Newyorktimes
An interesting article on the legal feud between hedge funds TCI and 3G Capital and rail operator CSX. It’s a good reminder for us to mention that The Deal Professor column at NY Times’ Dealbook is mandatory reading. There’s much more to “risk” than greek letters, and one aspect of risk is knowing precisely what one is getting into – in this case all possible legal ramifications of a given stake.
Every source has its biases, but it’s fair to say that the New York Times produces top-quality content over a surprisingly wide range of topics. For instance, its DealBook section and daily emails are a very valuable source for investors, as are the many business, scientific and cultural articles that can, over time, foster different/ multidisciplinary mental models. So it’s only natural that news of a documentary called Page One, in which the film crew spends almost an year inside the NYT in the midst of the current media revolution (blogging/ socialmedia/ iPad/ Kindle/ Wikileaks/ etc.), had us pretty excited.
David Pogue’s presentation at TED in 2006 was pretty funny and carried an important message for designers: simplicity sells. The iPhone wasn’t even out, but the trend is clearer than ever. The talk starts slowly but quickly builds momentum. As we always stress: view it critically, play with the idea, try to contradict it or apply it in some other field(s).
The AOL – TimeWarner merger’s 10-year anniversary inspires a feature in the NY Times, and the videos are a must-see for the candid opinions of the top execs involved. One must remember that talented fund managers got burned in 1998-1999 shorting AOL at a P/E of 100, 200, 300… only to see it reach 700. Not a typo, that’s the P/E ratio.
David Brooks has a nice teaser article on the current and future economic “protocols”. His tip is to not just read the book he’s reviewing but another that complements what he feels are the first book’s weaknesses. Always a nice way to help readers better form opinions of their own, and it’s what we will always try to do here as well. Also includes links to other columns of his.
