<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"><channel><title><![CDATA[Energy - Dealbreaker]]></title><description><![CDATA[Wall Street Insider – Financial News, Headlines, Commentary and Analysis - Hedge Funds, Private Equity, Banks]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com</link><image><url>https://dealbreaker.com/site/images/apple-touch-icon.png</url><title>Energy - Dealbreaker</title><link>https://dealbreaker.com</link></image><generator>Tempest</generator><lastBuildDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 21:04:17 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://dealbreaker.com/.rss/full/tag/energy" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 21:04:17 GMT</pubDate><copyright><![CDATA[Breaking Media Inc.]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en-us]]></language><atom:link href="https://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" rel="hub"/><item><title><![CDATA[The Stench Of Capitulation Lingers On Law Firms In League With Trump]]></title><description><![CDATA[If the firms won't fight for themselves, how will they fight for clients?]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2025/05/the-stench-of-capitulation-lingers-on-law-firms-in-league-with-trump</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2025/05/the-stench-of-capitulation-lingers-on-law-firms-in-league-with-trump</guid><category><![CDATA[Lawyers]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category><category><![CDATA[Microsoft]]></category><category><![CDATA[Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom]]></category><category><![CDATA[Law Firms]]></category><category><![CDATA[Simpson Thacher & Bartlett]]></category><category><![CDATA[Willkie Farr & Gallagher]]></category><category><![CDATA[tech]]></category><category><![CDATA[Spineless Cowards]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jenner & Block]]></category><category><![CDATA[In-House Counsel]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Kathryn Rubino - Above the Law]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 07 May 2025 17:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTI2NTc3NzU5NzMz/president-trump-attends-national-prayer-breakfast.jpg" length="713391" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Last week, one of the biggest stories in Biglaw was Microsoft’s change in attorneys. In a key piece of litigation, they ditched Simpson Thacher (a firm that<a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2025/04/five-top-biglaw-firms-pledge-their-allegiance-to-trump-promising-to-provide-legal-services-beyond-his-time-in-the-white-house/"> capitulated to Donald Trump </a>and promised $125 million in pro bono payola for <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2025/04/biglaw-firms-in-league-with-donald-trump-now-have-to-defend-cops-that-kill-black-and-brown-people/">whatever causes Trump fancies</a>) for Jenner & Block (a firm that is<a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2025/04/jenner-and-wilmerhale-go-for-blood-in-fight-over-biglaw-executive-orders/"> fighting Trump vindictiveness</a> in court). It seems when your firm is in the news for “<a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2025/04/biglaw-firms-that-inked-deal-with-trump-failed-the-american-people-says-paul-hastings-partner/">fail[ing] the American people</a>” and backing down from a legal fight, confidence in your ability to fight on behalf of your clients waivers.</p><p>And Microsoft isn’t the only company steering work away from<a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2025/04/trump-is-coming-for-biglaw-heres-what-the-firms-are-doing-about-it/"> the yellow-bellied nine.</a></p><p>According to <a href="https://www.law.com/americanlawyer/2025/05/05/are-some-law-firms-that-settled-with-trump-getting-the-cold-shoulder-from-legal-departments/">reporting b</a>y Law.com, several general counsels have a dim view of those in the “<a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2025/04/willkie-loses-longest-serving-lawyer-over-trump-surrender/">order of obsequiousness</a>.” One energy company GC said, “I have pulled firms off of prospective new work. I had Skadden on one, and I had Willkie on another, and I pulled them off because of their settlement. I’m literally in a thread with other GCs, and those two firms have been pulled from other people’s panels as well.” The energy GC continued, “more than a dozen companies are actively [issuing requests for proposals] for new work, and they’ve just changed the panel. Firms that they would normally have gone to, they’ve just pulled them out.”</p><p>A tech GC took a similar position.</p><blockquote><p>“I don’t have a ton of work right now; I have work only with one of the firms, and it’s a very small project, but it’s highly sensitive. I can’t move it yet, but I will move it when I can, and for any new work, I absolutely will not send it to any of the firms that capitulated,” said one general counsel with expertise in tech, who would only speak under the condition of anonymity to protect client relationships.</p><p>Lawyers, both in-house and at other firms, are taking a keen interest in how other firms have responded to Trump’s demands.</p><p>“There’s a lot of spreadsheets being shared,” the tech GC said, containing data on “which firms have capitulated, which firms haven’t, and who are the partners to contact to put pressure [on] if you use the firm,” they added. “There was a lot of activism in the first few weeks.”</p></blockquote><p>The public move by Microsoft is also a catalyst for others to make a change. Because, as the tech GC noted, though it’s “more of a struggle to move all your book of business away immediately, because you have relationships with those firms over a long period of time, and especially in corporate, it’s harder to move away.” But, “when somebody like Microsoft publicly does this, what it means is, if there is tension between the GC who wants to move work and the executive team who may not know or care, it gives the GCs evidence and backup. … It’s not just validating for me as a GC, it’s ammunition for me to go to my executive team and board and say, ‘no, this is a big deal, and even Microsoft is doing it.’”</p><p>Yeah, there’s just something about “actively volunteering the firm to an administration that is doing things that are inherently oppositional to the rule of law. … It doesn’t feel like a smart business move to associate ourselves with a firm that is donating its time to an administration that many find repellent,” as the energy GC said.</p><p>Turns out, bending a knee to a bully is also a bad business decision.</p><p><strong><em>Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/1XC11QhFCWxWr4NQrk2sEA">The Jabot podcast</a>, and co-host of <a href="https://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/thinking-like-a-lawyer/">Thinking Like A Lawyer</a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email <a href="mailto:kathryn@abovethelaw.com?subject=Your%20Column">her</a> with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2025/05/the-stench-of-capitulation-lingers-on-biglaw-firms-in-league-with-trump/%E2%80%9C//twitter.com/Kathryn1%22%E2%80%9D">@Kathryn1</a> or Mastodon <a href="https://mastodon.social/@Kathryn1%22%22">@Kathryn1@mastodon.social.</a></em></strong></p><p> <em>For more of the latest in litigation, regulation, deals and financial services trends, <a href="https://info.breakingmedia.com/finance-docket-newsletter-referral">sign up </a>for Finance Docket, a partnership between Breaking Media publications Above the Law and Dealbreaker. </em></p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTI2NTc3NzU5NzMz/president-trump-attends-national-prayer-breakfast.jpg" width="1014"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTI2NTc3NzU5NzMz/president-trump-attends-national-prayer-breakfast.jpg" width="1014"><media:title>president-trump-attends-national-prayer-breakfast</media:title><media:text>(Getty Images)</media:text></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Law Firm Settling Claims It Facilitated Ponzi Scheme... Not The Ponzi Scheme That Sent One Of The Partners To Jail, This Is A Different Ponzi Scheme]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hopefully the last time we have to talk about 'Locke Lord' and 'Ponzi' this month. ]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2024/05/law-firm-settling-claims-it-facilitated-ponzi-scheme-not-the-ponzi-scheme-that-sent-one-of-the-partners-to-jail-this-is-a-different-ponzi-scheme</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2024/05/law-firm-settling-claims-it-facilitated-ponzi-scheme-not-the-ponzi-scheme-that-sent-one-of-the-partners-to-jail-this-is-a-different-ponzi-scheme</guid><category><![CDATA[Law Firms]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[law]]></category><category><![CDATA[fraud]]></category><category><![CDATA[Heartland Group Ventures]]></category><category><![CDATA[mergers and acquisitions]]></category><category><![CDATA[Locke Lord]]></category><category><![CDATA[Troutman Pepper]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ponzi schemes]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[crime]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Joe Patrice - Above the Law]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 14 May 2024 17:32:25 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3NDIwMjQ1MzYyMTY1/gavel-money-bills-law-legal-litigation-finance-300x221.jpg" length="9743" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yesterday, we chronicled the fate of <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2024/05/former-biglaw-partner-gets-15-year-jail-sentence-for-ponzi-scheme/">a former Locke Lord partner heading to prison</a> in the UK for running a Ponzi scheme. Today’s Locke Lord story is about a different Ponzi scheme they got mixed up in. This time, in the United States and the firm was accused of allowing its former client try to pull off the fraud. The firm <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/texas-law-firm-pay-125-mln-over-ex-clients-alleged-fraud-2024-05-10/">will pay $12.5 million</a> to settle up in the case of a roughly $122 million fraud perpetrated by a former energy client. For its part, the firm says it did nothing wrong.</p><p>Heartland Group Ventures and its affiliates took in investments from hundreds of investors promising to put the funds into new projects when, in fact, they were purchasing a plane, helicopter, a beach resort… basically throwing money everywhere except into the ground. The receiver of the defunct entity alleged that Locke Lord should’ve known what Heartland was up to and, had it acted on that knowledge, could have stanched the bleeding earlier.</p><p>Per <a href="https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/egpbazgwrvq/SEC%20v.%20Heartland%20Group%20Ventures%20-%20proposed%20settlement%20agreement.pdf">the Receiver’s motion</a>:</p><blockquote><p>After reviewing these documents and researching the law, RCT concluded that there were potentially viable claims against Locke. Specifically, the Receiver is prepared to assert a claim alleging that Locke and its attorneys, as counsel to certain of the Heartland-Related Receivership Parties in connection with oil-and-gas offerings and the Commission’s investigation, knew or should have known that the Heartland-Related Receivership Parties were violating securities laws, were not in compliance with Commission regulations, and were using investor funds to make improper payments, including interest payments to prior investors with new investor funds, undisclosed payments to insiders, and commissions to unlicensed sales representatives. The Receiver would allege that, despite this purported knowledge, Locke, inter alia, negligently advised the Heartland-Related Receivership Parties to maintain the status quo, failed to properly advise the Heartland-Related Receivership Parties of their disclosure obligations to investors, failed to review offering and other key documents for legal compliance for the protection of investors, and failed to advise the Heartland-Related Receivership Parties to cease raising new funds and avoid incurring additional liabilities to investors. The Receiver contends that if the Heartland-Related Receivership Parties had received that advice, they would have stopped raising new funds and would have avoided various categories of damages, including the loss of money through illegal or improper out-of-pocket payments. All of the Receiver’s proposed claims against Locke are referred to as the “Alleged Claims.”</p></blockquote><p>Locke Lord denies that this even amounted to a Ponzi scheme, much less that they contributed to it in any way, but settled in exchange for a release.</p><p>Locke Lord and Troutman Pepper are deep in merger negotiations. And nothing makes for an enjoyable merger chat more than the word “Ponzi” coming up twice in the matter of a week.</p><p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/legalindustry/texas-law-firm-pay-125-mln-over-ex-clients-alleged-fraud-2024-05-10/">Texas law firm to pay $12.5 mln over ex-client’s alleged fraud</a> [Reuters]</p><p><strong><em><a href="http://abovethelaw.com/author/joe-patrice/">Joe Patrice</a> is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of <a href="http://legaltalknetwork.com/podcasts/thinking-like-a-lawyer/">Thinking Like A Lawyer</a>. Feel free to <a href="mailto:joepatrice@abovethelaw.com">email</a> any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on <a href="https://twitter.com/josephpatrice">Twitter</a> if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a <a href="https://www.rpnexecsearch.com/josephpatrice">Managing Director at RPN Executive Search</a>.</em></strong></p><p> <em>For more of the latest in litigation, regulation, deals and financial services trends, <a href="https://info.breakingmedia.com/finance-docket-newsletter-referral">sign up </a>for Finance Docket, a partnership between Breaking Media publications Above the Law and Dealbreaker.</em></p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3NDIwMjQ1MzYyMTY1/gavel-money-bills-law-legal-litigation-finance-300x221.jpg" width="916"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3NDIwMjQ1MzYyMTY1/gavel-money-bills-law-legal-litigation-finance-300x221.jpg" width="916"><media:title>gavel-money-bills-law-legal-litigation-finance-300x221</media:title></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Finance Docket: Big Deals Are Big These Days ]]></title><description><![CDATA[And law firms are staffing up for them.