Business and other Random Musings

Hey Everyone…I Have Started a New Site…

musingbanthony — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:42:39 +0000

I have started a new site and will no longer be updating this one for now. My new site is Boardroom Pursuit. It has basically the same business/ job/b-school/any other random news I find interesting. I hope you will check it out.

http://www.boardroompursuit.com/

Need a Job? Become a Witch

musingbanthony — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:21:38 +0000

If you are looking for a job in a low stress environment that doesn’t require long hours, this position is for you. Wookey Hole Caves, located in Somerset, England, is looking for a witch. The position, which became available after the retirement of the previous witch, pays $80k per year and you get to live in a spacious cave! Job requirements include giving lessons on witchcraft, the ability to cackle, and no feline related allergies. For more information, go to the website.

Pay to Use Twitter or Fly The Coup?

musingbanthony — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:45:33 +0000

Twitter has quickly become a big part of daily life for millions of people. The need to know what friends are doing at any given moment, no matter how mundane, has become an addiction to some. Given this, is Twitter an addiction people are willing to pay for? This was the focal point of discussion Wednesday at the ongoing Allen & Co. Sun Valley media conference where participants in a panel about capitalizing on digital media discussed the topic of Twitter and how it will eventually generate revenue. During the panel discussion, John Malone, chairman of Liberty Media Corp., reportedly expressed doubt about the potential for Twitter to sell advertising on its site without alienating users. Malone suggested that the best way for Twitter to turn a profit is to get people so addicted to the service that they will pay a fee to use it. Ah, yes! A strategy followed by drug dealers the world over. “C’mon man. Hook me up! I just need a little more time to see if my buddy is still tired from staying out late last night. Please…five more minutes.” Well, maybe not. The problem with this business model is that it only works when a company has a monopoly in the marketplace. If a new “dealer” can come along at any time with a better, free product, the revenue stream dries up. When web-based email first became popular, companies tried to charge consumers for its use. What eventually happened? Does anybody pay for email? Of course not. Businesses quickly realized the best way to make money was to charge advertisers and provide the service free of charge to consumers. Just ask Google. Currently, there is only one Twitter and it has a unique trendy service that is easy to use, so people use it. If Twitter decides to forgo the use of advertisers to generate revenue and instead goes with a monthly fee, other companies like Facebook will quickly introduce similar apps and users will likely fly the coup. Facebook’s application for the iPhone already has a feature that allows you to view your friend’s status updates. It would not take too much effort for Facebook to change this portion of its application to be more “Twitter like”. Whatever Twitter decides, it better choose wisely. Otherwise, in a couple of years, people will be asking, “Do you remember that app we use to use? I think it was called Twister…Tweetster…oh wait…Twitter. What ever happened to them?”.

Morning Musings – 7/9/09

musingbanthony — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:24:43 +0000

First-time claims for state unemployment benefits fell 52,000 to 565,000 for the week ending July 4 . This seems like positive news, but this was a shortened week and these numbers are only for initial claims. The total number of Americans receiving state jobless benefits rose to 6.88 million with another 2.5 million people receiving federal jobless benefits after their state benefits had run out.

Citigroup is bringing in some new blood. Most notably, Eugene McQuade will be joining them as Chief Executive. McQuade’s former positions include vice chairman of Merrill Lynch and president of Merrill Lynch Bank. He was also president and COO of Freddie Mac. Way to hire people with a proven track record Citigroup!

A proposal has been introduced that would give Congress more control over monetary policy. The proposal would introduce more transparency into the Fed’s transactions and enable scrutiny by the GAO. For my part, I’m not sure which is worse. Monetary policy being directed by a few people who may know what they are doing or a policy directed by a large group of representatives looking to be reelected and who have a hard time managing their own lives?

Twilight Musings

musingbanthony — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:01:52 +0000

Hot Topic announced that June store sales were down 7.9% and estimates a net loss for the second quarter in the range of $.07 to $.09 per share. A speciality clothing retailer with poor sales? Who would have guessed!

