What should Apple (AAPL) do with its $97B in cash? Erick Schonfeld thinks spending a chunk of it to obtain a la carte streaming rights for first-run TV shows and movies would make sense. Apple has reportedly struggled to secure premium content for its TV initiative, due to Hollywood's unwillingness to play ball. It has also been reported that Apple is looking to purchase licensing rights for the English Premier League. [View news story]
BP (BP) will likely agree to pay the Justice Department $20B-25B to settle all criminal and civil charges related to the Deepwater Horizon spill, according to leading industry analyst Martijn Rats. In a research note, Rats pegs a 70-80% chance the company will reach a settlement between BP's FY results on Feb. 7 and the start of legal hearings on Feb. 27. [View news story]
I love it when criminal charges can be settled with a fine. Ahh. To be a corporation . . . If only us real people had the rights and options available to corporations. If only the Supreme Court would rule that people are corporations, and had the same rights as corporations. We can only dream.
Citing attorney-client privilege, MF Global's bankruptcy trustee, Louis Freeh, is declining to provide documents to investigators trying to find out what happened to $1.2B in missing cash. The dispute is one of several among the various entities investigating MF's collapse and handling the unwinding of the company. [View news story]
Isn't that exactly what subpoenas are for? Demanding production of relevant evidence once there is probable cause to suspect that the documents contain relevant information? Or is this another case of a corporation having much greater rights than individuals?
Turns out the New York Times (NYT) actually did send out the message it told everyone to ignore. The Times thought it was sending an email to a few hundred people who had recently canceled subscriptions, offering them a 50% discount to lure them back, but instead the offer went to 8.6M addresses. An easy mistake, or "bad digital strategy" run amok? [View news story]
I found the email in my GMail spam folder. This means that the NYT was able to contact Google, tell them the email went out by mistake, and asked them to classify it as spam. Google must have gone along with this, or I can't think of any other reason that the email got moved to my spam folder after it announced itself to me via Google Notifier, but before I went to look for it. Very interesting. Google basically allowed the NYT to "recall" an email they sent out! Cool!
The DOJ files charges against eight former Siemens (SI) execs and contractors for conspiring to pay over $100M in bribes to "high-level Argentine officials" in order to secure a $1B contract. Those indicted include an ex-managing board member, a position just below CEO in rank. The SEC has also filed charges in the case. [View news story]
Argentinian officials will not be charged. No one will admit guilt. The records will be sealed. Some other foreign company will end up getting the contracts. Who-hoo!
The U.S. stands to become a net exporter of petroleum products for the first time in 62 years after increased demand from emerging markets and a falloff in domestic activity shifted the tide. According to data from the DOE, the U.S. took in 689.4M barrels of gasoline, diesel and other oil-based fuels over the first 9 months of the year - while sending 753.4M barrels overseas. [View news story]
So you believe that we will fail to bring other less costly sources of energy on-line before we run out of oil & nat gas? I hope you are wrong, but if you're right that's the strategy.
Long and wrong on the financials in 2011, Dick Bove pens a letter discussing his mistakes. Turns out he didn't make many, it's just that investors have yet to see the light. He remains wildly bullish on the big banks. Wall Street's a big industry, are there any other bank analysts? [View news story]
You only have to make one mistake to be wrong. You can't make any to be right. (Assuming right and wrong are measured by making or losing money). The market is a cruel mistress Dick. If you can't predict the actions of the lemmings - you will be WRONG!
Reviewers are generally raving about Samsung's (SSNLF.PK) Galaxy Nexus, the first smartphone to run on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The Verge gives it a score of 8.6/10, while Engadget calls it "possibly ... the best phone available today, period." Apple (AAPL) won't be pleased to hear that, even if the Galaxy Nexus' large form factor is likely to keep some iPhone users from jumping ship. (also) [View news story]
Also keeping people from "jumping ship": All the phone makers are constantly releasing new and better models. What's keeping people from jumping ship is the small amount of wisdom it takes to realize that the Samsung phone will only be the "best phone available today" for as long as "today" lasts...