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2024/04/finance-docket-big-deals-are-big-these-days-</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2024/04/finance-docket-big-deals-are-big-these-days-</guid><category><![CDATA[ByteDance]]></category><category><![CDATA[Private Equity]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tyler Dickson]]></category><category><![CDATA[Endeavor Group Holdings]]></category><category><![CDATA[Thyssenkrupp]]></category><category><![CDATA[activist investing]]></category><category><![CDATA[Masimo Corp.]]></category><category><![CDATA[Asia]]></category><category><![CDATA[SRS Distribution]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nuvei]]></category><category><![CDATA[Regulation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Steve Mnuchin]]></category><category><![CDATA[Goldman Sachs]]></category><category><![CDATA[Paramount]]></category><category><![CDATA[Advent International]]></category><category><![CDATA[mergers and acquisitions]]></category><category><![CDATA[spin-offs]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lawyers]]></category><category><![CDATA[social media]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Silver Lake]]></category><category><![CDATA[Finance Docket]]></category><category><![CDATA[TikTok]]></category><category><![CDATA[Citigroup]]></category><category><![CDATA[Home Depot]]></category><category><![CDATA[SLB]]></category><category><![CDATA[WeWork]]></category><category><![CDATA[ChampionX]]></category><category><![CDATA[Adam Neumann]]></category><category><![CDATA[Law Firms]]></category><category><![CDATA[Swisscom]]></category><category><![CDATA[Joe Biden]]></category><category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category><category><![CDATA[Credit Suisse]]></category><category><![CDATA[China]]></category><category><![CDATA[Joint Ventures]]></category><category><![CDATA[Carlyle Group]]></category><category><![CDATA[Proxy Fight!]]></category><category><![CDATA[fintech]]></category><category><![CDATA[Andre Kelleners]]></category><category><![CDATA[Unilever]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gildan Activewear]]></category><category><![CDATA[Initial Public Offerings]]></category><category><![CDATA[Apollo Global Management]]></category><category><![CDATA[Ben & Jerry's]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Vodafone]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Shazar]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 05 Apr 2024 20:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MjA1NTk0Nzg3OTU5NTQ3ODA0/home-depot.jpg" length="139784" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Ed. note: This article first appeared in the Finance Docket newsletter. <a href="https://info.breakingmedia.com/finance-docket-newsletter-referral">Sign up here</a> to view the full newsletter and subscribe. </em></p><p>Last month, in spite of the uptick in dealmaking, we expressed a bit of bearishness about the prospects for major mergers given the Biden administration’s growing opposition to them. Well, about that (and, indeed, more on the White House’s opposition later): Takeovers worth at least $10 billion <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/giant-merger-deals-stage-a-comeback-a6827d4b?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">more than doubled in the first quarter</a>, including last week’s announcement that Home Depot would pay <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/28/home-depot-acquiring-srs-distribution-for-18point25-billion-to-grow-pro-sales.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">$18.25 billion</a> for materials provider SRS Distribution, and Apollo Global Management’s <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/media/apollo-offers-11-billion-for-paramounts-hollywood-studio-24206eab?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">$11 billion</a> offer—which is <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/video/paramount-exclusive-acquisition-talks-skydance-144933417.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">far from certain to be accepted</a>—for Paramount Global’s studio division.</p><p>“History shows we are in the early innings of a cyclical M&A rally,” Goldman Sachs’ Andre Kelleners told <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>. And the early days of the second quarter shows no sign that it’s slowing, and indeed quite the opposite: private-equity firm Silver Lake is taking talent agency Endeavor Group Holdings private at a <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/silver-lake-endeavor-private-equity-164255992.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">$13 billion</a> valuation. There are plenty of slightly smaller deals getting done, as well. Total dealmaking in the first quarter was $725 billion, a 24% jump from last year (including Apollo’s <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ubs-apollo-agree-change-deal-055727133.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">$8 billion</a> deal for Credit Suisse’s securitized products group). Oilfield services company SLB kept the energy M&A space hot with a <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/slb-buy-championx-7-7-113923233.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">$7.75 billion</a> bid for competitor ChampionX. Across the pond, Swisscom is paying <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/swisscom-to-buy-vodafones-italy-unit-for-8-7-billion-4f3f652b?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">$8.7 billion</a> for Vodafone’s Italian business and actor Ryan Reynolds’ payment processor Nuvei will go private in a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/deals/nuvei-agrees-deal-to-be-taken-private-1c0d0d58?mod=business_lead_story&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">$6.3 billion</a> deal with p.e. shop Advent International.</p><p>“Mega-deals are thriving,” Citi’s Tyler Dickson <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/2cd43668-7d52-44a6-a8a0-58325736c727?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">says</a>, and law firms are staffing up for them: lateral partner hiring by the biggest firms, especially among corporate lawyers, was <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2024/03/hark-the-return-of-corporate-deals-is-afoot/?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">up about 20%</a> in the first two months of 2024. And there should be plenty for them to do: clothing maker Gildan Activewear, boasting a roughly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/gildan-activewear-forms-board-committee-to-consider-potential-bids-5e30c0da?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">$6 billion</a> market cap, is on the block; the Carlyle Group has cast its net for a stake in <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-thyssenkrupp-evaluates-carlyles-bid-072159029.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">Thyssenkrupp’s marine unit</a> and Unilever plans to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/unilever-plans-to-spin-off-ice-cream-unit-in-shake-up-affecting-7-500-jobs-c768e45f?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">spin off</a> its Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream business. Medical-device maker Masimo is reportedly <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/masimo-may-look-at-joint-venture-for-consumer-split-ceo-says-1e0f2b4c?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">looking for a joint-venture partner</a> with whom to split off its consumer side (an activist hedge fund—about which more later—is <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/25/activist-investor-plans-second-fight-at-masimo-sending-shares-up-12percent.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">launching a proxy battle</a> anyway), and WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann has offered <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/26/wework-adam-neumann-flow-global?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">$500 million</a> for his former company. And, of course, there’s the prospect of a mega-mega deal, one that at its owner’s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/06/tiktok-parent-bytedance-offers-share-buyback-at-268-billion-valuation.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">current valuation</a> would be bigger than all of the first quarter’s mega-deals combined: that for TikTok, which depending on what the <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/04/01/business/senate-reportedly-mulls-changes-to-tiktok-ban-or-sale-bill-as-vote-timeline-remains-unclear/?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">Senate</a> and<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/14/tiktok-ban-china-would-block-sale-of-short-video-app.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx"> China</a> do faces a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-house-vote-china-national-security-8fa7258fae1a4902d344c9d978d58a37?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">possible ban</a> in the U.S. if it’s not sold, possibly to former Treasury Secretary <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-mnuchin-house-senate-ffdf37776e63a09bb6966d741df7093b?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">Steve Mnuchin</a>, who doesn’t seem to be on any shortlists for his old job should his former boss get his old job back in January.</p><p>Of course, the surge in big deals is uneven, and one place where they aren’t thriving is in TikTok’s current home region of Asia-Pacific, where M&A fell 28% in the first quarter. The malaise is matched on China’s stock markets, where traders are having to make due with <a href="https://www.wsj.com/business/the-tea-shops-bubbling-up-hong-kongs-anemic-ipo-market-bf52eadc?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">bubble-tea debuts</a> as two more <a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/exclusive-beijing-nudged-syngenta-withdraw-123742028.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">major initial public offerings</a> have been <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/alibaba-scraps-logistics-listing-as-hong-kong-ipo-woes-worsen/ar-BB1kyGb4?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8fKtjAGhOOK2PI8Zu1XMhImjJM3SxICatKJxqJr_Xh7TGQVShGtbvWrT5BqAD0A6JNaPdx">pulled in recent weeks</a>.</p><p> <em>For more of the latest in litigation, regulation, deals and financial services trends, <a href="https://info.breakingmedia.com/finance-docket-newsletter-referral">sign up </a>for Finance Docket, a partnership between Breaking Media publications Above the Law and Dealbreaker.</em></p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MjA1NTk0Nzg3OTU5NTQ3ODA0/home-depot.jpg" width="1036"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MjA1NTk0Nzg3OTU5NTQ3ODA0/home-depot.jpg" width="1036"><media:title>home-depot</media:title><media:credit><![CDATA[Mike Mozart from Funny YouTube&comma; USA&comma; CC BY 2&period;0 &lt;https&colon;&sol;&sol;creativecommons&period;org&sol;licenses&sol;by&sol;2&period;0&gt;&comma; via Wikimedia Commons]]></media:credit></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Drill, Baby, Drill: US Remains Dominant Global Leader In Oil Production Under Biden, Output Still Increasing ]]></title><description><![CDATA[It turns out Donald Trump cannot hold a candle to whatever Joe Biden is doing. ]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2024/03/drill-baby-drill-us-remains-dominant-global-leader-in-oil-production-under-biden-output-still-increasing-</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2024/03/drill-baby-drill-us-remains-dominant-global-leader-in-oil-production-under-biden-output-still-increasing-</guid><category><![CDATA[climate change]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[politics]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sarah Palin]]></category><category><![CDATA[Michael Steele]]></category><category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category><category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category><category><![CDATA[Joe Biden]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jonathan Wolf]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 21 Mar 2024 18:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MjAxMzA4NjM0NDczMzc1MjU5/oil-rig.jpg" length="74092" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>If there is one thing the Republican Party loves, it is easy-to-remember catchphrases that oversimplify complex national policy goals into something a third-grader might say after being left to play with Lego bricks in front of the TV with Fox News on all day. The modern classic is, of course, “Lock her up!”</p><p>One must go all the way back to 2008, however, to find the origins of the GOP mantra, “Drill, baby, drill.” It seems <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/123904-steele-had-doubts-about-drill-baby-drill/">the phrase was coined by ex-Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele</a> for the 2008 party convention. It was later popularized by 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (who was probably more famous for, “I can see Russia from my house,” although it was Tina Fey spoofing her on SNL <a href="https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/sarah-palin-russia-house/">who uttered this memorable paraphrasing</a>).</p><p>We are well into the second decade of Republicans repeating their “Drill, baby, drill” slogan. As professional defendant Donald Trump runs for president yet again in 2024, he is still using the phrase, and, of course, <a href="https://www.carbonbrief.org/drill-baby-drill-the-surprising-history-of-donald-trumps-fossil-fuel-slogan/#:~:text=In%20a%20recent%20interview%20with,drill,%20baby,%20drill.%E2%80%9D">kind of claiming he invented it</a> even though he very much did not.</p><p>Hold your horsepower though: some of you may remember that that big orange lunatic was already president, and had four years to implement his supposed drilling agenda. Did he follow through?</p><p>In a very out-of-character maneuver, sort of! The U.S. did indeed <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/oil-and-petroleum-products/where-our-oil-comes-from.php">become the world’s top crude oil producer in 2018</a> during Trump’s presidential term. Domestic oil production went on to reach a record high in 2019.</p><p>Of course, Trump can’t legitimately take much credit for that. From 2009 through 2019, annual oil production went up nearly every year, mostly thanks to increasingly cost-effective drilling technology. Production also cratered in 2020 during Trump’s tenure, primarily because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and falling demand. Domestic production dropped again in 2021, even as in both 2020 and 2021 the United States still <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=61545#:~:text=The%20crude%20oil%20production%20record,of%2013.0%20million%20b/d.">pumped more oil than any other country in the world</a>.