Comments on: Write-Offs: 12.05.08

By: guest

guest — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:58:27 +0000

Here’s a link to the text of Win Smith’s “shame on you” speech at the Merrill shareholder meeting Friday:
http://www.blah3.com/article.php?story=20081205173514990
Strong stuff….

By: guest

guest — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:39:11 +0000

A sign of the time a’coming
GM’s Bust Turns Detroit Into Urban Prairie of Vacant-Lot Farms
By Michael McKee and Alex Ortolani
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co., and Chrysler LLC are fighting for their lives. Large stretches of Detroit are already dead.
With enough abandoned lots to fill the city of San Francisco, Motown is 138 square miles divided between expanses of decay and emptiness and tracts of still-functioning communities and commercial areas. Close to six barren acres of an estimated 17,000 have already been turned into 500 “mini- farms,” demonstrating the lengths to which planners will go to make land productive.
……

By: VOL IS KING

VOL IS KING — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:31:44 +0000

NEXT FAIL IN THE MAKING
Proposals on Changes for Insurers Move Ahead – WSJ
By LESLIE SCISM
A group working for state insurance regulators has green-lighted several proposals submitted by the life-insurance industry in recent weeks aimed at lowering insurers’ capital and reserve requirements.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122870553736487433.html?mod=testMod

By: VOL IS KING

VOL IS KING — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:36:50 +0000

When Gerbil Failed
HA!

By: VOL IS KING

VOL IS KING — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:51:03 +0000

Citadel Cuts Asian Principal Investments, Exits Tokyo (Update2)
Email | Print | A A A
By Bei Hu and Tomoko Yamazaki
Dec. 8 (Bloomberg) — Citadel Investment Group LLC, the hedge fund manager founded by Kenneth Griffin, will close down its Tokyo office and Asian principal investments operations, cutting more than half of jobs in the region.
Citadel will run its remaining Asian operations from Hong Kong in the future after shutting the regional principal team that invests in companies undergoing or about to go through mergers and acquisitions, spinoffs, asset sales or legal challenges. Katie Spring, a spokeswoman in Citadel’s Chicago head office, confirmed the decision today.
HA in the future the firms Asian operations will be run out Hong Kong…. WHAT FUTURE?

By: guest

guest — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 06:41:06 +0000

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122870455251587405.html the best thing about John Thain news is we get to see that picture of him in his high school wrestling unitard

By: guest

guest — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:17:09 +0000

o——————–!——————–o
Always watching from every angle.
It knows.

By: guest

guest — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:17:07 +0000

Tribune may be filing for bankruptcy this week:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122868944355686385.html?mod=testMod
The larger LBO’s have avoided Ch. 11 so far b/c of cov lite terms, PIKing, through exchange offers, equity infusions and BS ‘proforma cost savings’ added back to leverage covenant tests, but looks like its finally time for some of those dominoes to start falling.
Realogy, Harrah’s, Univision, etc, I’m looking at you…
I’m not in PE, but maybe someone can shed some light on this: is it just me, or is Apollo taking it even harder from behind than some of the other PE shops? Maybe I’m just selectively reading headlines, but it seems like every deal they’ve touched is looking to blow up in their face.

By: guest

guest — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 22:24:39 +0000

Hey Anal_yst did you hear they found a baby Woolly Mammoth?
SPODE

By: guest

guest — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 05:57:52 +0000

@13
Here’s a snippet from Gutmann’s (Penn Prez) email on the market conditions.
WISELY MANAGING BUDGETS AND COSTS
While we remain confident that the financial markets will eventually rebound, no one can predict when that day will come. So we at Penn must take control of our own fate. As the largest private employer in the City of Philadelphia, and one of the largest in the Commonwealth, Penn has long been a stable and supportive employer. And although we are on solid ground today, we must prepare for an economic downturn of uncertain length and depth. This could result in decreases in enrollment for certain fields of study, reductions in federally-sponsored research, and reduced philanthropy. In the short- to intermediate-term, the economic downturn is certain to reduce support from our endowment. In response to the projected State budget deficit, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has already reduced our appropriation for the current fiscal year, and may impose further reductions later in the year.
In the face of these challenges, we must begin to reduce our expenditures now, in advance of significant reductions in revenue. I have met with the Deans and senior leadership, and all have agreed to be strategic and disciplined in reducing their costs. Because compensation – both salaries and benefits – represents the single largest expense in the University’s operating budget (more than 52% of our total expenditures), each School and Center will implement these following University-wide actions, effective immediately and continuing for the next 18 months:
…
• Discontinue recruitment bonuses and discretionary bonuses that are not part of established compensation plans. No new incentive or bonus programs or new acting rates will be created during this time period.
…
•The senior leadership of the University – including Deans, Vice Presidents, senior officers, and me – will receive no salary increases next year.
Also, we have a semester long ego-stroking seminar on the financial crisis offered in Wharton next semester, with lots of guest speakers including Jeremy Siegel. They seem to have specifically looked for professors who loved the sound of their own voice. Am sitting in for a hoot (it’s non-credit), will be sure to leave some tidbits here in the comments.
-Wharton dickwad

By: guest

guest — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 04:57:11 +0000

@12: Are you even a fluent English speaker?

By: guest

guest — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 00:13:57 +0000

Mordechai Chang WHERE ARE YOU???

By: guest

guest — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 23:49:50 +0000

Harvard endowment falls…….
That’s the problem following Cramer’s advice.
It’s even scarier if he is to become SiCk man, I mean SEC Chairman.I heard the Obama camp has a big laugh about it.

By: guest

guest — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 19:54:33 +0000

Harvard Endowment falls 22% in four months: http://www.marketwarnings.com/2008/12/harvard-university-endowment-loses-22.html I made 37% in one week following this: http://www.marketwarnings.com/2008/11/dow-spx-stock-market-bottom-november-21.html

By: guest

guest — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:19:13 +0000

MER/1st year associate/top bucket/$127.56/confirmed