More on corporate buybacks (previous): A real sticking point for the anti-buyback crowd is the conflict of interest presented when an exec is offered a bonus for meeting an EPS goal. The problem? With a buyback sleight-of-hand execs are often able to realize a large bonus - despite a poor stock performance - because their financial target isn't adjusted to reflect the new number of shares. [View news story]
Yeah. Apparently that little calculation is way beyond the math skills of the average member of the Compensation Committee. If only they realized that it would actually simplify the math if they just dropped the "per share" so they look at "E" instead of "EPS". Too hard for them.
Robots and space elevators are among 100 "shoot-for-the-stars" ideas being developed at Google X (GOOG), a lab in the tradition of Xerox's (XRX) PARC but so secret that only a small number of employees and the NYT know about its work. Sergey Brin is heavily involved in the lab, which hopes to release one product by the end of the year. [View news story]
So secret that only the NYT knows? Must be some new definition of the word "secret" with which I am not familiar.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) says it's keeping its PC division after all, because it would cost more to spin it off. Turns out that the operation is more tightly integrated into functional divisions like IT and the supply chain than realized. [View news story]
Good thing they figured that out well in advance of making any decision to spin it off. I guess that new CEO sees things the Board of Directors missed in its prior review of this decision. It's always good to hear that the leaders of a company are still "realizing" things about their business. Someday they'll become experts in the field of running a tech company. When that happens the competition better look out!
The FAA wants airlines to check their Boeing 757 (BA) jets for corrosion on movable tail parts, which, if left alone, could cause pilots to lose control of their aircraft. The proposal would affect over 700 planes at U.S. carriers and hundreds more at foreign airlines. [View news story]
You mean they have not been checking the movable parts of the tail until now? This may be an example of the evils of regulation. When regs exist, the temptation is to treat them as the minimum you can get away with. So, if there is a list of things you have to check, why spend resources checking anything beyond the list. As long as you follow the regs, you're relatively free(er) of liability. Nah. I don't believe that.
Wal-Mart (WMT) will resume operations at its Chongqing stores after a two-week shutdown tied to labeling of its pork products. The cost of business in China for WMT: A $3.65M yuan fine ($572K); employees arrested; public apologies; executive resignations. [View news story]
The Chinese are doing pretty good at the game of Capitalism/Free Market, but they have not yet figured out that criminal activity at corporations should be ignored and brushed under the table. Give them time...
Samsung (SSNLF.PK) and Google (GOOG) unveil their Galaxy Nexus smartphone, which includes facial recognition for unlocking the device. The Nexus also runs on the latter's latest "Ice Cream Sandwich" software, an Android platform that, like Apple's iOS (AAPL), can run on tablets and smartphones. [View news story]
So I'll be able to unlock my girlfriends' phone with a small picture of her? Cool! Gotta love security features that don't require the owner to actually DO anything, and don't allow the use of any "secrets" (like passwords). funny
Anadarko (APC) agrees to pay BP (BP) $4B to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. However, Anadarko may have got off lightly given that it had a 25% share in the well that caused the disaster. With BP pegging total costs at $42B, Anadarko could have faced a potential bill of around $10B. (PR) [View news story]
This tells me that BP knows it will not end up really having to clean up the Gulf. They are betting on a Republican victory next election, and are just slow-rolling the effort until then. Smart.