</p><p>So, fine, maybe a president does not have very much direct control over oil output compared to technological advances and global market forces. Surely, however, there was a lot going on behind the scenes with the “Drill, baby, drill” president — indirect policy decisions which tangibly helped boost U.S. oil production, perhaps?</p><p>Well, if so, it turns out Trump cannot hold a candle to whatever Joe Biden is doing (though, please, for the love of God, ask the man <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/23/trump-bleach-one-year-484399">who thinks maybe we should inject bleach into us</a> to keep his candle as far away as possible from America’s massive ocean of crude oil). With an average of 12.9 million barrels produced per day in 2023, the U.S. shattered the previous oil production record of 12.3 million barrels per day set in 2019.</p><p>Early signs point to even more crude surging to the surface in 2024, with production in December 2023 reaching a monthly record high at over 13.3 million barrels per day. Growth in U.S. oil production <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/23/us-crude-oil-growth">is projected to slow somewhat in 2024 and into 2025</a>, but when you’re growing from what is already a record high, any growth is going to set even more new records.</p><p>There are a handful of things an American president can do to tinker with oil production (thankfully <a href="https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/political_science_facpub/27/#:~:text=Oil%20did%20not%20make%20a,having%20occurred%20but%20for%20oil.">starting a new war in the Middle East</a> no longer seems to be one of them). For instance, a president can approve well permits for oil and gas drilling on federal land. By that measure, <a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2024/01/30/biden-administration-oil-drilling-permits-outpace-trump-ee-00138376">Biden has approved nearly 50% more such permits than Trump did in his first three years</a>.</p><p>Really, though, how much oil gets drilled is a lot more about how much petroleum we are all using than about whatever the president is doing. If you want to dispense blame or claim credit, depending on your perspective, for the recent surge in U.S. oil production, the best place to look is in the mirror.</p><p>In the meantime, recognize that Trump saying, “Drill, baby, drill,” is just another small addition to the constant gusher of lies erupting from his mouth. Trump both had less domestic oil production during his term than has Biden, and demonstrably did less to promote oil production on federal lands during his term than has Biden. Stick that in your tailpipe and smoke it.</p><p><em><strong>Jonathan Wolf is a civil litigator and author of </strong></em><a href="https://amzn.to/38fQXp4"><em><strong>Your Debt-Free JD</strong></em></a><em><strong> (affiliate link). He has taught legal writing, written for a wide variety of publications, and made it both his business and his pleasure to be financially and scientifically literate. Any views he expresses are probably pure gold, but are nonetheless solely his own and should not be attributed to any organization with which he is affiliated. He wouldn’t want to share the credit anyway. He can be reached at </strong></em><a href="mailto:jon_wolf@hotmail.com"><strong><em>jon_wolf@hotmail.com</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong></p><p> <em>For more of the latest in litigation, regulation, deals and financial services trends, <a href="https://info.breakingmedia.com/finance-docket-newsletter-referral">sign up </a>for Finance Docket, a partnership between Breaking Media publications Above the Law and Dealbreaker.</em></p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MjAxMzA4NjM0NDczMzc1MjU5/oil-rig.jpg" width="853"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MjAxMzA4NjM0NDczMzc1MjU5/oil-rig.jpg" width="853"><media:title>oil-rig</media:title><media:credit><![CDATA[Allan D&period; Hasty&comma; CC BY-SA 3&period;0 &lt;https&colon;&sol;&sol;creativecommons&period;org&sol;licenses&sol;by-sa&sol;3&period;0&gt;&comma; via Wikimedia Commons]]></media:credit></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Finance Docket: Bitcoin's Surge, Plentiful Deals, The Bear Case For Cats ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Deals abound in the U.S. energy industry. ]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2024/02/finance-docket-bitcoins-surge-plentiful-deals-the-bear-case-for-cats-</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2024/02/finance-docket-bitcoins-surge-plentiful-deals-the-bear-case-for-cats-</guid><category><![CDATA[mergers and acquisitions]]></category><category><![CDATA[Spirit Airlines]]></category><category><![CDATA[Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[AI]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jay Powell]]></category><category><![CDATA[Carl Icahn]]></category><category><![CDATA[Endeavor Energy Partners]]></category><category><![CDATA[IRobot]]></category><category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category><category><![CDATA[Inflation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[JetBlue Airways]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Standard & Poor's 500]]></category><category><![CDATA[Nvidia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Finance Docket]]></category><category><![CDATA[Diamondback Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[activist investing]]></category><category><![CDATA[interest rates]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jonathan Wolf]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 16 Feb 2024 22:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MjA0NDgyMTUzNTk2MDY4OTQx/confetti.jpg" length="122791" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>Ed. note: This article first appeared in the Finance Docket newsletter. Subscribe <a href="https://info.breakingmedia.com/finance-docket-newsletter-referral">here</a> to view the full newsletter along with prior editions. </em></p><p>Break out the champagne: <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2024/02/the-sp-500-closing-above-5000-is-definitely-cool-but-dont-read-too-much-into-it/?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--yvxoe9q8Y3HxpIltwZpcNOAt2BcCh5OwcfYrgx_sJxlMt34rFWUUf-7VstcHgPZ0mMEaR">The S&P 500 closed above 5,000</a> for the first time ever. With stocks on a tear, expect more record highs ahead.</p><p>Falling inflation certainly has something to do with soaring stock prices. The annual inflation rate <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/inflation-expected-to-fall-below-3-for-the-first-time-since-march-2021-211718510.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--yvxoe9q8Y3HxpIltwZpcNOAt2BcCh5OwcfYrgx_sJxlMt34rFWUUf-7VstcHgPZ0mMEaR">came in at just over three percent</a>, a deceleration since December but still <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/inflation-consumer-prices-rise-31-in-january-defying-forecasts-for-a-faster-slowdown-133334607.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--yvxoe9q8Y3HxpIltwZpcNOAt2BcCh5OwcfYrgx_sJxlMt34rFWUUf-7VstcHgPZ0mMEaR">above economists’ forecasts of 2.9 percent</a>. Inflation has not been below three percent since March of 2021.</p><p>Steady progress notwithstanding, the Fed’s inflation fight is far from over. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said there will “probably not” be an interest rate cut in March, and markets are pricing in a 94 percent chance that rates will remain unchanged next month.</p><p>Deals abound in the U.S. energy industry. Companies are <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/diamondback-energy-buy-endeavor-energy-26-billion-deal-2024-02-12/?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--yvxoe9q8Y3HxpIltwZpcNOAt2BcCh5OwcfYrgx_sJxlMt34rFWUUf-7VstcHgPZ0mMEaR">consolidating in the Permian Basin</a> in West Texas and New Mexico. The latest example: Endeavor Energy Partners is being acquired by oil producer Diamondback Energy in a $26 billion cash-and-stock deal. The combined oil and gas company will be the third largest in America’s most productive shale oilfield, behind only Exxon Mobil and Chevron.</p><p>JetBlue Airways might have had its proposed merger with Spirit Airlines smacked down, but don’t count the scrappy airline out yet: Its shares spiked by more than 15 percent <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/12/activist-investor-carl-icahn-reports-nearly-10percent-stake-in-jetblue-airways-says-stock-is-undervalued.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--yvxoe9q8Y3HxpIltwZpcNOAt2BcCh5OwcfYrgx_sJxlMt34rFWUUf-7VstcHgPZ0mMEaR">when activist investor Carl Icahn revealed his 9.91 percent stake</a>. Calling the stock “undervalued,” Icahn plans to continue discussions with the company about the possibility of board representation.</p><p>Few would accuse chip maker Nvidia of being undervalued, with the company’s share price more than quadrupling over the course of the last 15 months as AI fever grips the investing public. Nvidia’s semiconductor technology powers the most prominent examples of generative AI, and on February 12, the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/02/12/nvidia-is-now-more-valuable-than-amazon-and-google/?sh=2dba24c64554&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--yvxoe9q8Y3HxpIltwZpcNOAt2BcCh5OwcfYrgx_sJxlMt34rFWUUf-7VstcHgPZ0mMEaR">company’s market capitalization rose to $1.83 trillion</a>, making it more valuable than Amazon and Google parent Alphabet. Among publicly traded companies, Nvidia just became the fourth most valuable, behind only Microsoft, Apple, and Saudi Aramco.</p><p>I suppose how broadly one defines artificial intelligence is to an extent a matter of opinion, but the market doesn’t seem to gauge a vacuum cleaner that can drive itself around your house as worthy of AI-craze level valuations. 2024 continues to be a rough year for iRobot, maker of the Roomba. Its stock remains in a prolonged slump after Amazon’s <a href="https://www.axios.com/2024/01/29/amazon-irobot-roomba-deal-antitrust?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--yvxoe9q8Y3HxpIltwZpcNOAt2BcCh5OwcfYrgx_sJxlMt34rFWUUf-7VstcHgPZ0mMEaR">$1.4 billion deal to acquire iRobot fell through</a> because of resistance from European antitrust regulators. If your vacuum cleaner does become self-aware and decides to take its revenge, do drop me a line – I have <a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2020/05/is-it-illegal-to-shoot-down-a-drone-same-as-plane-faa-says-as-minnesota-man-charged-with-felony/?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--yvxoe9q8Y3HxpIltwZpcNOAt2BcCh5OwcfYrgx_sJxlMt34rFWUUf-7VstcHgPZ0mMEaR">some experience in this area</a>.</p><p>Finally, in lighter news, there is a confirmed case of human bubonic plague in Oregon. Officials assure us that the illness was caught early and there is “little risk to the community,” but if you needed another reason to become a dog lover, it appears that the unfortunate victim <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/oregon-officials-confirm-case-human-182844024.html?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--yvxoe9q8Y3HxpIltwZpcNOAt2BcCh5OwcfYrgx_sJxlMt34rFWUUf-7VstcHgPZ0mMEaR">was infected by a feline companion</a>.</p><p><em><strong>Jonathan Wolf is a civil litigator and author of </strong></em><a href="https://amzn.to/38fQXp4"><em><strong>Your Debt-Free JD</strong></em></a><em><strong> (affiliate link). He has taught legal writing, written for a wide variety of publications, and made it both his business and his pleasure to be financially and scientifically literate. Any views he expresses are probably pure gold, but are nonetheless solely his own and should not be attributed to any organization with which he is affiliated. He wouldn’t want to share the credit anyway. He can be reached at </strong></em><a href="mailto:jon_wolf@hotmail.com"><strong><em>jon_wolf@hotmail.com</em></strong></a><strong><em>.</em></strong></p><p> <em>For more of the latest in litigation, regulation, deals and financial services trends, <a href="https://info.breakingmedia.com/finance-docket-newsletter-referral">sign up </a>for Finance Docket, a partnership between Breaking Media publications Above the Law and Dealbreaker.</em></p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MjA0NDgyMTUzNTk2MDY4OTQx/confetti.jpg" width="900"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MjA0NDgyMTUzNTk2MDY4OTQx/confetti.jpg" width="900"><media:title>confetti</media:title><media:credit><![CDATA[jencu&comma; CC BY 2&period;0 &lt;https&colon;&sol;&sol;creativecommons&period;org&sol;licenses&sol;by&sol;2&period;0&gt;&comma; via Wikimedia Commons]]></media:credit></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[(Signing) Bonus Watch ’22: Energy Hedge Funds]]></title><description><![CDATA[Great resignations, indeed.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2022/12/signing-bonus-watch-22-energy-hedge-funds</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2022/12/signing-bonus-watch-22-energy-hedge-funds</guid><category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category><category><![CDATA[Great Resignation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Signing Bonuses]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hedge Funds]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hedge Funds]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[bonus watch]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Shazar]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 12 Dec 2022 21:05:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTE0NzY2OTkzMzcy/oil.png" length="732287" type="image/png"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>No one pretends that the last few years have been easy ones for oil traders. Their fortunes waned as the attention (and investment) paid to alternative energy sources and environmental concerns waxed, with many of their employers <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2019/07/equinox-energy-closed">going belly-up</a>. Then came the pandemic and subsequent <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2020/04/oil-prices-go-negative">collapse in the crude market</a>. Even when the going’s been good, like it is now, it hasn’t been a walk in the park, what with inflation and <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2022/03/russia-ukraine-roundup-3-8-2022">invasion</a> whipsawing the sector.