Facebook Sets Stage for IPO Next Year [WSJ]
Facebook Inc., one of the world’s hottest technology companies, gave the clearest sign yet that it is preparing to take itself public sometime next year, as it revealed new details in a 100-page document sent to a select group of potential investors. Facebook, of Palo Alto, Calif., said it plans to increase its number of shareholders above 500 this year, according to the private-placement document, forcing the social-networking company to begin disclosing reams of financial information or go public by April 2012.
U.S. Adds 103,000 Jobs in December, Unemployment at 9.4% [Bloomberg]
Employers added fewer jobs than forecast in December and the unemployment rate dropped to 9.4 percent, a sign a labor-market recovery will take time to develop. Payrolls increased 103,000, compared with the median forecast of 150,000 in a Bloomberg News survey, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Employment the previous two months increased more than previously estimated. The jobless rate fell to the lowest level since May 2009, reflecting gains in jobs and fewer people in the labor force.
PwC Prevails In Decision On AIG “In Pari Delicto” Case [Re:The Auditors]
Delaware follows New York’s lead.
New top tax man [FT]
Andrew Hodge takes over for David Sproul as partner in charge of tax in the UK. Sproul was announced mid-last year as the new CEO of the UK firm, and Hodge is definitely aware of the timing telling the FT, “He gets six months [to prepare] and I got six days over Christmas.” Reportedly, Hodge was joking but seriously, how could you not be annoyed.
Top Ten Ways to Blow a Job Interview [FINS]
Since you don’t want the job in the first place.
Should Faculty Live With Their Students? [TaxProf Blog]
Tim Pearson, an associate professor of accounting and chair of that department, has been the resident faculty leader at West Virginia’s Brooke Tower for 11 years. He and his wife, Lori, (who serves as co-faculty leader with Pearson), along with their children and dog, live in a townhouse about 100 feet from Brooke in exchange for a lighter teaching load, reduced service commitments and a $15,000 stipend. Pearson, now 53, said he initially became intrigued by the idea of living on campus after he received tenure, and he and a colleague were lamenting the motivation of their students.
IRS Raises Alarm Over Complexity Of The Tax Code [Forbes]
TaxVox’s Howard Gleckman over at Forbes, “Each year for the past decade, Nina Olsen, the National Taxpayer Advocate at the Internal Revenue Service, has issued a report to Congress on the most serious problems facing taxpayers. She usually focuses on individual provisions of the code, such as the Alternative Minimum Tax, or vexing tax administration problems. This year, Nina reached a quite different conclusion: The most serious problem encountered by taxpayers is … the Tax Code. The whole damn thing.”
IRS takes interest in sex industry plus cabbies linked to it [LVRJ]
Pimps need to pay their fair share too.
Judge postpones Allen Stanford’s trial [Reuters]
A federal judge on Thursday postponed Allen Stanford’s criminal trial because the accused swindler needs to be weaned off an anti-anxiety drug prescribed for him in prison and undergo more tests to determine competency. The trial was originally due to start January 24, but Stanford’s lawyers argued their client could not adequately prepare because he suffers from depression and is addicted to a powerful anti-anxiety drug that has left him mentally foggy.