Steven A. Cohen, head of SAC Capital Advisors, arrived with his wife, Alexandra, who wore red open- toed shoes that matched the carpet leading in to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Ball. Penelope Cruz entered with Oscar de la Renta, Beyonce with Jay-Z…Fashion and wealth blended on this evening for one of the biggest museum fundraisers on the planet. Tables, which were sold out months ago, went for $100,000 to $250,000…As for the fit of a tuxedo, “This is one instance where size matters,” said menswear designer Simon Spurr, who wore a tie with a scorpion printed on it. “Buy one size smaller than you think.” However sexy a uniform a tuxedo can be, Stella McCartney suggested a man’s sex appeal comes from within, citing McQueen as a role model. “Have a personality, be true to yourself, and don’t conform in any way,” she said. [Bloomberg via BI]
Archive for May 2011
If you thought Bill was a footie pajama-wearing guy, or perhaps that he slept in the buff, you thought wrong. Continue reading »
Bloomberg Brief reports that Verition Group’s Ken Lin and Jeffrey Zhou won the inaugural “Class of the Hedge Fund Titans” ping pong tournament (which benefited the Robin Hood foundation), held at SPiN April 13, besting players from a field that included Louis Capital Management, Eton Park, Candlewood Investment Group, Greenlight Capital, LuxEn Capital, Whitebox Advisors, Samlyn Capital, Bharat Capital LLC, Dymaxion Capital, Tiger Global, York Capital and SAC. Which brings to a little story about heart. Continue reading »
Whitney Tilson: This Weekend’s Berkshire Hathaway Meeting Was “One Of The Best I’ve Ever Attended”
By Bess LevinSayeth Tilson: “Buffett and Munger are razor sharp and at the top of their games, and Berkshire is just going gangbusters! (The insurance losses from Japan, New Zealand, etc. in Q1 that depressed quarterly earnings are essentially irrelevant to Berkshire’s long-term value.)” Continue reading »
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Posted in:
Private Equity
Brain Cancer Will Not Keep Teddy Forstmann Away From The Office
By Bess LevinAccording to Charlie Gasparino it’s business as usual for the private equity chief. Continue reading »
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Posted in:
MBAs
Breaking: Ex-Athletes Turned Financiers Don’t Have To Worry About Things Like Decimal Points
By Bess Levin
But an athlete does not have to get an MBA to break into finance, said Zoia of Glocap. Athletes may appeal to banks and private equity firms, but they are hired more so for business development roles than for technical ones, said Zoia. “They’re not doing detailed financial models and really advising the nitty gritty of the deal structure,” said Zoia. [FINS]
The Raj Rajaratnam jury has moved onto Day 7 of its deliberations re: whether or not Raj is guilty on 5 counts of conspiracy and 9 counts of securities fraud. Meanwhile, the Galleon founder is on Day 3 or 4 of bed rest and reruns, following emergency surgery over the weekend to treat a “bacterial infection” on his foot.
The Germans are getting sued, today, for “years of reckless lending practices.” Continue reading »
Jamie Dimon wanted to make the announcement Oprah-style (You get a title change! And you get a title change! And you get a title change!) but there was concern that some employees would pass out from the excitement. Continue reading »
Goldman Chief To Stay In Job At Least Two More Years (NYP)
Lloyd Blankfein, approaching his fifth anniversary running Goldman amid some Wall Street speculation that recent regulatory tussles have left him burned out and looking to step down, is likely to stay put at the helm of Goldman Sachs for at least two years, sources tell The Post.
Morgan Aligned With Commodities Bulls As Goldman Says Sell (Bloomberg)
The surge in everything from oil to corn to gold has yet to crimp demand, inventories are still tight, and getting out now would be “premature,” Hussein Allidina, the head of commodity research at Morgan Stanley in New York, said on April 29. Prices may no longer reflect supply and demand, and they are likely to drop in the next three to six months before rebounding, Goldman said in reports April 11 and April 15.
U.S. Business Has High Tax Rates but Pays Less (NYT)
Topping out at 35 percent, America’s official corporate income tax rate trails that of only Japan, at 39.5 percent, which has said it plans to lower its rate. It is nearly triple Ireland’s and 10 percentage points higher than in Denmark, Austria or China. To help companies here stay competitive, many executives say, Congress should lower it. But by taking advantage of myriad breaks and loopholes that other countries generally do not offer, United States corporations pay only slightly more on average than their counterparts in other industrial countries. And some American corporations use aggressive strategies to pay less — often far less — than their competitors abroad and at home. A Government Accountability Office study released in 2008 found that 55 percent of United States companies paid no federal income taxes during at least one year in a seven-year period it studied.
Buffett Lets The Facts Bury Sokol (Dealbook)
Sorkin: A close friend of Mr. Buffett’s explained his thinking this way. “Warren knew that the second that press release hit the wires, Sokol’s professional career was over. Done. Forever. Sokol was finished. He didn’t need to brag about being ‘ruthless.’ ”
Frank Bill Would Cut Regional Fed Presidents From Rate Votes (Bloomberg)
U.S. Representative Barney Frank, the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, is pushing to remove the power regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents have to weigh in on interest-rate decisions.
India Raises Interest Rates to Battle Inflation (NYT)
In a bid to rein in persistently high inflation, India’s central bank raised interest rates Tuesday more than analysts had expected and signaled that it would be willing to raise borrowing costs even further. The action, which caused the country’s stock market to close 2.4 percent lower, will make it harder for India to achieve the 9 percent growth target set by the government for the current financial year, which ends in March 2012.
Man Group launches $1.5bn Japan fund (Telegraph)
The computer-driven Nomura Global Trend fund was the first onshore Japanese fund to be launched by Man’s AHL unit and will invest in a mixture of assets via three currency baskets, one of which includes the Chinese Yuan.
Greece To Name And Shame Tax Evaders (CNBC)
For those not paying their taxes in full the warning is stark; the Greek government plans to make an example of someone by the “identification and exemplary punishment of large-scale tax evasion.” Continue reading »