</p><p>But, if you’ve managed to stick it out, boy oh boy has it been <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-09/hedge-funds-lure-oil-traders-with-seven-figure-signing-bonuses">worth it</a>.</p><blockquote><p>This year, one oil trader scored a $5 million signing bonus after joining a multi-strategy hedge fund. It’s far from the only massive number. Signing bonuses in the $1 million to $5 million range are becoming more common, though higher payouts are seen only in exceptional cases.…</p><p>The jump in activity is translating into much bigger bonuses for traders as the end of the year approaches…. In a rising number of instances, traders have been getting offers and then receiving counter-offers just as they’re about to join a new firm, headhunters said….</p><p>Even at Wall Street banks, which are contending with a slump in dealmaking, commodities traders have been somewhat insulated from the steep bonus cuts investment bankers are facing…. Hedge funds are offering about 20% to 30% of profits as a bonus, nearly double what commodity merchants typically provide, according to headhunters.</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-09/hedge-funds-lure-oil-traders-with-seven-figure-signing-bonuses">Hedge Funds Lure Oil Traders With Seven-Figure Signing Bonuses</a> [Bloomberg]</p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="648" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTE0NzY2OTkzMzcy/oil.png" width="1200"/><media:content height="648" medium="image" type="image/png" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTE0NzY2OTkzMzcy/oil.png" width="1200"><media:title>oil</media:title></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bonus Watch ’22: Baby, It’s Cold Outside]]></title><description><![CDATA[Unless you’re a bond or macro hedge fund trader.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2022/11/bonus-watch-22-baby-its-cold-outside</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2022/11/bonus-watch-22-baby-its-cold-outside</guid><category><![CDATA[asset management]]></category><category><![CDATA[Private Equity]]></category><category><![CDATA[Compensation Watch]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hedge Funds]]></category><category><![CDATA[bonus watch]]></category><category><![CDATA[Compensation]]></category><category><![CDATA[Charles Skorina]]></category><category><![CDATA[Sloan Klein]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Banks]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Chris Connors]]></category><category><![CDATA[Johnson Associates]]></category><category><![CDATA[SloanKlein Associates]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Shazar]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 15 Nov 2022 18:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTc3NTc4NTE3NjQ1NTY3NTk3/new-york-snow.jpg" length="197200" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>There is a distinct chill in the air on Wall Street this morning. It is emanating from executive suites across the financial industry, from which there shall be <a href="https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b20nnwdsmcbgb5/Year-End-Compensation-for-Financial-Pros-Could-Drop-by-Double-Digits-Experts-Say">no help</a> with those <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/10/20/the-crisis-is-coming-heating-bills-will-jump-28-this-winter-for-nearly-half-of-u-s-households/">fast-rising heating bills</a>.</p><blockquote><p>Industry experts expect that year-end incentive compensation will drop by double digits for many financial services professionals after a year of challenging market conditions. </p></blockquote><p>Those <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2022/08/bonus-watch-23-your-bonus-is-keeping-your-job">dire predictions of August</a> are freezing into place: Underwriters will have to make due with up to 45% less this holiday season. Asset managers will be down by as much as a quarter. Advisory siders by a fifth. Private equity folks by 15%.</p><p>That is, unless you’re good at your job. Or have the right one.</p><blockquote><p>[SloanKlein Associates’ Sloan Klein] noted that “a lot of middle market firms are having a good year,” which translates into better year-end bonuses. The same goes for some credit managers in the hedge fund space.</p><p>According to the Johnson Associates’ data, macro hedge fund employees and sales and trading workers at fixed income managers could see a year-over-year improvement in bonus pay of 15 to 20 percent.</p><p>“These are hard times, but the traders are making money because now we’ve got volatility,” said recruiter Charles Skorina by phone. “Good traders make money.” </p></blockquote><p>For the mediocrities among you—those <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2022/08/bonus-watch-23-your-bonus-is-keeping-your-job">lucky enough</a> to <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2022/11/layoffs-watch-22-citi-i-bankers">still</a> have a <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2022/09/layoffs-watch-22-goldman-sachs">job</a> come bonus season, anyway—there is good news: Help is coming to cover those <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/10/20/the-crisis-is-coming-heating-bills-will-jump-28-this-winter-for-nearly-half-of-u-s-households/">30% higher</a> heating bills. Not a lot of it, but some.</p><blockquote><p>“We’re seeing salary pools increasing by 4 to 5 percent for next year, which is even higher than the 3 percent historical norms as firms kind of look to battle inflation,” [Johnson Associates vice president Chris] Connors said. </p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b20nnwdsmcbgb5/Year-End-Compensation-for-Financial-Pros-Could-Drop-by-Double-Digits-Experts-Say">Year-End Compensation for Financial Pros Could Drop by Double Digits, Experts Say</a> [II]</p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTc3NTc4NTE3NjQ1NTY3NTk3/new-york-snow.jpg" width="900"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTc3NTc4NTE3NjQ1NTY3NTk3/new-york-snow.jpg" width="900"><media:title>new-york-snow</media:title><media:credit><![CDATA[Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York&comma; CC BY 2&period;0 &lt;https&colon;&sol;&sol;creativecommons&period;org&sol;licenses&sol;by&sol;2&period;0&gt;&comma; via Wikimedia Commons]]></media:credit></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bonus Watch ’23: British Bankers]]></title><description><![CDATA[Bonus caps are out, not that it will matter much.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2022/09/bonus-watch-23-british-bankers</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2022/09/bonus-watch-23-british-bankers</guid><category><![CDATA[London]]></category><category><![CDATA[bonus watch]]></category><category><![CDATA[Kwasi Kwarteng]]></category><category><![CDATA[Boris Johnson]]></category><category><![CDATA[Banks]]></category><category><![CDATA[Liz Truss]]></category><category><![CDATA[bonus caps]]></category><category><![CDATA[taxes]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Banks]]></category><category><![CDATA[Stephane Rambosson]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Shazar]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 16 Sep 2022 15:30:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTg0MTg2OTczNjM4ODk1NDQ1/london-at-night.jpg" length="292926" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Things <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/business/uk-government-debt.html">look pretty bleak</a> in old Blighty these days: The Queen is dead. The prime minister is a lightweight. Inflation is higher on the Scepter’d Isle than just about anywhere this side of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/16/argentina-hikes-interest-rate-by-550-basis-points-to-75percent-after-inflation-overshoots.html">Argentina</a>. Every asset class with a hint of Britishness is in the toilet. Energy costs are out of control, and the only way the aforementioned hopeless hack can think to do anything about it is to borrow more than a hundred billion pounds and cut taxes, such is the scope of the imagination of the delusional Thatcherite mind.</p><p>Britain needs a boost. And said fearsome leader Liz Truss’ new Chancellor of the Exchequer knows <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e5dac84e-dabf-4408-8d65-1db0ecc315c3">just who ought to do it</a>.</p><blockquote><p>Kwasi Kwarteng, chancellor, is seeking to scrap Britain’s cap on bankers’ bonuses, introduced after the 2008 financial crash, in a controversial move to boost the City of London’s global competitiveness…. The cap has been a particular annoyance for US investment banks that employ tens of thousands of staff in London. Wall Street typically includes large elements of annual performance-related bonuses and lower fixed salaries in its pay packages.</p></blockquote><p>One wonders whether Kwarteng’s planned package of City reforms—grandly labelled “Big Bang 2.0,” after the 1980s City deregulation, to boost their Thatcherian cred—will include votes for those U.S. investment banks to offset the toxic image of giving bankers a potentially inflation-boosting raise amidst a cost of living crisis. Perhaps a revived set of rotten boroughs controlled from New York and Hong Kong to give the ruling Tory Party a fighting chance at the next general election, where they seem doomed on account of policies like this one. Because they sure <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/bankers-wary-backlash-if-britain-ditches-bonus-cap-cut-eu-ties-2022-09-15/">don’t seem particularly popular</a> among those they’re ostensibly designed to help—something that even the late and unlamented Boris Johnson <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2022/06/johnson-orders-end-to-bank-bonus-caps">seemed to realize</a>.</p><blockquote><p>Mindful of such criticisms, bankers have quietly lobbied to ease a levy on their balance sheets and a surcharge on their profits, a more difficult step for a cash-strapped government…. Scrapping the cap could prompt the EU to accelerate efforts to force euro financial business to move away from London.</p><p>"This should in the long run boost competitiveness for hiring in London versus Europe or the U.S., although it would be more of a minor positive than a key differentiator," said Stephane Rambosson, CEO of Vici Advisory which specialises in hiring senior investment bankers…. Banks have increased fixed pay which would be difficult to reverse, while changing the tax structure can be done pretty much overnight, the source added. What is more, scrapping the cap does not help the industry's public reputation because it brings back post-financial crisis images, the source said.</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e5dac84e-dabf-4408-8d65-1db0ecc315c3">Kwasi Kwarteng seeks to scrap bankers’ bonus cap to boost City of London</a> [FT]<br><a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/bankers-wary-backlash-if-britain-ditches-bonus-cap-cut-eu-ties-2022-09-15/">Bankers wary of backlash if Britain ditches bonus cap to cut EU ties</a> [Reuters]<br><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/business/uk-government-debt.html">Britain’s Spending and Tax Cut Plans Worry Investors in Its Debt</a> [NYT]</p><p>  <em>For more of the latest in litigation, regulation, deals and financial services trends, <a href="https://info.breakingmedia.com/finance-docket-newsletter-referral">sign up </a>for Finance Docket, a partnership between Breaking Media publications Above the Law and Dealbreaker.</em></p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTg0MTg2OTczNjM4ODk1NDQ1/london-at-night.jpg" width="1200"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTg0MTg2OTczNjM4ODk1NDQ1/london-at-night.jpg" width="1200"><media:title>london-at-night</media:title><media:credit><![CDATA[&copy; User&colon;Colin&nbsp;&sol;&nbsp;Wikimedia Commons]]></media:credit></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Jamie Dimon Runs His 2024 Presidential Platform By Guy He Plans To Replace]]></title><description><![CDATA[The next president of the United States is from Queens, but it won’t be the last president of the United States from Queens.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2022/03/jamie-dimon-marshall-plan-for-energy</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2022/03/jamie-dimon-marshall-plan-for-energy</guid><category><![CDATA[JPMorgan Chase]]></category><category><![CDATA[Still Hope Yet Marianne]]></category><category><![CDATA[Russian Invasion Of Ukraine]]></category><category><![CDATA[Banks]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jamie Dimon]]></category><category><![CDATA[2024 Election]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Banks]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Shazar]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 23 Mar 2022 17:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3NDU3Mjg5NTg2NjUy/screen-shot-2018-04-05-at-53501-pm.png" length="850685" type="image/png"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Joe Biden is the oldest person ever elected president. His approval ratings are in the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-approval-rating-drops-new-low-40-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2022-03-22/">toilet</a>, Democrats look likely to take a bludgeoning at the midterm elections in November and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/half-of-americans-doubt-biden-will-run-in-2024-wsj-poll-shows-11647349654">most people think</a> he’s not going to bother in 2024. The most likely candidates for his job in that eventuality, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, are <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60061473">as or even more unpopular</a>. In this terrifying, uncertain moment, <a href="https://www.axios.com/scoop-jamie-dimon-pushes-biden-for-domestic-energy-marshall-plan-088e5f2b-ac99-42d7-800d-1f88865c82eb.html">that means</a> there <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2020/11/jamie-dimon-for-president-2024">just </a><a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2020/05/jamie-dimon-on-income-inequality">might</a> <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2019/10/jpmorgan-hiring-ex-cons">be</a> <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2019/04/jamie-dimon-admits-that-hes-not-not-running">an</a> <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2019/04/jamie-dimon-2019-annual-letter-presidential-platform-combo">opening</a> <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2019/03/jamie-dimon-still-running-hard-at-not-running-for-president">for</a> <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2019/03/jpmorgan-cashes-out-of-private-prisons-not-political">one</a> <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2019/01/jamie-dimon-unsolicited-aoc-tax-policy-thoughts-totally-normal">perennial</a> <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2018/09/jamie-dimon-who-is-not-running-for-president-admits-that-he-would-win-easily-if-he-ran-but-hes-not">non</a>-<a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2017/08/if-jamie-dimon-isnt-running-for-president-he-just-wasted-20-minutes-of-everybodys-time">candidate</a>.