drew in more than $8 billion of “deposits”, many from investors in Latin America. The investigation is still ongoing. The final numbers of victims as well as total loss is yet to be determined.

3. Ever wonder where the term Ponzi came from? Well it comes from the namesake of the scam artist Charles Ponzi. Ponzi promised clients a 50percent return on their investments within 40 days and 100 percent profit within 90 days.  All these profits would come from  buying discounted postal reply coupons in other countries and redeeming them at face value in the United. Ponzi earned as much as 15million in the 1920s. According to www.westegg.com, the inflation adjusted amount today would be over $180million. After Ponzi was caught, only $5million was returned to investors.

4. Michael Eugene Kelly was arrested but the FBI in 2006 for Fraud. According to the SEC “from 1999 until 2005, Kelly and others raised at least $428 million through the Universal Lease scheme from investors throughout the United States, with more than $136 million of the funds invested coming from IRA accounts.”Kelly’s scheme involved retirees and seniors. He pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

5. In 2008 Lou Pearlman – known for being the manager of NSYNC and BackStreet Boys perpetrated one of the longest running Ponzi scheme up to 300million. Pearlman ran Trans Continental Travel Services and Trans Continental airline Inc, companies which only existed on paper. The scam ran for over a 20 year period. Pearlman was arrested in Indonesia in 2007 and is now serving a 25 year sentence.

6. Gerald Payne ran Greater Ministries International a church ministry Ponzi scheme that took nearly $500 million from 18,000 people. Citing biblical scripture, the Ministry encouraged members to invest with hopes of doubling their money. In 2001, Church members that were indicted received sentences from 13 to 27 million.

7. Enrique, Osvaldo and Freddy Villalobos also called “The Brothers” conned American and Canadian investors of a reported $400million. The brothers promised small returns of 3-5percent per month and went undetected for over 20 years. The current whereabouts of Enrique and Freddy remain unknown. Osvaldo, however, unwittingly turned himself in.

8. The Lottery Uprising was the 1997 Albania uprising stemming from its Government involvement in Ponzi schemes. The scheme saw two thirds of its citizens loosing up to $1.2 billion. Citizens gathered daily protesting and demanding money back from the government. The protests culminated in a state of emergency and over 2000 dead. Citizens eventually overthrew the government.

9. Reed Slatkins wore many hats – Scientology minister, Earthlink co founder and one of the biggest Ponzi Scheme masterminds ever. Since 1986 Slatkin had raised approximately $593 million from over 500 wealthy investors and saw it all come crashing down in 2003 where he pleaded guilty to mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering and sentenced to 14 years. Among his victims were many Hollywood celebrities. He funneled much of the money to the Church of Scientology and their related entities.

10. Ponzi Schemes are an international business, and Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world was not immune. In the early 2000s Ponzi schemes were prevalent throughout the island country. What made them so successful was the perception of them being backed government cooperatives that were marketed by Haitian pop stars.  The scam took investments of more than $240 million nearly 60 percent of the Haitian GDP in 2001.

Moral of the story, the age old “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!”

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The Jaguar line has gotten a remake towards top of the line luxury. Jaguar, now owned by Tata Motors of India recently unveiled it new XJ sedan, an ode to luxury, something many would argue the brand had lost.

It’s been decades since anyone referred to the Jaguar brand as the best in luxury vehicles and the new ownership is trying desperately to change that. Jaguar has recently only been known for its classic designs and that is about to change.

Since last year when ford Motor Company sold Jaguar and LandRover to Tata Motors of India, the company has been working on revamping the auto’s image. They are hoping the new XJ sets them in that direction. What do you think?

Check out the images of the new XJ in stores now.

Would you buy?

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Two penniless, Budapest brothers who currently live in caves are reported to inherit a staggering 4Billion euros from a relative they never knew!

Zolt and Geza Peladi got a visit from charity workers in Hungary telling them of the new found fortune. The charity workers were contacted by lawyers handling the estate of their maternal grandmother who recently died in Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.

The brothers were aware their mother was from a wealthy family, and that she was was estranged from them.  Their mother had severed ties from her family and eventually also abandoned the brothers. Leaving them clueless to that side of the family.

Under German law, direct dependents are automatically entitled to a share of any estate.

With the new found fortune, the brothers are hoping to find love and live better lives. They are also currently gathering documentation to prove their identity. They will share the fortune with a sister in the US.

Read more of this unbelievable story here.

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Before all these rappers rapped about “bling” and “making it rain”, ABBA sang their hit Money Money Money.

Move over Kanye… I’m happy for you and all, but this is the best gold digger song of all time. Of All Time!

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Guess Who according to Forbes is the most overpaid actor in Hollywood? For every $1 he is paid, his films have earned a measly $3.29.

The one the Only Will Ferrel tops the list of the most overpaid stars in Hollywood.

The list was created from the 100 biggest stars in Hollywood and their salaries and movie income over the past five years. They were in at least three movies that opened in more than 500 theaters.

Check out the complete list below:

2. Ewan McGregor – $3.75
3. Billy Bob Thornton – $4
4. Eddie Murphy – $4.43
5. Ice Cube – $4.77
6. Tom Cruise – $7.18
7. Drew Barrymore – $7.83
8. Leonardo DiCaprio – $7.52
9. Samuel L. Jackson – 8.59
10. Jim Carey – $8.62

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Cyber Monday became Celebrate Monday for online retailers as early reports indicate that sales rose 14% this year compared to 2008!

Early reports from Coremetrics research firm indicate that shoppers were filling up their virtual carts as they bought 30% more items per order than they did last year.

Cyber Monday may have outsold Black Friday as 10 % more items were bought per order online than they did in stores.

Clothing and Jewelry were the best sellers.

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