Stewart, Pretty Much Wiping the Floor With Cramer, A Play In Three Acts (CC)
Discuss.
Berkshire Approached By AIG For Help Pre-Collapse (Bloomberg)
In an interview for Bloomberg Television, Buffett raps about that weekend AIG went south, explaining they had tried to call him twice for help; he had to refuse both times because of the enormity of the issue.
“It’s like taking out a girl — sometimes you know it isn’t going to happen,” Buffett said “The time pressures … the depth of the possible hole.”
Ahead of the 11PM episode, the AP reports that Stewart did not go easy on Cramer, even after JC did some pre-show buttering up of the TDS host:
NEW YORK – Jon Stewart hammered Jim Cramer and his network, CNBC, in their anticipated face-off on “The Daily Show.”
In an interview taped Thursday afternoon that went far beyond its allotted time, Stewart repeatedly chastised the “Mad Money” host and CNBC for putting entertainment above journalism. He also accused the financial news network of willfully ignoring corporate dishonesty.
For his part, Cramer disagreed with Stewart on a few points, but mostly agreed that he could have done a better job foreseeing the economic collapse. Cramer called himself a “fan of the show” and said his network was “fair game” to Stewart’s criticism.
$$$ Nobel-prize winner backs world currency [The Australian]
$$$ Yale’s Money Manager Says ‘Buy’ [Dealbook]
$$$ Welch condemns share price focus: Former GE chief calls shareholder value strategy ‘insane’ [FT]
$$$ “Ms. Burnett, whose day job is to report on the teetering economy, was shown last Sunday night shilling for Mr. Trump. It’s one thing for NBC to promote the reputation of a business tycoon who makes money for the network; there’s no synergy in denting the credibility of one of its most visible business reporters.” [NYT]
Wow! Screaming right along! Maybe we can talk him out of messing with taxation on partnership interests if we get a little 2% and 20% going here.
The Obama Portfolio (Since Inception): +7.03%
Earlier: The Obama Portfolio
Economic upheavals often end up shuffling around a lot of names. One stadium sponsor slips beneath the dark, frigid waves, another brands its logo on the same spot without a second thought. One endorsement drops off, another endorsement steps up (but for a lot less dough). The tallest building in North America starts to see a lull in lease renewals and… it changes its name from “The Sears Tower” to “The Willis Tower.”
This shouldn’t be surprising, really. Sears moved their headquarters from the building in the 1990s. The terms of this most recent change, however, are surprising.
The Sears Tower has just shy of four million square feet available for tenants. How much of this is UK insurer Willis Group Holdings leasing to capture naming rights for the massive structure? About 3.5%. If it occurred to you that this might tell us quite a lot about who was in control of the negotiations, you aren’t alone.
“233 S. Wacker Drive LLC,” a group including, among others, Joseph Chetrit and American Landmark Properties, bought the 110 story building in 2004 for just under $850 million. It was then refinanced for about $780 million in 2007, when things were, shall we say, a bit more optimistic. The picture starts to fill out when you realize that Ernst & Young, a long-time Sears Tower tenant, reportedly declined to avail themselves of their 2012 option to renew their lease. At 380,000 square feet, their aversion to offices in the tallest building on the horizon comes as something of a blow. Naming rights? Sure thing! How soon can you move in?
Of course, we tried to reach Eddie (“ESL”) Lampert to ask him why Sears would permit themselves to lose title to the highest restrooms above street level in the world (they are on the 103rd floor), but no one would return our calls.
As previously mentioned, Jim Cramer was on Martha Stewart this morning, baking pies. The topic of tonight’s appearance on Jon Stewart came up, of course, with M. Stewart telling JC that he ought to pretend the dough he was pounding “is Jon.” To be honest, the whole TDS vs. CNBC got kind of boring to us last week, but we were sort of looking forward to some (dramatically staged) thrown down fisticuffs between two Jews. Now that our attention has been directed toward this “please don’t hurt me business” from Cramer, we gotta say it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen:
In a prelude to his Daily Show duel tonight, Jim Cramer was on Martha Stewart’s show this morning sounding a little conciliatory, offering up a sympathetic glimpse into his very soul — perhaps in an effort to take the wind out of Jon Stewart’s acerbic, piercing wit. “The reason why it’s been so hard for me, the attacks, is that early on I patterned my show off of his, which is that you can do an entertainment business show,” he told Martha. “And then suddenly to be attacked by a guy that’s your idol makes it difficult.”