</p><blockquote><p>JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told President Biden the White House needs to create a “Marshall Plan” to develop more domestic gas and other energy resources…. Dimon told the president and his top economic aides additional gas production is needed both for Europe and America's energy security…. He is calling for more liquified natural gas facilities in Europe, reduced reliance on Russian imports and investments in new technology — like hydrogen and carbon capture.</p></blockquote><p><a href="https://www.axios.com/scoop-jamie-dimon-pushes-biden-for-domestic-energy-marshall-plan-088e5f2b-ac99-42d7-800d-1f88865c82eb.html">Jamie Dimon pushes Biden for domestic energy "Marshall Plan"</a> [Axios]</p><p>  <em>For more of the latest in litigation, regulation, deals and financial services trends, <a href="https://info.breakingmedia.com/finance-docket-newsletter-referral">sign up </a>for Finance Docket, a partnership between Breaking Media publications Above the Law and Dealbreaker.</em></p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3NDU3Mjg5NTg2NjUy/screen-shot-2018-04-05-at-53501-pm.png" width="1017"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/png" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3NDU3Mjg5NTg2NjUy/screen-shot-2018-04-05-at-53501-pm.png" width="1017"><media:title>screen-shot-2018-04-05-at-53501-pm</media:title></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Man Who Lost To Vanilla Ice On "Dancing With The Stars" Attempts To Quell Oil Market Fears Of Sectarian War In Middle east]]></title><description><![CDATA[When Iranian missiles hit Saudi refineries, Rick Perry is the man you want to hear from.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2019/09/rick-perry-is-trumps-point-man-on-oil-crisis-and-jfc</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2019/09/rick-perry-is-trumps-point-man-on-oil-crisis-and-jfc</guid><category><![CDATA[Market News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rick Perry]]></category><category><![CDATA[Donald Trump]]></category><category><![CDATA[markets]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Saudi Arabia]]></category><category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category><category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category><category><![CDATA[politics]]></category><category><![CDATA[commentary]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Thornton McEnery]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 16 Sep 2019 16:31:29 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTY2OTU3ODc4NzYwOTc0MTg4/rick-perry.png" length="220472" type="image/png"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Like so many Garfields, the global oil market is dealing with <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/16/761118726/oil-prices-jump-following-drone-attack-on-saudi-oil-facility">a real case of 'The Mondays"...</a></p><blockquote><p><em>Benchmark Brent crude briefly surged almost 20% in early trading before settling to 10% higher, up $6 to $66.28 per barrel, according to The Associated Press. The U.S. benchmark West Texas crude was up 9%.</em></p><p><em>The increase, which follows drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil processing plant and Khurais oil field, marks the single-largest daily surge in crude prices in years.</em></p><p><em>The loss of the 5.7 million barrels of Saudi crude production represents the largest such disruption on record, according to figures from the Paris-based International Energy Agency.</em></p></blockquote><p>The Saudis will take weeks to get production ramped back up, meaning that one of the world's most important commodity markets will be in real flux, creating more uncertainty as the Trump administration still tilts towards its Chinese windmill and the bond market shits its pants. Not to mention that everyone is pretty much assuming that Iran is very much involved in these strikes, we have something of a burgeoning geopolitical crisis on our hands. </p><p>Now, our president is not one to let the markets feel spooked, so what is the play to keep everyone calm? Why <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/16/energy-secretary-perry-expects-a-coalition-effort-to-put-a-stop-to-irans-malign-activities.html">put Rick Perry on CNBC of course...</a></p><blockquote><p><em>U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said a coalition of countries is needed to address Iran’s “malign activity.”</em></p><p><em>“It is a time for a coalition of tame and thoughtful energy-producing and energy-consuming countries to come together and put a stop to Iran’s malign activity,” Perry told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Monday.</em></p></blockquote><p>That's right, the current Energy Secretary, and former 12th place finisher on "Dancing with the Stars," is all over this, you guys. So just keep trading equities like the most stabilizing forces in the oil market aren't literally burning right now in a kingdom run by a man who has spent the majority of his waking hours trying to provoke the west into open conflict with Iran...</p><figure>
                        
                        <img src="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTY2OTU3ODEyMTg4OTgxMTAw/screen-shot-2019-09-16-at-122441-pm.png" height="167" width="1200">
                        
                    </figure>
                    <p>We are setting our watch and predicting that it takes about 36 hours for Trump to blame this whole thing on Jay Powell.</p><p><a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/16/761118726/oil-prices-jump-following-drone-attack-on-saudi-oil-facility">Oil Prices Jump Following Drone Attack On Saudi Oil Facilities</a> [NPR]</p><p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/16/energy-secretary-perry-expects-a-coalition-effort-to-put-a-stop-to-irans-malign-activities.html">Energy Secretary Perry expects a ‘coalition effort’ to put a stop to Iran’s ‘malign activity’ </a>[CNBC]</p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTY2OTU3ODc4NzYwOTc0MTg4/rick-perry.png" width="917"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/png" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTY2OTU3ODc4NzYwOTc0MTg4/rick-perry.png" width="917"><media:title>rick-perry</media:title><media:credit><![CDATA[Ken Shipp&sol;United States Department of Energy]]></media:credit></media:content><media:content height="167" medium="image" type="image/png" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTY2OTU3ODEyMTg4OTgxMTAw/screen-shot-2019-09-16-at-122441-pm.png" width="1200"><media:title>screen-shot-2019-09-16-at-122441-pm</media:title></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Jeff Skilling Is Out Of Prison And Into Crytpo Because Free Will Is A Fallacy]]></title><description><![CDATA[The ex-CEO of Enron is shockingly intrigued by a market in which pump n' dumps are fine n' normal.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2019/03/jeffrey-skilling-into-cryptocurrency-because-of-course</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2019/03/jeffrey-skilling-into-cryptocurrency-because-of-course</guid><category><![CDATA[irony]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Perfection]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jeffrey Skilling]]></category><category><![CDATA[Enron]]></category><category><![CDATA[cryptocurrency]]></category><category><![CDATA[law]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Thornton McEnery]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 25 Mar 2019 14:04:15 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYyODk2NzY4OTQ0NTgwMTg0/screen-shot-2019-03-25-at-100153-am.png" length="350934" type="image/png"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Sometimes we read a paragraph that just glows up at us from the page or screen like it was composed by some kind of mythical muse, a piece of real truth that is also somehow perfectly structured as self-satire.</p><p>Take, for instance, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ex-enron-ceo-skilling-plots-second-act-11553282732">this flawless moment from the WSJ</a> in a story about disgraced former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling getting out of prison after a dozen years or so and already looking to start a new business:</p><blockquote><p><em>The exact nature of the project is something of a mystery, with the people briefed saying it was at an early stage. Some of those who have met with Mr. Skilling have signed nondisclosure agreements, the people said. Several described it as a digital platform connecting investors to oil and gas projects. </em></p><p><em>Mr. Skilling has met with individuals who specialize in cryptocurrency, blockchain and software development in recent weeks, two of the people said.</em></p></blockquote><p>Oh...god that's good.</p><p>The architect of a $74 billion fraud that shook the foundations of the economy at large and became the poster boy of American avarice [pre-2008 edition] and is banned for life by the SEC from ever serving as a director or executive at a public company, is reportedly intrigued by crypto.</p><p>Because, of course he is.   </p><p>We don't even need to say the obvious here, because the WSJ got a guy to do it for us:</p><blockquote><p><em>Peter Henning, a professor at Wayne State University Law School who earlier served as a prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, said that Mr. Skilling’s energy expertise could appeal to investors so long as the business venture doesn’t violate the terms of his SEC judgment. He added that focusing on newer investment platforms such as cryptocurrency could prove ideal for a second start. </em></p><p><em>“It’s an area without a long memory,” he said. “In the cryptocurrency space, no one is going to care too much about Enron.”</em></p></blockquote><p>We cannot stop smirking.</p><p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ex-enron-ceo-skilling-plots-second-act-11553282732">Ex-Enron CEO Skilling Plans Second Act</a> [WSJ]</p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYyODk2NzY4OTQ0NTgwMTg0/screen-shot-2019-03-25-at-100153-am.png" width="940"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/png" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYyODk2NzY4OTQ0NTgwMTg0/screen-shot-2019-03-25-at-100153-am.png" width="940"><media:title>screen-shot-2019-03-25-at-100153-am</media:title></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Opening Bell 6.28.19]]></title><description><![CDATA[Powell speaks; Energy topples tech; The wealthy are low income in California and more!]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2018/06/opening-bell-6-28-19</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2018/06/opening-bell-6-28-19</guid><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[politics]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jerome Powell]]></category><category><![CDATA[San Francisco]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Thad the Intern]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 28 Jun 2018 12:56:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTIyODIwMDU3MDUy/powellyellen.jpg" length="361112" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-28/powell-wants-the-real-economy-to-guide-fed-as-job-market-soars">Powell Wants ‘Real Economy’ to Guide Fed</a> [Bloomberg]</p><p> Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is testing the economy’s room to run. It’s a strategy that contains both big benefits and risks for ordinary Americans and is causing excitement, tinged with caution, inside the central bank.</p><p> Take Fed treatment of one of its bedrock conceptual benchmarks, a rate of unemployment that keeps inflation stable. In June, they estimated that level at 4.5 percent. Unemployment in May was 3.8 percent. Yet with no sign of price pressures, policy makers plan to let the labor market run even hotter, with the jobless rate projected at 3.5 percent over the next two years.</p><p><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-macquarie-group-renewables/macquarie-launches-green-infrastructure-bank-gig-in-north-america-idUSKBN1JO1BL?il=0">Macquarie launches green infrastructure bank GIG in North America</a> [Reuters]</p><p> GIG was originally the Green Investment Bank, created by the UK government in 2012 as the world’s first bank dedicated to supporting green infrastructure schemes. It was sold to Macquarie Group (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=MQG.AX">MQG.AX</a>) in 2017 for 2.3 billion pounds ($3.02 billion).</p><p> Having expanded into Europe and, most recently, Asia, GIG will now operate in the United States and Canada, aiming to finance the development of renewable energy schemes, as well as structuring numerous smaller projects into larger investments that can be sold to institutional investors.</p><p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/27/koch-network-attack-lawmakers-who-voted-against-spending-cuts.html">Billionaire Koch network to unleash attack ads targeting senators who voted against Trump's spending cuts</a> [CNBC]</p><p> Heitkamp, Donnelly, and McCaskill are in races that are considered toss-ups by Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, while Baldwin and Tester are in states marked as leaning Democrat.</p><p> The bill failed to pass through the Senate by 50 to 48.</p><p> “The failure to cut less than a half a cent from every federal dollar spent is indicative of a rampant overspending problem that unfortunately often has bipartisan support, Americans for Prosperity spokesman Bill Riggs said in a statement. “If these senators couldn’t even bring themselves to cut a sliver of unspent or expired funds, how can anyone expect them to take on our larger fiscal challenges?”</p><p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/move-over-fang-energy-topples-tech-as-top-sector-1530183600?mod=hp_lead_pos7">Move Over FANG: Energy Topples Tech as Top Sector</a> [WSJ]</p><p> Oil prices have jumped amid signs of falling global supply. This week’s move higher in crude comes after an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ agreement on Friday to increase global production by an amount below what many expected. The decision sent oil prices surging, up 6.1% over four days. Harsh rhetoric from the Trump administration on Iran sanctions and a surprising drop in U.S. crude inventories this week also lifted prices, while production from Venezuela has been plummeting for months as the country sinks deeper into economic turmoil.