• Switzerland’s Profit on UBS: $1.13 Billion – “On Thursday, Switzerland converted a note that gave it a 9.3% UBS stake and immediately sold the 332.2 million shares at 16.50 francs each, a 1.4% discount to the stock’s closing price Wednesday. The government said it earned an annualized return of 30% on the 10-month investment.” No doubt they went and bought… [WSJ]
• Madoff Yacht Up for Sale – Ninety footer named Leopard Bull. Sounds like Bern might have been describing his favorite undies combined with a self assigned nickname for a certain less than spectacular organ. [DealBook]
• Sale of Chicago Cubs to Ricketts family called ‘imminent’ – Yay, nay, or meh Cubs fans? [Chicago Tribune]
• #98 Sharon Allen – Forbes most powerful women list includes the Deloitte Chair. [Forbes]
Related Posts
Preliminary Analytics | 01.11.10
• Geithner Had No AIG Role, Says Official – Said official is Tom Baxter, General Counsel of the New York Fed. TB says that the situation ‘did not warrant the attention’ of TG. End of story. Darrell Issa isn’t buying what Bax is selling and has invited him to speak on the Hill about it later this month. Set the DVR. [WSJ]
• Geithner Has Support of Obama, Democratic Lawmakers, Aides Say – Until he doesn’t have it, which could be any day now. [Bloomberg]
• Banks Brace for Bonus Fury – “Critics of Wall Street firms are grumbling that this year’s bonuses are far too generous. But some recipients are none too happy, either: They’re complaining too much of the payout is coming in stock instead of cash.” [WSJ]
• Investor Alwaleed says Citigroup “on right path” – As long as his highness is convinced, there’s no reason the rest of us shouldn’t feel better. [Reuters]
• Did you donate for tax breaks? IRS wants proof – Such a bunch of sticklers. [CT]
Preliminary Analytics | 12.28.09
• A Modest List of Financial Analysis ‘Red Flags’ – “Patrick Byrne is the CEO” isn’t one of them but Overstock.com does get mentioned. [The Accounting Onion]
• Tax Vox’s Lump of Coal Award: The Worst Tax Ideas of 2009 – California gets its very own spot at #4. [Tax Vox]
• War on Wall Street as Congress Sees Returning to Glass-Steagall – Bank break up courtesy of Maverick? [Bloomberg]
• How the VP of Finance at Koss steals millions – “For the year ended 6/30/09, Koss had sales of $38.2 million and profits of $2 million. For the year ended 6/30/08, Koss had sales of $50 million and profits of $4.5 million. If Sachdeva stole $20 million over the last four years, that’s $5 million per year…. and far exceeds the profits for the last couple of years. How did no one notice?” [The Fraud Files Blog]
• New security restrictions could hurt airlines – As if they needed help. [Reuters]
• Black Eyed Peas Didn’t File Tax Returns for Years – Due to ‘an inadvertent oversight’. [Web CPA]
• Gee, Who WASN’T Bribed? – This involves one large process of elimination. [The Market Ticker]
We understand that the first day back after the Christmas break could be one of the worst on the entire year. Especially if you’re one of the few actually working. We’ll check in with you unfortunate souls later today.
Preliminary Analytics | 10.13.09
• Business Fends Off Tax Hit – “Lurking behind the tax debate was the administration’s need for new sources of revenue to fund its increased spending. Jason Furman, a White House economic adviser, made that point clear at the end of a session with a dozen or so lobbyists in March. Catherine Schultz, head of tax policy at the National Foreign Trade Council, who was at the meeting, says Mr. Furman basically told the group: ‘We need the money.'” – So, that’s a bit of a problem. [WSJ]
• CIT Says Chief Executive Peek to Resign, Effective Year End – The board knew something was up when Peek showed up to work yesterday with a Fu Manchu. [Bloomberg]
• Schwarzenegger Signs Bill Creating Harvey Milk Day – Good job Arnie but state employees still have to work and will now receive OT. IOU’s should work. [NPR]
• AIG to sell Taiwan insurance unit for $2.15 billion – “The sale of Nan Shan Life on Tuesday was another step in AIG’s effort to repay U.S. taxpayers after the government injected $80 billion into the company, but the insurer faces two more sales processes in Asia and others across the globe.” We lost count on what they’ve paid back but we’re guessing they owe somewhere in the nabe of a shitload. [Reuters]
• So Much Auditor Litigation Makes For Strange Bedfellows – Uncle Dangle has some interesting problems re: Merrill Lynch and BoA that they would prefer just went away. [RTA]