According to ESPN, talks between current owner Comcast-Spectacor and Harris are “ongoing” and a deal is “imminent.” [ESPN]
Archive for June 2011
Insider Trader Noah Freeman Cannot Say Enough Good Things About Winifred Jiau’s Inside Information
By Bess Levin
Yes she could be bossy, yes she would cancel meetings at the last second, yes she could be a crazy bitch who’d demand $300 gift certificates to the Cheesecake factory in one breath and a dozen Thanksgiving lobsters in the next, yes sometimes you’d meet with her for a pass off of material non-public information and she’d tell you the shellfish you sent were Maine lobsters and she’d specifically request South African lobsters (even though she hadn’t) and then spit in your face and walk away and yes sometimes you’d sit at your desk after she’d reamed you out over the phone for not giving her “the sugar” and fantasize about various ways you could kill her and make it look like an accident but god damn it, this woman knew her shit and when this whole thing blows over you two are going to start working together again because you can’t imagine doing the trading thing without her and you know what? You don’t want to. Continue reading »
That report they released last week? Wasn’t even their best material, according to founder Carson Block who told reporters today from an undisclosed location there’s so much more where that came from and that anyone long Sino should probably be quaking in their boots. You don’t even know. Continue reading »
Remember Anna Chapman? She was among the ten Russian spies deported last year and since returning to the motherland has been pretty busy. She posed in Maxim in her underwear holding a deadly weapon. She started hosting a TV show called “Secrets of the World.” She adopted a lion cub. She posed in a magazine called Heat and then got in trouble for posting outtakes of her ass on Facebook. She waved off a rocket launch. She modeled in a fashion show (in which carried a gun and stuck it in a male model’s neck). For her next project, Chapman has teamed up with Vladimir Putin to “lure technology investment to Russia.” Apparently tech has always been a passion of Chapman’s (“I’ve always been fascinated with technology,” she told Bloomberg) and now, she says, “I want to make my own input into developing this industry.” For you thinking Chaps will have a hard time being taken seriously, think again. According to Moscow hedge fund manager Roland Nash, she’s “very well known and respected in Russia, by Russians in general and young Russians in particular, so in that sense she’s quite an imaginative solution.” As for the West, Nash concedes, “she’s got to turn around part of her image.” Continue reading »
Pimco Takes Bath on Lehman (WSJ)
Now, new court documents show that he also took a bath in loading up on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. debt before the investment bank cratered that year. Losses on certain Lehman bonds traded by Mr. Gross’s firm, Pacific Investment Management Co., exceed $3.4 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of liquidation plans and investment disclosures filed in a federal bankruptcy court in New York.
Gross’ Call: Early, or Plain Wrong on Treasury Debt? (WSJ)
The fund, available to retail investors, finished in the bottom 10% of intermediate-maturity bond funds in May, with a one-month total return, which comprises interest payments as well as price moves, of 0.52%, nearly half a percentage point less than the average fund in its category.
The Fine Print of Goldman’s Subprime Bet (DealBook)
Andrew Ross Sorkin: “But upon further reporting — talking with executives at Goldman, who pointed me to other documents, and with officials in Washington, and then poring through the report, following the footnotes to the original sources and then cross-referencing them against other public records — I have come to a different and perhaps unsatisfying conclusion for those readers looking for a big scalp: Mr. Blankfein wasn’t lying.”
IMF open to extending terms on Greek loans (Reuters)
The IMF is open to delaying Greece’s repayment of its international loans but believes a major restructuring of its debt would create untold problems in the euro zone, a Fund official said on Tuesday.
Trichet Signals Endorsing Greek Bond Rollovers (Bloomberg)
European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet signalled for the first time he may support encouraging investors to buy new Greek bonds to replace maturing securities as officials seek to stem the nation’s debt crisis.
Obama’s head of economic council, Austan Goolsbee, to leave, plans return to academia (WaPo)
Austan Goolsbee, one of President Obama’s most trusted economic advisers, said Monday night that he would resign, marking the latest departure from the president’s economic team at a time when the nation’s jobs recovery is slowing.
Eliot Spitzer on Weiner: “Believe Me, I Know, I’ve Been There” (Daily Intel)
“Believe me, I know, I’ve been there.” Continue reading »
$$$ US SEC, not SAC Capital, is target of Senate probe (Reuters)
$$$ Goldman shareholder sues ex-director Gupta (Reuters)
$$$ Dick Bove says folks at the Federal Reserve have ‘lost their minds’ (FT Alphaville) Continue reading »
Congressman Anthony Weiner Offers Several Tips Titans Of Wall Street Ought To File Away For Safe-Keeping
By Bess Levin
Thinking about tweeting pictures of your package to some college chicks? Head of a public company whose board might take issue with the shots and try and force you out? If you want to keep your job, schedule a meeting (10 days after you get caught) and take several pages from Congressman Anthony Weiner’s playabook. Continue reading »
According to Eric Lefkofsky, you should pay no attention to the $540.2 million the site has lost since 2008. And according to CEO Andrew Mason, you should pay no attention to Lefkofksy. Continue reading »
Former SAC Capital Trader Noah Freeman Didn’t Appreciate Filling Tipster’s Shellfish Orders, Knowing The Only Thing He Could Do About It Was Bitch And Moan To Secretary
By Bess Levin
As previously discussed, one major focus of the government’s insider trading cases du jour is the use of primary networks, whose information those on the prosecution side argue is just too good. Among all the expert network analysts charged, one stands out- Winifred Jiau. The best of the best, Jiau seems to have worked with everyone who’s been accused of trading on material non-public information and for good reason- her information, according to clients, was “precise to the decimal point.” And unlike other expert network analysts, who perhaps weren’t as good or just didn’t know their worth, Jiau was well-aware of just how much her trader friends needed her, and acted as such. In the opinion of former SAC Capital PM Noah Freeman (who pleaded guilty in April, after working with the government to turn over his ex best friend and colleague Donald Longueuil), this was like a bitch.
“Despite her information being very, very accurate, she was very difficult to work with,” said Mr. Freeman, an articulate and confident 35-year-old Harvard College graduate. Among the issues he said that he had with Ms. Jiau: She could be rude, it was hard to get a hold of her and she often canceled meetings at the last minute.
And yet, he couldn’t quit her. When “Poohster” (apparently Freeman and Co’s nickname for Jiau) said jump, Freeman asked how high. Similarly, when Poohster said “buy me an iPhone,” buy me a gift certificate a clothing store no wait I meant the Cheesecake Factory,” and “buy me a bunch of lobsters,” Freeman said “how many,” “for how much,” and “how would you like them delivered?” Continue reading »
May performance. Continue reading »
MDubs has issued a new state budget and debt report and Arizona, Nevada, Connecticut, Wisconsin? Might want to run. (Also, re last year’s prediction on muni bond defaults- she was just ball-parking, no one should’ve taken those numbers at face value.) Continue reading »