</p><p><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/families-earning-117000-now-qualify-as-low-income-in-californias-bay-area/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab6a&linkId=53544816">Families earning $117,000 now qualify as "low income" in California's Bay Area</a> [CBS]</p><p> CBS News went to see California's red-hot housing market with realtor Larry Gallegos. He showed us a house you would think he couldn't give away. But Gallegos says the home, complete with leaks in the roof, sold for $1.23 million. The buyer beat out six competing offers, all above the asking price.</p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTIyODIwMDU3MDUy/powellyellen.jpg" width="1013"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTIyODIwMDU3MDUy/powellyellen.jpg" width="1013"><media:title>powellyellen</media:title></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Everybody Else Is Reading This]]></title><description/><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2018/06/everybody-else-is-reading-this-662</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2018/06/everybody-else-is-reading-this-662</guid><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[How Appealing]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Business Media]]></category><category><![CDATA[Dealbreaker]]></category><category><![CDATA[ATL]]></category><category><![CDATA[MCN]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[cosullivan]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 04 Jun 2018 16:00:49 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTAwODA3NTYyNzQx/deliciouscoffee.jpg" length="301211" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://breakingenergy.com/2018/06/01/why-drinking-water-standards-are-the-wrong-standards-for-oil-and-gas-wastewater/">When The Revolution Comes, I Hope It Starts In Florida</a> Above The Law</p><p><a href="https://howappealing.abovethelaw.com/">Little Pink House’ Could Have Been A New ‘Erin Brockovich.’ Turns Out, It’s Only Okay</a> How Appealing</p><p><a href="https://medcitynews.com/2018/06/lyft-hackensack-meridian-health/">Lyft And Hackensack Meridian Health Team Up To Create Rideshare Command Center</a> MedCity News</p><p><a href="https://breakingenergy.com/2018/06/01/why-drinking-water-standards-are-the-wrong-standards-for-oil-and-gas-wastewater/">Why Drinking Water Standards Are The Wrong Standards For Oil And Gas Wastewater</a> Breaking Energy</p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTAwODA3NTYyNzQx/deliciouscoffee.jpg" width="1013"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTAwODA3NTYyNzQx/deliciouscoffee.jpg" width="1013"><media:title>deliciouscoffee</media:title><media:text>DeliciousCoffee</media:text></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Everybody Else Is Reading This]]></title><description/><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2017/12/everybody-else-is-reading-this-540</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2017/12/everybody-else-is-reading-this-540</guid><category><![CDATA[How Appealing]]></category><category><![CDATA[MCN]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Breaking Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[ATL]]></category><category><![CDATA[Business Media]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[cosullivan]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 12 Dec 2017 17:00:52 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTAwODA3NTYyNzQx/deliciouscoffee.jpg" length="301211" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="https://abovethelaw.com/2017/12/nevadas-gideon-problem/">Nevada’s Gideon Problem</a> Above The Law</p><p><a href="http://howappealing.abovethelaw.com/">Court Refuses To Reinstate Netting Lawsuit Against Major League Baseball </a>How Appealing</p><p><a href="https://medcitynews.com/2017/12/pharma-companies-transparent-clinical-data/">Which Pharma Companies Are The Most Transparent With Clinical Trial Data? (Updated)</a> MedCity News</p><p><a href="https://breakingenergy.com/2017/12/11/the-u-s-and-saudi-arabia-committed-to-advancing-research-and-collaboration-in-clean-fossil-fuels-and-carbon-management/">The U.S. And Saudi Arabia Committed To Advancing Research And Collaboration In Clean Fossil Fuels And Carbon Management</a> Breaking Energy</p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTAwODA3NTYyNzQx/deliciouscoffee.jpg" width="1013"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTAwODA3NTYyNzQx/deliciouscoffee.jpg" width="1013"><media:title>deliciouscoffee</media:title><media:text>DeliciousCoffee</media:text></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Elon Musk Doubles Down On "Ludicrous Mode"... Literally]]></title><description><![CDATA[And he's not even being ironic.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2016/08/elon-musk-ludicrous</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2016/08/elon-musk-ludicrous</guid><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tesla]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tesla Motors]]></category><category><![CDATA[tech]]></category><category><![CDATA[Auto]]></category><category><![CDATA[He's Elon Musk and You're Not]]></category><category><![CDATA[Elon Musk]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Thornton McEnery]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 23 Aug 2016 20:22:13 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTkyMzQzNzI2MDQ0/ludamusk.jpg" length="592064" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What do you do after <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2016/08/elon-musk-tesla-solarcity-deal-done/">pulling the strings on a merger</a> of two public companies that you more than vaguely control, pissing off shareholders on both sides and sending Wall Street into a rage dance?</p><figure>
                        
                        <img src="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTkyMzQzNzI2MDQ0/ludamusk.jpg" height="675" width="1013">
                        
                    </figure>
                    <p> If you're Elon Musk, you stare irony dead in the eye <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/23/teslas-new-model-s-sedan-aims-to-prove-that-electric-cars-can-be-hot-rods.html">and do this</a>:</p><blockquote><p><em>Tesla announced new versions of its Model S sedan and Model X crossover Tuesday, with substantially faster acceleration and longer battery range.</em><br><em>Tesla claims its Model S P100D with Ludicrous mode is the fastest production car in the world, in terms of acceleration, with a 100 kilowatt hour battery, with a 315 mile EPA range.</em></p></blockquote><p> So take that, SolarCity whiners and pissy Tesla investors, you think Elon is acting crazy? He's acting LUDICROUS!</p><p> And it's just this kind of crazy that Elon Musk believes is going to solve everything!</p><blockquote><p><em>"I think this is going to send a great message to the public that sustainable transport is the future," Musk said.</em></p></blockquote><p> And being part of the future is expensive.</p><blockquote><p><em>The Model S will start at $134,500 and the Model X will start at$135,500.</em></p></blockquote><p> Ludicrous Mode indeed. But wait until you hear why Elon thinks the premium pricing is actually a deal.</p><blockquote><p><em>"It is a very expensive car," Musk said,"but it is important to bear in mind that this is what is paying for the Model 3" both in terms of cash flow, and in terms of research and development.</em></p></blockquote><p> With a consumer sales pitch like this, Elon is wasting his time running a car company/solar panel concern/space rocket manufacturer.</p><p> Homeboy should be saving Macys.</p><p> Usually we'd use this space to tell you what Tesla's stock price is doing but this is an Elon Musk post, so just picture a curvy, undulating line with questions mark circling around it and a <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2016/07/chanos-tesla-basically-valeant-on-four-wheels/">war-painted Jim Chanos</a> dancing angrily around fire on the end of it.</p><p><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/23/teslas-new-model-s-sedan-aims-to-prove-that-electric-cars-can-be-hot-rods.html">Tesla’s new Model S sedan aims to prove that electric cars can be hot rods</a> [CNBC]</p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTkyMzQzNzI2MDQ0/ludamusk.jpg" width="1013"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTkyMzQzNzI2MDQ0/ludamusk.jpg" width="1013"><media:title>ludamusk</media:title><media:text>LudaMusk</media:text></media:content><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTkyMzQzNzI2MDQ0/ludamusk.jpg" width="1013"><media:title>ludamusk</media:title></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[Everybody Else Is Reading This]]></title><description><![CDATA[Home Free: How A New York State Prisoner Became A Jailhouse Lawyer, And Changed The System How Appealing The Tragedy In Orlando: The Legal Community Responds Above The Law Rite Aid Picks Up Bankrupt HealthSpot’s Assets For Just $1.15M MedCity News Infrastructure – An Investment In People Breaking Energy]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2016/06/everybody-else-is-reading-this-162</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2016/06/everybody-else-is-reading-this-162</guid><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[ATL]]></category><category><![CDATA[How Appealing]]></category><category><![CDATA[Business Media]]></category><category><![CDATA[MCN]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Breaking Energy]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[admin_ph]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 14 Jun 2016 16:00:34 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTAwODA3NTYyNzQx/deliciouscoffee.jpg" length="301211" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://howappealing.abovethelaw.com/">Home Free: How A New York State Prisoner Became A Jailhouse Lawyer, And Changed The System</a> How Appealing</p><p><a href="http://abovethelaw.com/2016/06/the-tragedy-in-orlando-the-legal-community-responds/">The Tragedy In Orlando: The Legal Community Responds</a> Above The Law</p><p><a href="http://medcitynews.com/2016/06/rite-aid-healthspot/?rf=1">Rite Aid Picks Up Bankrupt HealthSpot’s Assets For Just $1.15M</a> MedCity News</p><p><a href="http://breakingenergy.com/2016/06/10/infrastructure-an-investment-in-people/">Infrastructure – An Investment In People</a> Breaking Energy</p>]]></content:encoded><media:thumbnail height="675" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTAwODA3NTYyNzQx/deliciouscoffee.jpg" width="1013"/><media:content height="675" medium="image" type="image/jpeg" url="https://dealbreaker.com/.image/c_fit%2Ch_675%2Cw_1200/MTYxMjc3MTAwODA3NTYyNzQx/deliciouscoffee.jpg" width="1013"><media:title>deliciouscoffee</media:title><media:text>DeliciousCoffee</media:text></media:content></item><item><title><![CDATA[General Motors Gives Lyft $500 Million Because It Knows What Being "That Other Company" Feels Like]]></title><description><![CDATA[Everyone's number two car company and everyone's number two ride-sharing app are officially an item!]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2016/01/general-motors-gives-lyft-500-million</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2016/01/general-motors-gives-lyft-500-million</guid><category><![CDATA[Uber]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Private Equity]]></category><category><![CDATA[Carl Icahn]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[General Motors]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lyft]]></category><category><![CDATA[technology]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Thornton McEnery]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 04 Jan 2016 17:40:51 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It appears that General Motors (<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=GM">GM</a>) and Lyft are sick and tired of being the Bill Pullmans/Billy Zanes of their respective industries. Instead, they are seemingly hoping that joining forces will make them more of a ride-share Ryan Gosling.</p><blockquote><p><em>Lyft announced on Monday that G.M. invested $500 million in the company, or half of its latest $1 billion venture financing round. The funding, which recently closed, values Lyft, which is based in San Francisco, at $4.5 billion.</em><br><em>G.M.’s support includes more than financial backing. As part of the investment into Lyft, G.M. will work on developing a so-called autonomous on-demand network of self-driving cars, an area of research to which companies like Google, Tesla and Uber have all devoted enormous resources in recent years.</em></p></blockquote><p> That's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/05/technology/gm-invests-in-lyft.html?_r=0"><em>T</em><em>he NY Times</em> reporting</a> on a half billion dollar bet by GM on Lyft, a private equity deal so intriguing that it makes one wonder "Wouldn't it be cool if Ford gave Uber $1 billion to do the same sh!t?"</p><p> But outside all the obvious <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Baxter">Baxter </a>jokes about GM and Lyft teaming up to do what Tesla, Google and (yes) Uber are all trying to do, the deal does merit another notch in the belt for Lyft which has made some canny moves in the past few months.</p><p> While Uber has boldly experimented with the idea of acting like Gary Busey in a bathroom stall on New Year's Eve and trying to <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2015/12/uber-62-billion-valuation/">hoover up <em>every</em> available private sector investment dollar</a>, Lyft has been quietly hitching its horse to major players like Alibaba, <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2015/05/lyft-has-apparently-now-reached-the-dreaded-carl-icahn-stage-of-desperation/">Carl Icahn</a> and now GM.</p><p> The relationship with GM also makes Lyft tertiary business partners with the likes of Warren Buffett and George Soros, <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/02/19/gm-buffett-soros/">both of whom grabbed up major stakes in GM last year</a>. It's also fun to imagine that GM president Daniel Ammann and Icahn Enterprises will both sit on Lyft's board hoping no one brings up that one time Uncle Carl said he was gonna buy all that GM stock but then, like, totally didn't <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/22/business/icahn-sells-entire-general-motors-stake-a-month-after-purchase.html">and instead dumped every single share.