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Ouch
Another smooth move from the New York Times. Oops!
Editors’ Note: May 9, 2006
An article in Business Day yesterday described the start of a search by the Forbes publishing family to bring investors into its company. In preparing the article, The Times’s writer consulted an online report from The Independent on Sunday, a British newspaper, which [...]
Buffett on Japan
WSJ notes Warren Buffett’s growing interest in international companies, including (gasp!) Japan:
Mr. Buffett said he hopes to buy whole companies someday in Japan. “I think we could very well have something offered to us in Japan because you do have a number of significant businesses,” he said, adding “it’s not a low probability.” He said [...]
Borderless Buffett II
Bloomberg reports:
Buffett, Berkshire’s chairman and chief executive officer, told investors at the company’s annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, that the $4 billion purchase of most of Israel-based toolmaker Iscar Metalworking Cos. represents another way of “mitigating” a fall in the dollar…
… “Buffett’s saying, `There’s no point in playing a weaker- dollar strategy in the currency [...]
Deal or No Deal?
This might be the strangest lead paragraph I’ve ever seen:
May 6 (Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett, aiming to find a more profitable use for Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s $42.9 billion in cash holdings, said he’s working on a $15 billion acquisition. He added that the deal probably won’t come to fruition.
What on earth does this mean? Maybe [...]
Buffett Goes Borderless
After all that speculation about various U.S. takeover targets, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is buying 80% of Iscar Metalworking Cos, an Israeli firm. In WSJ, the Sage of Omaha says:
“We are delighted to partner with the Wertheimer family and IMC’s current management, led by Eitan Wertheimer and Jacob Harpaz,” Mr. Buffett said in a statement. [...]
International funds=yes, Commodity funds=no
Two interesting points from Morningstar’s Christine Benz who was just interviewed on CNBC.
First, she noted that the recent slew of new commodity-related ETFs is reminiscent of the launch of technology funds at the height of the bubble in the 1990s. I couldn’t agree more.
Second, the strong recent inflows into international stock funds appear to [...]
Lou’s Lessons
Plenty has already been written today in memory of Louis Rukeyser and I’m sure there will be a lot more tomorrow. I’m going to limit my thoughts to the top three things that I learned from watching Wall $treet Week. I can’t say that the show made me want to become a financial journalist, but [...]
Blame Game
From the chatter on CNBC this morning, it seems like Ben Bernanke is getting most of the heat for not being as press-savvy or as “street smart” as his predecessor. This is nonsense. Ben can–and certainly will–improve in this area as time goes on.
Whispering things in Maria Bartiromo’s ear at a press dinner may [...]
Bolivia’s Blunder
FT’s Lex Live puts Bolivia’s gas nationalization in perspective:
The biggest loser, therefore, is probably Bolivia itself. Foreign capital and expertise have underpinned the seven-fold increase in the country’s gas reserves since 1997. Neither Venezuela since 2002’s strikes, nor Iran since its 1979 revolution, have regained pre-disruption production levels. Mr Morales may have one eye on [...]
Express Yourself
Ever wonder why ringtones are so popular in China? Reuters explains why here:
“Ringback tones are more popular in … China than in Western countries because, to a certain extent, they … provide a chance for people to express their personality freely,” said Alina Zhang, an analyst with UOB-Kay Hian in Shanghai.
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