Alcoa released second quarter revenue results today . it reported an adjusted second quarter loss of $454 million or $.47 per share versus a profit of $546 million or $.66 per share a year ago. Excluding restructuring charges, the loss was $.26 per share. Revenue in the second quarter of 2009 was $4.24B versus $7.2B in the second quarter of 2008.

Microsoft announced that Steven Sinofsky will become its Windows division president . A longtime veteran of Microsoft, Sinofsky had been jointly running the division with Senior Vice President Bill Veghte for the past year. With the upcoming release of Windows 7 and Google’s announcement today of its forthcoming Chrome OS operating system for netbooks, Sinofsky’s upcoming year is sure to be anything but boring.

Walgreens is raising its quaterly dividend by 22.2% to 13.74 cents per share from 11.25 cents

Amazon Drops Price of Kindle

musingbanthony — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:56:20 +0000

Amazon dropped the price of its Kindle e-book reader to $299. The Kindle DX, with a larger screen and the ability to hold up to 3,500 e-books, remained unchanged at $489. Rumors of a new version of the Kindle surfaced earlier this year. The new device, rumored to be released by Christmas, will have a larger viewing screen and touch-screen functionality. This recent price drop may be the result of Amazon needing to rid itself of excess inventory before releasing the new model this year. If a new Kindle has the above mentioned features and the ability to handle color images (versus the current grayscale), I may be getting a new gadget for Christmas. For now, it’s wait and see.

Free Food at Chick-fil-A

musingbanthony — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:41:27 +0000

To celebrate its 5th Annual Cow Appreciation Day, this Friday, Chick-fil-A will be giving away a free meal to anyone who comes into any of its locations dressed like a cow. For those people lacking the required bovine apparel, a starter kit is available for download from its website. If your costume is good enough, you can even win free Chick-fil-A merchandise or free chicken for a year. Now, if you will excuse me, where did I put that cow costume?

Morning Musings – 7/8/09

musingbanthony — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:57:00 +0000

Family Dollar reported a 36% jump in quarterly profits as consumers flocked to the recession-friendly retailer.

The Swiss government has announced that they may step in to stop its largest bank, UBS, from handing over information on 52,000 account holders to U.S. authorities.

John Meriwether, of Long Term Capital Management infamy, is closing his under-performing hedge fund . While the fund posted a 44% loss from September 2007 to February 2009, it is still nowhere near the $4.3 billion LTCM lost in the 1998 Russian currency devaluation.

Goldman Sachs versus Rolling Stone – Story Excerpts and Video

musingbanthony — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:33:32 +0000

Earlier this week, I wrote about an article published by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone that described how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression. In the article, Taibbi describes Goldman Sachs as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money”. Wow! Well, I guess no one’s perfect. Here are some excerpts from the actual story and a video of Taibbi exploring the key issues. I don’t know about you, but I smell a movie deal.

Lebron James Heading to Sun Valley

musingbanthony — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:50:49 +0000

Lebron James will be mingling with moguls this week at Allen & Co. media-industry conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. As a first time attendee, King James will be looking for ways to expand his marketing company, LRMR Marketing. The popularity of James, while on par with athletes like Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning, has not resulted in the same level of endorsement deals as these stars. This conference will give King James a chance to meet the Kings of Business. The conference is closed to the press and attendees are even discouraged from acknowledging their attendance. Given the “secrecy” surrounding the conference, the list of attendees has somehow mysteriously been leaked to the public. It is reported that some of the attendees will be Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, the Murdoch’s (Rupert and sons), Mark Zuckerberg, Phil Knight (Nike), and James Dolan (CEO Cablevision). Dolan, who is also a first time attendee, will definitely be trying to get Lebron’s attention. As CEO of Cablevision, Dolan has been looking to get James to join the New York Knicks before the planned spin-off of the Madison Square Garden unit from Cablevison takes place next year. At a conference known for producing big deals, it will be interesting to see what kind of deals come out of this years meeting.