</a></p><p> So, we've got one big salvo from Lyft to open up 2016. We wait with bated breath for the dozen or so billion dollar venture rounds Uber will raise in response.</p><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/05/technology/gm-invests-in-lyft.html?_r=0">G.M., Expecting Rapid Change, Invests $500 Million in Lyft</a> [NYT]</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Elon Musk Wants To Punish Volskwagen By Making It Compete With Elon Musk]]></title><description><![CDATA[Another lesson from the Elon Musk "WHAT YOU LOOKING AT?!?!" School of Business Management]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2015/12/elon-musk-punish-volskwagen</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2015/12/elon-musk-punish-volskwagen</guid><category><![CDATA[Silicon Valley]]></category><category><![CDATA[Elon Musk]]></category><category><![CDATA[technology]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[He's Elon Musk and You're Not]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tesla]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Thornton McEnery]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 17 Dec 2015 22:55:23 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Volkswagen is still dealing with the fallout from telling all those fibs about emission testing on its diesel engine cars. While regulators in Europe and Asia have been talking big huge numbers for the fines the German automaker will have to pay, U.S. agencies like the EPA have looked <a href="http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2015/09/volkswagen-fine-more-likely-to-be-3-2b-than-18b.html">a little wishy-washy</a> with what exactly it will do about the whole affair.</p><p> But<a href="https://news.vice.com/article/heres-how-elon-musk-wants-to-punish-volkswagen-for-cheating?utm_source=vicenewstwitter"> according to VICE</a>, a few Silicon Valley energy types have written an open letter to California regulators suggesting a punishment of their own design.</p><blockquote><p><em>A group of green tech investors is urging California regulators to hand down a kind of alternative sentence for auto giant Volkswagen over its effort to dodge pollution controls: Make it build more electric cars.</em><br><em>Rather than devote huge amounts of time and money to fixing the diesel-powered cars implicated in the emissions scandal, the state should require VW "to accelerate greatly its rollout of zero emission vehicles," the financiers wrote in an open letter to the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Not only that, the German automaker should have to produce enough electric cars to reduce tenfold the amount of pollution released by the diesels, they wrote — and it should have to build as many of those cars and batteries in California as possible.</em></p></blockquote><p> Forcing a massive carmaker to build EVs in California? While that is something straight out of a environmentalist revenge porn film script, it also seems unfair to anyone already building them in the state.</p><p> For instance, what's Tesla (<a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=TSLA">TSLA</a>) CEO and Bond villain come-to-life Elon Musk going to say about this idea?</p><blockquote><p><em>In addition to the chiefs of numerous investment funds that are backing low-carbon technologies, the signers of Yadiagaroglu's open letter include Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and electric automaker Tesla</em></p></blockquote><p> That? That right there is some real-deal Elon Musk sh!t, you guys. The <em>good</em> stuff!</p><p><a href="https://news.vice.com/article/heres-how-elon-musk-wants-to-punish-volkswagen-for-cheating?utm_source=vicenewstwitter">Here's How Elon Musk Wants to Punish Volkswagen for Cheating</a> [VICE]</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Morgan Stanley Analyst So Disappointed That Elon Musk Is Such A Total Wuss All Of A Sudden]]></title><description><![CDATA[Adam Jonas just wants things with Elon Musk to feel like they used to.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2015/11/morgan-stanley-analyst-so-disappointed-that-elon-musk-is-such-a-total-wuss-all-of-a-sudden</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2015/11/morgan-stanley-analyst-so-disappointed-that-elon-musk-is-such-a-total-wuss-all-of-a-sudden</guid><category><![CDATA[Morgan Stanley]]></category><category><![CDATA[Tesla]]></category><category><![CDATA[Elon Musk]]></category><category><![CDATA[Adam Jonas]]></category><category><![CDATA[Quarterlies]]></category><category><![CDATA[technology]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Thornton McEnery]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 04 Nov 2015 20:27:52 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Elon Musk is the man who has everything. He's got billions of dollars, his own electric cars, his own niche power concern, even his own rocket ships. And if Elon is honest with himself, he's got his own favorite analyst; Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley.</p><p> The fourth Jonas brother* is Morgan's auto guy and he is thirsty for Tesla. Adam is Tesla's alpha bull and he is super-obsessed with the whole autonomous cars idea.</p><p> But don't take our word for it. Here's Jonas talking to Elon during Tesla's Q2 call in August:</p><blockquote><p><em><strong>Jonas</strong> - Hey, Elon, Deepak. First question, Steve Jurvetson was recently quoted saying that Uber CEO, Travis Kalanick, told him that if, by 2020, Tesla's cars are autonomous, that he'd want to buy all of them. Is this a real – I mean, forget like the 2020 for a moment, but is this a real business opportunity for Tesla, supplying cars to ridesharing firms, or does Tesla just cut out the middleman and sell on-demand electric mobility services directly from the company on its own platform?</em><br><em><strong>Musk</strong> - That's an insightful question.</em><br><em><strong>Jonas</strong> - You don't have to answer it.</em><br><em><strong>Musk</strong> - I think – I don't think I should answer it.</em></p></blockquote><p> As far as Elon and Wall Street analysts go, what you just read is serious flirting.</p><p> Basically, these two just can't get enough of each other. But like any smoldering pair of coquettes, the line between attraction and disgust is thin.</p><p> Here are Jonas and Elon on today's Q3 call:</p><blockquote><p><em><strong>Jonas</strong> - </em>Thanks, everybody. Elon, just thinking longer term here, assuming Tesla establishes itself as a leader in autonomous transport, do you see a business case for selling autonomous cars to ride-sharing firms, or can Tesla cut out the middleman and offer on-demand electric mobility services directly from the company's own platform?<br><em><strong>Musk</strong> - </em>I think we'd have to say, no comment.<br><em><strong>Jonas</strong> - </em>I mean, Elon, it's kind of unusual for you to punt on strategic questions of a long-term nature. Is this a dumb question? Or a funny question?<br><em><strong>Musk</strong> -</em> Actually, I think it's quite a smart question, actually.<br><em><strong>Jonas</strong> - </em>Why – all right.<br><em><strong>Musk</strong> -</em>But still no comment.<br><em><strong>Jonas</strong> - </em>Okay, I won't antagonize. Let's move on. I mean, it's just odd, because you normally are – I've never heard you punt like that. That's all. But any case-<br><em><strong>Musk</strong> - </em>You know...<br><em><strong>Jonas</strong> - </em>Is it because of a competitive sensitivity, or is it because the concept itself is just too... in flux?<br><em><strong>Musk</strong> - </em>I think there's a right time to make announcements. And this is not that time.<br><em><strong>Jonas</strong> - </em>Fair play. All right, can I ask one on Autopilot?<br><em><strong>Musk</strong> - </em>And nor – I mean, nor is our strategy fully baked here. So for us to state what it would be – it's not fully baked, so there's no – we'd prefer to announce something when we think we've got the full story understood.<br><em><strong>Jonas</strong> - </em>So to saying it's not fully baked implies there's something in the oven, but just...<br><em><strong>Musk</strong> - </em>Okay, we kind of need to move on.</p></blockquote><p> Jonas is pretty bummed out that Elon isn't down to play today. You can feel the pathos when Jonas realizes that Elon is going to punt on his question.</p><p><em>His</em> question.</p><p> While this was objectively a low point in Adam and Elon's earnings call relationship, every good rom-com has a big final act. We cannot wait to watch these kids figure it out on Tesla's Q4 call.</p><p> We just love love.</p><p><em>* - We are fact checking this, but it feels right.</em></p><p><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/3406155-tesla-motors-tsla-elon-reeve-musk-on-q2-2015-results-earnings-call-transcript?">Tesla Motors Q2 2015 Results - Earnings Call Transcript</a> [SeekingAlpha]<br><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/3642146-tesla-motors-tsla-elon-reeve-musk-on-q3-2015-results-earnings-call-transcript?">Tesla Motors Q3 2015 Results - Earnings Call Transcript</a> [SeekingAlpha]</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Hedge Funds Weeping In Their Tar Sands]]></title><description><![CDATA[The can't miss trade is...missing, pretty hard.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2015/10/hedge-funds-weeping-in-their-tar-sands</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2015/10/hedge-funds-weeping-in-their-tar-sands</guid><category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hedge Funds]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hedge Funds]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Shazar]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 20 Oct 2015 20:25:47 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> Something like this.</p><p> The <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/amid-slumping-economy-canadas-stephen-harper-braces-for-tight-election-race-1445211094">collapse in oil prices</a> seems to have gone a long way towards <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/follow-live-with-the-globes-federal-election-coverage/article26875323/">turfing Stephen Harper out of a job last night</a> (he went the rest of the way on his own). But the outgoing Canadian prime minister isn’t alone bemoaning crude crisis: Legions of hedge funds were sure they had found the next subprime-mortgages-in-2006 jackpot in the form of energy company debt. At least so far, those bets <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/funds-hot-money-gets-burned-in-energy-trade-1445279458">have proved about as prescient</a> as John Paulson’s sequel to his mortgage mint-making, <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2013/07/paulson-gold-fund-continues-to-build-upside-potential/">gold</a>.</p><blockquote><p>Hedge-fund and private-equity managers over the past year began piling into debt issued by troubled energy companies, hoping to profit off a reversal of oil’s slide. They raised billions of dollars for the effort, in many cases telling backers it was a once-in-a-generation chance to pounce. But crude has continued to fall, slamming the companies and many large investors who thought they had bought in near the bottom….</p><p> “A lot of hot money chased into what we believe are insolvent companies at best,” said Paul Twitchell, partner at hedge-fund firm Whitebox Advisors LLC, which he said steered clear of the trade. “Bonds getting really cheap doesn’t mean they are a good buy.”</p></blockquote><p><a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/funds-hot-money-gets-burned-in-energy-trade-1445279458">For Hedge Funds, a Can’t-Miss Trade Goes Bust</a> [WSJ]</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Hedge Funds Always Knew There Was Some Shady Sh*t Going Down At VW]]></title><description><![CDATA[David Einhorn and Paul Singer were not surprised by the Germans' latest stunt.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2015/09/hedge-funds-always-knew-there-was-some-shady-sht-going-down-at-vw</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2015/09/hedge-funds-always-knew-there-was-some-shady-sht-going-down-at-vw</guid><category><![CDATA[technology]]></category><category><![CDATA[David Einhorn]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[law]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hedge Funds]]></category><category><![CDATA[Paul Singer]]></category><category><![CDATA[Hedge Funds]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Jon Shazar]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2015 16:30:31 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> Well, isn't that interesting?</p><p> Surprised by the news that the Germans were <a href="http://breakingenergy.com/2015/09/22/volkswagen-has-ruined-diesel-for-everybody/">screwing around with emissions results</a>? David Einhorn and Paul Singer aren’t: According to their lengthy litigation, just seven years ago the treacherous Teutons were hiding something else, namely Porsche’s secret acquisition of a majority of Volkswagen shares as part of a failed bid to acquire the company that eventually led to VW buying Porsche so that VW could have a <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-25/vw-appoints-porsche-chief-as-ceo-amid-emissions-cheating-crisis">successor CEO in hand</a> when the current scandal broke. Which secret led to a massive short squeeze and <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2008/10/know-your-porsche-volkswagen-victims/">equally massive losses</a> for Greenlight, Elliott and lots of other hedge funds, and about which the German courts <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/judge-in-germany-dismisses-hedge-fund-suit-against-porsche-holding/?_r=0">could not</a><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-26/porsche-wins-dismissal-of-hedge-fund-appeals-case-court-says">care less</a>.</p><p> Which brings us to last week, and those hedge funds’ big chance to make it all back and really stick it to the Hun while he’s down. Alas, they were apparently a <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/09/25/hedge-funds-frustrated-by-volkswagen-again/">little too shell-shocked to risk getting burned again</a>.</p><blockquote><p>A measure known as utilization – the amount of VW’s shares that have been borrowed as a proportion of shares that are available to borrow – was less than 15% at the start of the week. That had jumped to 27% by Thursday, but by then the shares had already rebounded.</p><p> VW has not been a happy hunting ground for hedge funds, and their chastening experience seven years ago may help explain a reluctance to place bets.