Mark Cuban was in New York last night watching his Dallas Mavericks spank the New York Knicks. The Forbes 400 member (net worth: $2.5 billion) told the New York Post that he might be interested in buying the New York Mets if Fred Wilpon gave him a call. MLB commissiner Bud Selig should have his pal Wilpon give Cuban a call pronto. read »
Wall Street was on the ropes just 25 months ago. Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Bros., Bank of America, Wachovia, maybe Morgan Stanley; Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase were wounded. GE could not role over its commercial paper. European banks required cash infusions from our central bank. read »
On the day when NewsCorp launched the world’s first iPad newspaper, the company posted earnings after the bell, beating Wall Street’s expectations as its cable networks and television units propped up the media group’s finances. read »
This summer, Czech billionaire Zdenek Bakala, who made his money in coal mining (New World Resources and Ferrexpo), bought a house on Loretanske square in Prague's Hradcany district, close to the Prague Castle, to serve as the base for the Czech Republic's first presidential library. The space is dedicated to the country's first president, Vaclav Havel, who captured the world's imagination with his prose and poetry and opposition to Communism. read »
It was reported yesterday that Forbes 400 member Tom Golisano (net worth: $1.2 billion), who founded payroll company Paychex, has agreed to sell the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL to another Forbes 400 member, Terry Pegula (net worth: $3 billion), who made his money in natural gas. Although various reports have put the purchase price anywhere from $150 million to $190 million, I learned this morning from someone familiar with the deal that the actual enterprise value was $165 million, $4 million shy of[...] read »
Bernie Madooff attended the University of Alabama (freshman year) and Hofstra University (obtained a bachelor’s in Political Science). Allen Stanford, also accused of a Ponzi-type scheme and awaiting trial pending his ability to meet competency standards to defend himself, attended Baylor University. These all seem like fine universities but these two graduates don’t reflect the universities in their best light. read »