$$$ Deals: America on Sale, but Not to Worry
In our M&A Roundup for the week ended March 9, non-U.S. buyers account for half the top deals. But overall transaction levels remain weak, and private equity buyers recede. [CFO.com]
$$$ What We Know About Client 9 …
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Discovering that the exclusive international ring of prostitutes known as the “Emperor’s Club” charged up to $5,500 an hour for their services, New York governor Eliot Spitzer vowed to put an end to this price gouging practice.
Four people alleged to have run the “Emperor’s Club” were charged with conspiracy to violate federal prostitution statutes, while two of them were also charged with laundering more than $1 million in illegal proceeds.
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Amid the ongoing credit crunch, when market indications of stress continue to widen and investors try to find a way through the tumult, it’s instructive to look back and see just how far certain shares at the center of this crisis have done.
As it is with bear markets, these stocks have put together brief rallies …
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John Gapper finds the business angle in the Spitzer story: reading the official complaint, he concludes that "even this sort of business is just that - a business." My favorite bit is this:
During the call, SUWAL and LEWIS discussed the fact that
some of the Emperors Club prostitutes were not properly taking
imprints of the clients’ American Express cards. SUWAL told
LEWIS to ask the prostitutes to fax the imprints, or if that did
not work to scan them and e-mail the imprints, and then send the
originals in the event of a dispute with the clients about the
charge, or if American Express inquired. MARK BRENER, a/k/a"Michael," the defendant, commented in the background that he
thought one of the prostitutes ignored him when he told her how
to fill out the credit card slips.
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Well, if it’s any indication, the crassest headline so far is on DealBreaker.com: “Eliot Spitz’or Swallow.” Uchch. Come on, guys.
Spitzer Bombshell, Blackstone Rising, Fitch Vs. MBIA [Barron's]
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Andrew Leonard mourns a (former) hero:
I cheered him on. He was the unexpected underdog who comes out of nowhere and starts landing one uppercut after another into the chins of a murderer’s row of 800-pound gorillas. We called him, here at Salon, "the most feared man on Wall Street," and we said it with respect. If only we could get someone like him in the White House — maybe then, we’d take care of some r…
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I don’t have much to add about today’s big story, but I’ll simply say that I’ve never been a big fan of Eliot Spitzer. He’s a nasty guy and he ruthlessly pursued a baseless case against Dick Grasso. According to Charlie Gasparino’s book, “K…
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Floyd Norris, in his blog on the New York Times, details a bit of chutzpah on the part of MBIA, which has requested that Fitch, coincidentally the most negative on MBIA, stop issuing ratings of the bond insurer. (The posting includes an exchange with MBIA’s Jay Brown, as well.) “It looks bad to shop for ratings when there is not a market presumption that you are in trouble; it looks much worse when there is such a belief,” he …
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“I do not believe that politics in the long run is about individuals. It is about ideas, the public good and doing what is best for the State of New York.”
Eliot Spitzer, the gangly governor of the Empire State whom federal wire-taps allegedly caught arranging a tryst with a prostitute on the eve of Valentine’s Day, took the opportunity afforded him today by the sudden attention of the national media to deliver that short lecture on civics. Other men—even that subspecies known as politicians—might have been humbled by the circumstances, and perhaps even resigned from public office. But Spitzer is not like other men, he reminded us today.
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(March 10, 2008 01:24 PM, by Arnold Kling) Tyler Cowen asks, Is/was the subprime crisis simply a mask for a more general revaluation of the meaning and extent……
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Private equity firm Blackstone Group continues to disappoint investors since first selling shares to the public in June of 2007. The stock hit a new 52-week low today, falling 2% after another round of lackluster earnings.
The company …
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First Solar (FSLR) was called a buy by Cramer today. Noted was Spain, the largest solar market in the world, recently electing a Socialist prime minister because it may mean demand for solar goes up. Considered were Yingli (YGE) and Suntech (STP) but the original recommendation was stuck to. A report from Goldman Sachs Adrianne Shapiro listed J.C. Penny (JCP), Nordstrom (JWN), Kohl’s (KSS) and Macy’s (M) on the buy list. The downgrade of Wal-Mart (WMT) implied the U.S. has moved past the cheap phase of the economic cycle.
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At the Ariel Community Academy in Chicago, each incoming first-grade class gets $20,000. The children are eventually put in charge of managing it and picking the stocks.
The concept is simple: Ariel’s experts manage a $20,000 portfolio for each class until sixth grade, briefing them regularly along the way, and then begin turning over the decisions to the children. Upon graduation from eighth grade, each class returns the initial investment amount to the school for another first-grade class and donates, invests or pockets the profits.
The yield on Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities due in 2012 are now negative. This means that investors are willing to take a negative real return in exchange for the (ahem) security of owning dollars.
This means that liquidity has dried up all over the world to such an extent that investors are willing to pay a huge “liquidity premium” (meaning, they can dump their TIPS whenever they want), that’s greater than the real return of the bond….
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Shares of Bear Stearns are getting beaten about today, losing 9% of their value on generalized worry from investors about liquidity concerns at the investment bank, concerns that Ace Greenberg of Bear told CNBC were “totally ridiculous.” The stock had been in worse shape until Mr. Greenberg spoke up.
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New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been “involved in a prostitution ring.” Announcement “coming” soon.
While we wait: what does it mean “involved” in a prostitution ring mean? Please say fluffer. Can’t wait to hear what best friend Jim Cramer has to say about this one.
Disappointing update: The Times is now saying he was a client, and not a pimp.
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Chevron (CHV), Exxon Mobil (XOM) and ConocoPhillips (COP) collectively made $10 million last quarter.
An hour.
(But that includes parking….)…
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On Friday, I got an email from my friend James:
If you had some $ to invest now, where would you put them? I’m considering going long some equities, but its a nauseating market out there…
in the financials, does Citi or even the crappy CountryWide become a ‘bargain’ at some price…? my gut tells me that with as yet unquantified loan losses, the sector news will get worse before it gets better.
So Eliot likes paid for girls. Sounds like your typical man to me. He will likely fry for this and what can you say. The guy has been dishing it out for years now, with quite a heavy hand. It’s called Karma and I am a very strong believer in it.
The New York Times is breaking the story . One juicy tidbit from the breaking news:
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