Opening Bell: 3.30.15
How DIY Bond Traders Displaced Wall Street’s Hot Shot Bond Dealers (Bloomberg)
The bond dealers who defined Wall Street success in the ’80s -- and who were immortalized by Tom Wolfe in his best-selling novel -- seem to be losing power by the day. In their place are money managers like Mark Macqueen, who are assuming a larger role in the market for U.S. government debt as traditional dealers pull back. The development is not only shifting the balance of power in the world’s largest government bond market, but also making trading Treasuries more difficult for everyone. Macqueen used to be able to trade $40 million of Treasuries by calling one dealer. Now, he must spread out orders in small chunks across an array of electronic platforms and wait for a dealer to bite.
Juror in gender lawsuit sympathized with Pao, sided with Kleiner (Reuters)
Sympathetic to Pao in many areas, Malone, who designs technology allowing users to interact with apps and websites, said she herself felt she reached a "glass ceiling" when she worked at Yahoo Inc years ago...Ultimately, what Malone saw as an environment that was sometimes difficult for women was not enough to sway her on the merits of Pao's specific case against Kleiner. "The environment definitely is biased against women in technology, and venture capital is even worse," said Malone, but "I didn't find her as credible as she should have been."
Blackstone CEO Sees ‘Remarkable’ Opportunities in Slumping Oil (Bloomberg)
Most of the New York-based private equity firm’s energy investments aren’t in oil, meaning its exposure to lower oil prices is limited, Schwarzman said in an interview on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia with Bloomberg Television on Saturday. Schwarzman, who is also chief executive officer of Blackstone, didn’t elaborate on specific energy investments.
In Silicon Valley, Auto Racing Becomes a Favorite Hobby for Tech Elites (Dealbook)
Over the last year or so, racing seems to have become the Valley’s “it” hobby. There are informal groups of drivers at Apple, Facebook and Google who get together to rent out local tracks. As a reporter who covers the industry, I’ve received three separate invitations from sources in the past few months. “By the way, are you into cars?” they’ll say. “Ever gone out on a track?”
David Hasselhoff: 'I Didn't Invent The Hoff' (Yahoo)
Q: Now are you really going to be cleaning people's homes [as part of your partnership with Clorox]? A: Yeah, I think that’s hysterical. I’ve done this before where I just knock on people's doors and they open the door and I go, "Hi! It's The Hoff! I’m here to help you clean. You want some help?" It's just really fun. I’ve been doing that basically all my life. I actually started when I was literally jogging in the Bahamas. A lady came out to get her mail and she said, "Oh, it's Knight Rider!" I said, "How are you? Got anything to drink in there? It's so hot here in the Bahamas." "Come on in, Knight Rider. Come on in!" Next thing I know, I’m in their house, her whole family comes home, the kids come home from school, it's just the loveliest family from the Bahamas and I ended up [going out that night] with the daughter to the blackest club ever. You know, I can get myself into any situation. Q: A lot of celebrities are doing the self-deprecating thing, but I feel like you were one of the first people who was willing to joke about yourself. A: I didn’t invent The Hoff, The Hoff was invented by some secretaries in Australia and then they made all these jokes about, you know, Hasselhoff and "Hoffalicious" and "Hoff-crazy." And so I went down to Australia and they thought I would be offended and I wore a T-shirt that said "Don’t Hassle The Hoff." Bam! This brand has just taken off.
Dow Chemical to Merge Unit With Olin (Dealbook)
Dow Chemical on Friday took another step to streamline itself in the face of pressure from the activist investor Daniel S. Loeb, agreeing to separate its chlorine business and merge it with the Olin Corporation, another chemical company. The deal will deliver about $5 billion to Dow, including about $2 billion in cash, and it is structured as a tax-efficient Reverse Morris Trust transaction. The enlarged Olin will have revenue of about $7 billion. The shedding of another big Dow business comes just months after the big chemical company agreed to add four new independent directors to its board. That was a breakthrough in what until late November had been an escalating fight between Dow and Third Point, the hedge fund run by Mr. Loeb.
Yahoo!’s Mayer trying to appease activists (NYP)
“She is very worried about the activists assembling a slate,” a source said. Yahoo! has been under pressure from Starboard Value, which has sent Mayer a string of critical letters. She’s “100 percent focused on revenue” and is making sure the quarter-to-quarter numbers look the best they can, sources tell On the Money.
Pershing Square Said Near Deal to Move to New NYC Tower (Bloomberg)
Pershing Square would take about 49,000 square feet (4,550 square meters) for offices on the 34th and 35th floors, as well as lease space in the basement for a gym, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the discussions are private.
After ABN Amro Forgoes Raises, I.P.O. May Go Ahead (Dealbook)
The Dutch government will reconsider selling off ABN Amro, the finance minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, said on Sunday, after senior managers agreed to give up an increase in pay that had stalled progress on the state-owned lender’s proposed share listing. In the face of a widespread public outcry, the managers said on Sunday that they would forgo raises of 100,000 euros ($110,000) each, which had been approved by the supervisory board for six members of the managing board, though not for the bank’s chief executive, Gerrit Zalm.
Lobbyist Says Roundup is safe -- but refuses to drink it (UPI)
Lobbyist Patrick Moore told a French TV interviewer Monsanto's Roundup weed killer is safe to drink -- but he subsequently declined an offered glass. Moore told an interviewer for French station Canal+ that glysophate, the active ingredient in Roundup, is not responsible for rising cancer rates in Argentina. The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer announced last week the results of a study that concluded the chemical is "probably carcinogenic to humans." Moore countered the chemical is not harmful, even when directly ingested. "You can drink a whole quart of it and it won't hurt you," he said. Moore balked, however, when the interviewer offered him a glass of Roundup and asked if he would drink it. "I'm not stupid," Moore said, before again saying the product is "not dangerous to humans." Moore said people who "try to commit suicide" by drinking the herbicide "fail regularly."