Two stories in the “Social Media IPO Candidates” realm got us thinking that corporate governance might be under fire. Zynga is reportedly creating a triple-class share structure and Groupon has apparently engaged – voluntarily or not doesn’t matter – in pre-IPO marketing during its quiet period. “Buyer beware” indeed.
Steve Jobs resigned as Apple CEO yesterday, intends to stay on as Chairman. Sad news and nothing much to comment – the praise has been doled out before here. We only wish him the best and highlight a few links with amazing, heartfelt reaction around the web.
Certainly one of the most-discussed articles this weekend, this NYT piece looks at the subset of American retail that is doing pretty well in this recession. Another article highlights the interest by big-name investors (Buffett, Ackman, Leon Black) in the segment. Signal or noise?
We present updates on two story lines we’ve published this year: Salman Khan’s very promising education initiatives deserve a large story at Wired, and George Soros’ departure was discussed further on Bloomberg and the Financial Times.
Japanese food & beverage company acquires Brazil beer maker Schincariol for US$ 2.6 billion. We posted in October 2009 that “it doesn’t make sense to think about beer/soft drinks without thinking about FMCG companies – especially food companies”. Interestingly, the theme of developed-world companies seeking the growth of Latin America and Asia was also clear in HSBC’s announcement yesterday that it would fire some 30,000 employees in Europe & the US and hire about 15,000 in LatAm & Asia. We hope managers are keeping this in mind: “what price growth”?
Mr. Soros has quit managing money for others and will return money to investors. Other high-profile managers have done the same at varied times for different reasons, but Mr. Soros links his decision exclusively to the new regulatory environment, more specifically the requirement to register with the SEC. Given that Quantum is returning US$ 750mm but Mr. Soros’ family retains US$ 24.5 Billion in the fund, it’s more a symbolic move than anything else. Bonus link: an interesting lecture by Mr. Soros.
Quick notes: First, two profiles on the two top execs at Goldman Sachs, CEO Lloyd Blankfein and his heir apparent, COO Gary Cohn. Together they form an interesting picture of the world’s most loved/hated bank. Second, Seth Godin’s post today about quality and how to define it. It appears at first as it’s “more of the same”, but given his background he’s clearly focusing on media/marketing; therefore the “types of quality” framework take on a different, but no less useful, meaning.
Very interesting profile on Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater in the new issue of the New Yorker magazine. Long and often a bit on the speculative side – it’s always difficult to take without “salt” the perceptions of someone who has spent, at best, a few days/weeks with the subject of the report – it’s still a great read.
Reading an article about an interesting Education business had us thinking of regulation and, primarily, goals for Education. The current debate about Public Education in the US focuses on adjustments/ improvements to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which is all about accountability. In a separate story, Tom Friedman reminds us that the top-notch jobs of the future may require skill-sets (and individual attitude) that current education models may simply be unable to provide. But when you’re a Brazilian public education student and the debate isn’t even close to scratching the surface of the “accountability” trend, it’s definitely a scary future.
Yardsticks are only so good as the thought one puts into creating them. Judging money managers on their “nominal” (as in “not adjusted for risk”) performance in short periods of time is downright dangerous…
