G.M. Rising: Who Should Get Credit?
G.M.’s revival should be a case study for why the private equity business can work. But Malcolm Gladwell offers a contrarian argument.
A Lack of Transparency in S.E.C. Disclosure Rule
Vaguely worded guidance allows companies to publish market-moving news directly on their own Web sites without requiring any wider distribution.
Big Investors Appear Out of Thin Air
In the United States and in France, investors have swooped in and bought big stakes of companies without anyone knowing, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in his DealBook column this week. Given the importance of transparency in the markets, shouldn’t something be done about these legal, if aggressive, maneuvers? he asks
Sorkin: So What Is Insider Trading?
The S.E.C. is no longer just making sure a small circle of employees are not abusing their positions; it is focused on making sure the markets “feel” fair, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in his DealBook column.
Sorkin: Felix Rohatyn Looks Back, and Sighs
About to publish a memoir about his major deals in finance, the longtime Lazard banker reveals some uneasiness about his own industry and its effect on society.
Sorkin: Worrying Over China and Food
The prospect that a group backed by China may make a takeover offer for the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan has Washington lawmakers, Canadian regulators and Wall Street bankers talking.
Breaking Even on A.I.G.
The official managing A.I.G.’s bailout bets that investors will finally pack into the stock once they understand the government’s plan to exit its investment over time.
A Buyout Veteran Peels Back the Curtain
The private equity financier Guy Hands, perhaps best known for his ill-timed $4.73 billion purchase of the record company EMI, has an unvarnished view of the past, present and future of the industry, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in his column.
Sirius XM’s Fate at Stake in a Radio Cliffhanger
Update: Sirius XM and Liberty Media announced their investment deal Tuesday morning, which they said will immediately provide Sirius with $250 million to repay the notes that come due today. More details are here.
On Monday night, Mel Karmazin was near a deal to pull off the impossible: he had coaxed John C. Malone of [...]
Citigroup: Still Dancing With Itself
Is Citigroup feeling lonely these days?
The banking giant run by Vikram Pandit has watched in recent weeks as other major financial institutions linked up with partners: Goldman Sachs connected with Warren Buffett, for example, and Morgan Stanley found a friend in a big Japanese bank.
As a result, Citi has been left without the kind [...]
The View From Where Jerry Yang Sits
At last week’s annual Allen & Company mogul retreat, the topic du jour was the ongoing tussle for control of Yahoo.
While at one point, Yahoo’s Jerry Yang may have looked like an entrenched founder unwilling to sell the company, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in his latest DealBook column that it is now Microsoft that [...]
Did an Accounting Rule Fuel a Financial Crisis?
The pain in the financial industry has rocked the markets and stung shareholders — and some prominent names on Wall Street are suggesting that a well-intentioned accounting rule may be partly to blame.
This group includes Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of the giant private equity firm Blackstone Group. He told Andrew Ross Sorkin of [...]
Inside Dow’s Rogue Buyout Talks
Dow Chemical may have settled a legal dispute over last year’s firing of two former executives, but the legal filings have revealed some juicy details about the unauthorized buyout talks that were at the heart of the controversy.
Mergers in a Time of Bears
Timing is everything when it comes to mergers.
That is the key take-away of a new study that inspired this week’s DealBook column by Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times. The study turns the conventional wisdom about the value-killing deal on its head and suggests that deals are most likely to succeed in [...]
Microsoft and the Art of the Bear Hug
In sending a public letter to his intended takeover target, Microsoft’s Steven Ballmer became the latest acquisition-hungry chief to try the time-honored “bear hug.” In this case, there were definitely claws behind his warm and fuzzy words to Yahoo, as DealBook explains in its latest column in The New York Times.
In other words, this bear [...]