Renouncing Partnership Structure, Kinder Morgan to Reorganize as Single Corporation [DealBook]
The Master Limited Partnership is going out of vogue at Kinder Morgan: "Kinder Morgan, which encompasses a huge network of oil and gas pipelines across North America, will acquire its three associated companies and reorganize as one corporation based in Houston. The new Kinder Morgan will have an estimated enterprise value of about $140 billion — $100 billion of market value and $40 billion of debt — making it the third-largest energy company in the United States, after Exxon and Chevron. 'This simplifies the structure and will allow us to get to this turbocharged growth,' Richard D. Kinder, chief executive and co-founder of Kinder Morgan, said in an interview."
The Proper Care and Feeding of Your Spoiled 23-Year-Old [Bloomberg]
Your tax planning is enabling! "Most parents want their kids to become successful, self-sufficient adults. But smart tax planning can sabotage good parenting. To avoid the estate tax, the wealthy are told they can and should give their children $14,000, or $28,000 per couple, each year, which they're allowed to do tax-free. That's hardly enough to retire on, but it's a cushion most people don't have. Young wealthy adults may go from job to job as they seek their "passion" without putting in the hard work to actually get anywhere."
It only took $220k in expenses without receipts to get to this point: "A consulting firm hired to conduct an efficiency review of Iowa’s public universities will start providing receipts for expenses including meals, travel, and lodging after the Board of Regents allowed the firm to expense $220,273 to the universities without receipts. The move comes after The Gazette reported earlier this week about the lack of receipts and concerns from at least one regent about transparency. Board President Bruce Rastetter said during a meeting Wednesday the state’s contract with Deloitte Consulting LLP, including its absence of a requirement for expense receipts, is typical for the industry and similar projects. But he and Regent Larry McKibben have asked Deloitte officials to provide any past receipts they can and to start providing documentation going forward."
Scott Adair, President of New York State Society of CPAs, didn't appreciate the sentiment: "If President Obama wants to point fingers, perhaps he should point them at Congress for creating the very loopholes he vilifies. Sustainable corporate tax reform is the elephant in this room.”
Pay Surges for Bank CFOs [CFO]
Median compensation went up 13% in 2013.
Save Your Next Staff Meeting From Itself [HBR]
If your people are getting other work done in your meeting, that might be a bad sign: "While many leaders see staff meetings as vital to the success of their organization, most employees see them as a painful waste of time. As a result, employees arrive or leave whenever they wish; check their emails; doodle; or use the time to make to-do lists of all the things they’re not getting done in your meeting."
Best headline I've seen in a while.
Man Crushes Police-Sponsored Doughnut-Eating Contest, Gets Arrested [Gawker]
An impressive feat executed so stupidly: "Police officials in Elizabeth City, N.C. arrested 24-year-old Bradley Hardison immediately following his sweet success in the anti-crime doughnut eating contest. Hardison put back eight doughnuts in two minutes, beating out police officers and firemen alike, but the win couldn't stop officers from recognizing his face. The police department had reportedly been looking for Hardison for months in connection to two break-in cases."
