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16 Nov 2010 20:06

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Biz: Bailout blossoming: GM’s pending IPO quickly growing ever-larger

  • 30% the increase in the total size of GM’s post-bailout IPO tomorrow
  • 478M number of shares to be offered to investors; more could be offered
  • $22.6B the potential size of the IPO, which would be the biggest ever source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Nov 2010 11:17

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Biz: Yuengling Beer: Keeping it in the family, keeping it regional

  • You don’t want to just go out there and throw beer into a marketplace and hope you succeed, because it’s a formula for failure, in our opinion.
  • Dick Yuengling • Explaining why his family’s very popular beer, known all along the East Coast, hasn’t gone national yet, and doesn’t look like it’s going to. All you crazy cats in California are missing out, because it’s widely distributed over here to the point that that it’s a very common (and very good) alternative to your standard Budweiser product. That’s not to say it’s not expanding greatly – it is – but it has a major difference between your Budweiser and Miller beers. See, it’s American-owned – and family owned – still. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

16 Nov 2010 10:19

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Biz: Wal-Mart makes big profit jump, but U.S. stores struggle

  • $3.44 billion in Wal-Mart profits in the 3rd quarter alone
  • +9.3% Wal-Mart’s overall gain in third-quarter profit
  • -1.3% the decine at U.S. stores open one year or more
  • +7.9% the increase in profits at international stores source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Nov 2010 11:11

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Biz, Tech: Microsoft sells crapload of Xbox Kinect units right off the bat

  • 1.3
    million     number of Kinect accessory units Microsoft has sold worldwide in only ten days (not bad)
  • $250
    million     amount in revenue that breaks down to, meaning Microsoft already has a huge hit on its hands source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Nov 2010 10:12

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Biz: Retail sales make big leap last month, thanks to auto sales rebound

  • 1.2% the increase in retail sales in October, the largest leap in seven months, much of it due to the improving auto market of late
  • four number of consecutive months of retail improvements; this month’s jump more than doubled analyst expectations source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2010 20:17

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Biz: College presidents make bank: Millionaires common among ranks

  • 30 college presidents made over $1 million in pay in calendar year 2008, in the wake of the evil recession
  • $4.8M the highest payout among any president, which went to Touro College’s now-deceased founder Bernard Lander
  • three of the eight Ivy League schools paid their president over $1 million; all eight paid over $650,000 that year  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Nov 2010 11:11

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Biz, World: Ireland getting peer pressure to take bailouts to ease debt

  • Anyone know where Ireland can find 15 billion euros by Tuesday? The country of potato bread and U2 (to grossly oversimplify) needs some extra money to allay fears of other, fiscally stronger European countries, such as Germany, as well as to calm local markets, which went haywire on Friday on debt concerns. Ireland denies the need for an immediate bailout (despite a banking system in tatters), but outside sources, such as Barclay’s Capital, suggest that the country could need €80 billion (or $110 billion) in bailouts between 2011 and 2013. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that political needs (including her own) may be in play. “There may be a conflict here between the interests of the financial world and the interests of politicians,” she said. One source suggests the possibility of an Irish default could hurt her crisis-resolution plans. Meanwhile, Ireland plans to release a budget next month it hopes will ease debt concerns. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

14 Nov 2010 01:18

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Biz: Auction of Bernard Madoff’s personal effects = $2 million

  • Three words: Bernard Madoff’s undies, last in the public eye when he crapped his pants after finally getting caught about two years ago. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Nov 2010 14:37

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Biz: Newsweek/Daily Beast merger: “like a bad Nora Ephron movie” if it fails

  • Married people disagree all the time. One of them walks out of the room and says, ‘Never talk to me again.’ Then they sleep it off and one sends the other flowers. We realized that there was much more that connected us than separated us.
  • Newsweek owner Sidney Harman  • Explaining the dynamic between the ownership of his Newsweek and that of the Barry Diller-owned Daily Beast. One anonymous source described the potential failure of the collaboration being “like a bad Nora Ephron movie.” Will the collaboration turn out like “Sleepless in Seattle,” “You’ve Got Mail,” or “Bewitched”? All we know is that we’ll have what they’re having.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Nov 2010 20:55

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Biz: Newsweek’s Daily Beast merger: Two money-losers, one with momentum

  • $10M the amount The Daily Beast is on track to lose this year; it’s relatively new, so that’s not bad
  • $20M the amount Newsweek is on track to lose; it’s been bleeding for a long freaking time
  • $1 the amount Sidney Harman spent to buy Newsweek; he also took on all its debt source
  • » Is this a deal just to get Tina Brown? It wouldn’t be unprecedented. See, Brown, a longtime magazine editor for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, has the chops to help make Newsweek a success again, and Barry Diller’s Daily Beast, while growing at a nice clip (5 million online readers a month, which means that nowadays, it’s probably read about as widely as Newsweek, which sells 1.6 million print copies – significantly down from just a year ago), probably needs a print component to anchor its Web efforts and ensure profitability. And plus, NBC Universal bought Barry Diller’s USA Network back in 2001 basically to get Diller.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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