</p></blockquote><p><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/09/25/hedge-funds-frustrated-by-volkswagen-again/">Hedge Funds Frustrated By Volkswagen, Again</a> [WSJ MoneyBeat blog]</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Penis-Proud Energy Executive Is In A Bit Of A Pickle Over Blood Diamond Profits]]></title><description><![CDATA[Now here's a guy that knows how to have fun.]]></description><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2015/09/penis-proud-energy-executive-is-in-a-bit-of-a-pickle-over-blood-diamond-profits</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2015/09/penis-proud-energy-executive-is-in-a-bit-of-a-pickle-over-blood-diamond-profits</guid><category><![CDATA[Gary Mole]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Lawsuits]]></category><category><![CDATA[law]]></category><category><![CDATA[Investment]]></category><category><![CDATA[tax evasion]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Thornton McEnery]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2015 20:13:01 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So, this Gary Mole fellow sounds like quite a character.</p><p> For a few years, Mole was the proud owner of a little energy holdings concern called Glacial Energy Holdings. His company is no more but the legacy of Mole's behavior while at the helm lives on.</p><p> For instance, in 2007 Mole went to dinner with his COO at the time, Amparo Gasca, and her husband. According to Gasca - and her lawyers - it did not go so great.</p><blockquote><p><em>Gasca claims that her boss, CEO Gary Mole, asked her to organize a dinner at Americas Restaurant on Post Oak with several work colleagues and their wives in August 2007. At the dinner, Gasca claims Mole got drunk and tried to kiss a male co-worker. When Mole's wife told her husband to stop it, Mole said he wanted to see who was "more of a man" and told the male co-worker to pull down his pants. When the man refused, Mole then pulled down his own pants and made lewd comments.</em></p></blockquote><p> And then there were his weird business travel habits.</p><blockquote><p><em>Four months after the alleged de-pantsing incident, Gasca was staying at a hotel in Massachusetts on business when she got a phone call at 3:30 a.m. It was the front desk, telling her that a drunken Mole was demanding to be let into her room.</em><br><em>The very next morning, Gasca claims, she accidentally left her cell phone in a conference room when she went to the restroom. When she returned, she discovered that Mole and another co-worker were using her phone to "leave sexually explicit and demeaning voicemail messages" to one of Gasca's male friends. When Gasca told them to stop, they did not and left further messages.</em></p></blockquote><p> But according to New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, there was another side to Gary Mole; A blood diamond mine investor/tax evader side.</p><blockquote><p><em>Gary Mole, the onetime owner of now-defunct Glacial Energy Holdings, pleaded not guilty to sidestepping $740,000 in New York state taxes from 2005 to 2009. Albany city court Judge Rachel Kretser set bail at $250,000 and adjourned his case until Oct. 9.</em><br><em>The diversion of profits — from January 2006 through Sept. 8, 2010 — fraudulently lowered Glacial’s tax bill, according to a felony complaint filed in Albany Criminal Court.</em><br><em>Mole went to great lengths to disguise the investments, prosecutors allege.</em><br><em>At different times, Mole classified the corporate cash as his own, listed the Générales des Mines au Congo mine as a consultant and backdated the “consulting agreement” with the mine, also known as Gemico, according to court papers.</em></p></blockquote><p> Wow, that's pretty terrible. Maybe - like finding your dong on a restaurant table or sending filthy voicemails and texts from the wrong phone - it was all just a big misunderstanding.</p><blockquote><p><em>The 51-year-old got so bold in the midst of the alleged scam that he admitted to a banker from whom he was soliciting credit that the money was indeed his — but that shouldn’t be a concern, according to the complaint.</em><br><em>“I take profits, to which I am allowed to do and invest them in Gemico,” Mole wrote in an email included in court papers. “I could have invested them in Las Vegas or Iraq[.] [T]his has nothing to do with Glacial Energy.”</em></p></blockquote><p> Oh.</p><blockquote><p><em>Mole faces 15 years for three counts of criminal tax fraud and three counts of making false filings.</em></p></blockquote><p> But he kept his dick in his pants. That is what some people would call personal growth.</p><p><a href="http://nypost.com/2015/09/24/ex-exec-to-face-charges-for-blood-diamond-tax-fraud/">Alleged penis-measuring exec charged in blood diamond scam</a> [NY Post]</p><p><a href="http://www.houstonpress.com/news/an-actual-alleged-dick-measuring-contest-spawns-lawsuit-6734024">AN ACTUAL (ALLEGED) DICK-MEASURING CONTEST SPAWNS LAWSUIT</a> [HoustonPress]</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Who Wants To Be Bill Ackman's CEO?]]></title><description/><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2010/07/who-wants-to-be-bill-ackmans-ceo</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2010/07/who-wants-to-be-bill-ackmans-ceo</guid><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Pershing Square]]></category><category><![CDATA[Bill Ackman]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bess Levin]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:08:07 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It's not a hedge fund gig, per se, but you will be working directly for the Big Kahuna. Ackman and his wife Karen are looking for someone to run the Pershing Square Charitable Foundation, which has about $55 million in assets and through grants does lots of good stuff for humanity (PSCF has aided farmers in Africa, helped New York high school kids pass the AP exams, etc, etc). Interested? Here's what they're looking for in a CEO:</p><p> * A clear and succinct communicator</p><p> * Someone who is resourceful and results-oriented, rigorous and organized</p><p> * High-energy</p><p> * A laugh-riot (the listing calls for a "sense of humor")</p><p> * Ten years of professional experience and, ideally an MBA or MPP (though if your jokes are really killing certain things can be overlooked).</p><p> Salary is not mentioned but David Einhorn apparently pays his foundation's CEO about $190,000/year so it'll probably be along those lines. And of course, something to think about is that, due to the sensitivity of this kind of work, it's probably something of a prerequisite that you be someone who isn't made uncomfortable by the sight of <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2010/05/pershing-square-has-an-official-rule-about-kicking-people-in-the-nuts/">male tears</a> (<a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2009/06/bill-ackman-on-why-he-teared-up-during-last-weeks-target-shareholder-meeting/">Unevolved <em>Times</em> writers</a> need not apply!)</p><p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2312630320100723">Pershing's Ackman Seeks Charity CEO</a> [Reuters]</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Prop Cuts Going Down Circa Now At JPMorgan?]]></title><description/><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2010/07/prop-cuts-going-down-circa-now-at-jpmorgan</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2010/07/prop-cuts-going-down-circa-now-at-jpmorgan</guid><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Layoffs]]></category><category><![CDATA[JPMorgan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Jamie Dimon]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bess Levin]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:31:35 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The House of Dimon has allegedly begun "swinging the ax on prop traders, starting with energy group" with "around 40 people gone so far."</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Vikram Pandit: HAPPY. AS. A. CLAM]]></title><description/><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2010/04/vikram-pandit-happy-as-a-clam</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2010/04/vikram-pandit-happy-as-a-clam</guid><category><![CDATA[Citi]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><category><![CDATA[Vikram Pandit]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bess Levin]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:30:54 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When Vikram Pandit first joined Citi, he was a happy, smiley Uncle Vik. And why shouldn't he have been? The bank had just laid out hundreds of millions of dollars to land him and he was thisclose to buying <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2007/09/citigroup-hedge-head-untroubled-by-losses-takes-odd-couple-fetish-one-step-further/">Tony Randall's apartment</a>. Plus, he's just always had a sunny disposition. </p><p> Despite the fact that that his hedge fund was eventually put out to pasture after its all-too-short two years of (mis)managing money, and a precipitously falling stock price, <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2008/04/in-other-news-citi-plans-to-rename-its-quarterly-conference-call-with-analysts-to-lil-viks-happy-talk/">nothing could get him down</a>. As time went on though, they started to break him. A certain analyst made a habit of hiding in his closet, waiting 'til he fell asleep and then popping out, tying him up and shoving a sock in his mouth. Jamie Dimon called him a "jerk" on a conference call. The government outfitted him with an ankle monitoring bracelet and a boot up the ass. Citi was removed from the Dow. He made a promise not to take more than a $1 salary per year and who knew when the Christ that was going to happen. <em>He was told he couldn't have a Zen Garden</em>. It was all too much to bear and Vickles had a major case of the sads. He lost weight. And because he lost weight he was forced to close his Tickle a Vickle booth in the office on Park (people don’t wait in line for hours to Tickle an anorexic Vickle). The whole thing was depressing to watch, let alone experience personally and we spent a good deal of time wondering if we'd ever have the old Vik back. It seemed unlikely. Today though?<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/business/06citi.html?src=sch&pagewanted=all"> JOYOUS NEWS TO THE CONTRARY</a>.</p><blockquote><p>Some of Mr. Pandit’s most trusted advisers notice a new bounce in his step and say he is more energetic at meetings.</p></blockquote><p> He's back baby! First comes the bounce in the step, then comes the bounce in the belly, and I for one could not be more elated. Ours is not to question why but since we're here and all, what the heck. Why is Vikram happy again?</p><p> * <em>Odd Couple</em> reunion tour</p><p> * He's been getting laid</p><p> * Because of the whole government removing its foot from his ass situation</p><p> * Because "he sees the day when he is going to earn more than a $1 a year," according to a top lieutenant (who also VP "has a smile on his face" and "is looking and sounding a lot more confident and secure"</p><p> * Pony rides with the Prince</p><p> * It was hinted there could be a garden of zen in the works</p><p> * Wildcard</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Houston Investment Bank Skeptical Of Cash Money Records Founders' Foray Into Energy Business]]></title><description/><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2010/02/houston-investment-bank-skeptical-of-cash-money-records-founders-foray-into-energy-business</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2010/02/houston-investment-bank-skeptical-of-cash-money-records-founders-foray-into-energy-business</guid><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Oil]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Bess Levin]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:44:34 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As noted <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2010/02/write-offs-020810.php">earlier this week</a>, Cash Money Records founders (and brothers) Bryan "Birdman" Williams and Ronald "Slim" Williams are trying their hands at the energy business, with the launch of Bronald Oil & Gas LLC (Bronald = Br(yan) + (R)onald). This has prompted some haters to <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=awQzRIHP_ZPw&pos=12">wonder aloud</a> whether or not this is some sort of sign.</p><blockquote><p>[The Wiliams'] foray into energy with Bronald prompted Houston investment bank Tudor Pickering Holt & Co. to quip that this may be a sign of the end of an oil-market rally.<br> "Doctors and dentists investing in oil wells was sign of top in 1980s," the bank said last week in a note to clients. "Rappers the sign this cycle?" </p></blockquote><p> First off, how dare you. Second, this:</p><blockquote><p>BallerStatus.com, a site dedicated to "urban lifestyle," noted Bryan Williams' tattoo: "Birdman even has a tattoo-- an oil well-- in celebration of the new venture, so it looks like he's serious about it." </p></blockquote><p> No further questions.<br> Related: <a href="https://dealbreaker.com/2009/09/warren-g-calls-bottom-disagree.php">Warren G Calls Bottom, Disagrees With John Paulson's Assesment Of Citi</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Is Energy The Next Bubble?]]></title><description/><link>https://dealbreaker.com/2008/03/is-energy-the-next-bubble</link><guid isPermaLink="true">https://dealbreaker.com/2008/03/is-energy-the-next-bubble</guid><category><![CDATA[bubbles]]></category><category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category><category><![CDATA[Federal Reserve]]></category><category><![CDATA[News]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[John Carney]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:52:21 GMT</pubDate><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The Fed has massively cut rates over the last six months or so. The last time we had massive Fed easing, in the wake of 9/11, we wound up with the housing bubble. The time before that, when the Fed eased to pull us out of the recession of the early nineties, we wound up with the internet bubble.<br> So, of course, the natural question is where the next bubble will be. We've got strong inclinations to say energy, if only because the talk of rising global energy demand reminds us a bit too much of the talk of rising broadband demand we heard in the late nineties. Eventually the demand caught up with supply, but only after years of over-supply.</p>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>