Is Jim Cramer Buttering Jon Stewart Up? [Daily Intel]
Listen, girls… be careful about timing when it comes to that settlement. Strike the wrong balance between the cash bonus and more incentive aligned, long-term compensation in the deal and you might find yourself the subject of Divorce Settlement Clawbacks. Or perhaps, Alimony Modification.
A City fund manager hit by the credit crunch went to the Court of Appeal today in an attempt to secure a cut in the £9.5 million divorce settlement he made to his former wife.
Bryan Myerson claimed that his former wife, Ingrid, was awarded 43 per cent of the couple’s £25.8 million fortune when the settlement was agreed in February last year.
She was awarded £9.5 million cash, but he took most of his shares in the couple’s stocks in Principle Capital Holdings, where Mr Myerson worked as a fund manager.
Since, the share price has plummeted by 90 per cent and the divorce, as it stands, leaves Mrs Myerson with 105 per cent of the couple’s assets while her former husband, who still owes her £2.5 million in cash, would have to borrow money to pay her.
I say tough cookies Bryan. You were the one who elected to take your share in equities. Now we are supposed to give you a free put option to boot? Not to mention, that once you modify these terms, if the shares recover, Bryan is going to be sitting pretty and the Mrs. will be the one looking for modification.
City tycoon pleads poverty in £10m divorce [Times Online]
We knew there was a reason we loved Third Point and here’s what: musical accompaniment.
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Maybe! As you know, Ponzi Boy’s bail was revoked a few hours ago, and he’ll be bunking at Manhattan’s Correctional Center until his June 16th sentencing. Where he’ll be headed after that is the question. While many raining righteous indignation on the fraudster’s ass are hoping he’ll go to a place where his ass (and the pounding of it) is figured squarely into the equation, a supermax isn’t necessarily in the cards. Defense attorney Jeff Chabrowe has told Esquire that the Otisville Correctional Facility in Mount Hope, New York, is a likely contender. What’ll the sojourn be like? Let’s find out!
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It was the little mouse that roared. Again. Liechtenstein, darling principality and sometime haven for revenues seeking shelter from Departments of Inland (and Outland) Revenue, neatly slid the thin blade of a double edged dagger between Switzerland’s sixth and seventh rib. The tiny country announced today that it would push through legislation to cooperate with OECD countries with respect to information sharing standards on tax data. Switzerland, which has been taking a hard line on the issue, seems to have been caught unaware and increasingly finds herself standing out alone and in the cold.
Switzerland has much to lose in this fight and is presently looking at its third major recessionary trigger. First was the significant exposure of the larger Swiss banks to toxic financial waste minted in the United States. Second, and currently beginning to unwind at a frightening pace, is her significant exposure to Eastern European debt denominated in Swiss Franc. Now this. The more pessimistic analysts believe that up to half of Switzerland’s deposits might flee the country if banking secrecy laws are badly gelded there. Considering that many of her larger institutions have been relying on their asset management divisions as the “crown jewels” of their portfolios, one wonders what lurks just around the bend.
Liechtenstein had considerably less to lose. After some rather insidious and clever espionage by German authorities to uncover the names of German citizens with deposits in Liechtenstein (in violation of Liechtenstein and, arguably, German law) Liechtenstein’s deposits have drained consistently. It was quite easy, therefore, for them to take the “high road.” Their reputation for banking secrecy was already in tatters after having been so brutally penetrated by the Germans. Leaving aside for a moment the historical irony implicit in the German intelligence apparatus snooping for names on Swiss accounts, it looks like banking secrecy in Central and Western Europe is going to be limited to Luxembourg. Where in the hell are we going to ski?
Vikram Pandit said late Monday night that Citi was profitable in January and February, in the memo heard round the world (that, whoopsies, forgot to postscript that shit, “You overall know the quarter’s still make us it’s bitch, right?”). Jamie Dimon said yesterday that JPMorgan was profitable in January and February, in a phone conversation with Dennis Kneale (still WTF’ing over that). Since he’s set to speak publicly at Boston College’s Chief Executives’ Club Boston in a few minutes, and because we have it on good authority the Boone’s was flowing early this morning, let’s decide now: will Ken Lewis be talkin’ profitability for the first two months of ’09? (And in a rambling slur of incoherence, adding, “Oh but the Q’s gonna hurt baaaaad. My balls are recoiling in fear just thinking about the write-offs, the one time special charges and the post-merger integration costs related to the absorption of a few big buckets of shit….no but seriously, I love Merrill Lynch. I LOVE YOU MAN.)
Update: KL: Bank of Amerillwide “probably won’t need assistance in the future” and “The last thing we need to do is start nationalizing banks.”