What should Apple (AAPL) do with its $97B in cash? Erick Schonfeld thinks spending a chunk of it to obtain a la carte streaming rights for first-run TV shows and movies would make sense. Apple has reportedly struggled to secure premium content for its TV initiative, due to Hollywood's unwillingness to play ball. It has also been reported that Apple is looking to purchase licensing rights for the English Premier League. [View news story]
BP (BP) will likely agree to pay the Justice Department $20B-25B to settle all criminal and civil charges related to the Deepwater Horizon spill, according to leading industry analyst Martijn Rats. In a research note, Rats pegs a 70-80% chance the company will reach a settlement between BP's FY results on Feb. 7 and the start of legal hearings on Feb. 27. [View news story]
Citing attorney-client privilege, MF Global's bankruptcy trustee, Louis Freeh, is declining to provide documents to investigators trying to find out what happened to $1.2B in missing cash. The dispute is one of several among the various entities investigating MF's collapse and handling the unwinding of the company. [View news story]
Turns out the New York Times (NYT) actually did send out the message it told everyone to ignore. The Times thought it was sending an email to a few hundred people who had recently canceled subscriptions, offering them a 50% discount to lure them back, but instead the offer went to 8.6M addresses. An easy mistake, or "bad digital strategy" run amok? [View news story]
The DOJ files charges against eight former Siemens (SI) execs and contractors for conspiring to pay over $100M in bribes to "high-level Argentine officials" in order to secure a $1B contract. Those indicted include an ex-managing board member, a position just below CEO in rank. The SEC has also filed charges in the case. [View news story]
The U.S. stands to become a net exporter of petroleum products for the first time in 62 years after increased demand from emerging markets and a falloff in domestic activity shifted the tide. According to data from the DOE, the U.S. took in 689.4M barrels of gasoline, diesel and other oil-based fuels over the first 9 months of the year - while sending 753.4M barrels overseas. [View news story]
Long and wrong on the financials in 2011, Dick Bove pens a letter discussing his mistakes. Turns out he didn't make many, it's just that investors have yet to see the light. He remains wildly bullish on the big banks. Wall Street's a big industry, are there any other bank analysts? [View news story]
Reviewers are generally raving about Samsung's (SSNLF.PK) Galaxy Nexus, the first smartphone to run on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The Verge gives it a score of 8.6/10, while Engadget calls it "possibly ... the best phone available today, period." Apple (AAPL) won't be pleased to hear that, even if the Galaxy Nexus' large form factor is likely to keep some iPhone users from jumping ship. (also) [View news story]
More on corporate buybacks (previous): A real sticking point for the anti-buyback crowd is the conflict of interest presented when an exec is offered a bonus for meeting an EPS goal. The problem? With a buyback sleight-of-hand execs are often able to realize a large bonus - despite a poor stock performance - because their financial target isn't adjusted to reflect the new number of shares. [View news story]
Robots and space elevators are among 100 "shoot-for-the-stars" ideas being developed at Google X (GOOG), a lab in the tradition of Xerox's (XRX) PARC but so secret that only a small number of employees and the NYT know about its work. Sergey Brin is heavily involved in the lab, which hopes to release one product by the end of the year. [View news story]
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) says it's keeping its PC division after all, because it would cost more to spin it off. Turns out that the operation is more tightly integrated into functional divisions like IT and the supply chain than realized. [View news story]
The FAA wants airlines to check their Boeing 757 (BA) jets for corrosion on movable tail parts, which, if left alone, could cause pilots to lose control of their aircraft. The proposal would affect over 700 planes at U.S. carriers and hundreds more at foreign airlines. [View news story]
Wal-Mart (WMT) will resume operations at its Chongqing stores after a two-week shutdown tied to labeling of its pork products. The cost of business in China for WMT: A $3.65M yuan fine ($572K); employees arrested; public apologies; executive resignations. [View news story]
Samsung (SSNLF.PK) and Google (GOOG) unveil their Galaxy Nexus smartphone, which includes facial recognition for unlocking the device. The Nexus also runs on the latter's latest "Ice Cream Sandwich" software, an Android platform that, like Apple's iOS (AAPL), can run on tablets and smartphones. [View news story]
Anadarko (APC) agrees to pay BP (BP) $4B to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. However, Anadarko may have got off lightly given that it had a 25% share in the well that caused the disaster. With BP pegging total costs at $42B, Anadarko could have faced a potential bill of around $10B. (PR) [View news story]