LesAffaires.com Fortune 500 Daily & Breaking Business News - FORTUNE on CNNMoney.com What is a magazine app? Fortune brings a new perspective to the iPad. In Goldman Sachs We Trust For reading on our trip, we chose Galbraith's commentary on the Great Crash of 1929 quoted above. Reading this book again after nearly 25 years is a rather chilling experience. Change the names of people and securities, and the dates, and the account of Galbraith could be published in a newspaper today describing the fall of Bear, Stearns, Lehman Brothers or Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER). And our favorite chapter: "In Goldman Sachs We Trust," a scathing comment by Galbraith on how the masters of the universe at Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) sponsored trusts such as Blue Ridge and Shenandoah, speculative Ponzi schemes that made the market collapse of October 1929 far worse than it would otherwise have been. There has been a huge amount of commentary on the fall of Lehman, the fire sale of MER and the impending demise of AIG (NYSE:AIG). In each case, we see firms that are arguably still solvent, but increasingly illiquid. Some observations:
Why Facebook will not become a bank Everyone's talking about Facebook becoming a bank in the future, but I don't believe it will happen. Here's why ... Just had a long discussion with a bunch of banks about potential disruptions to banking based upon mobile carriers upscaling and innovating, the launch of NFC payments via Android and iPhone, the possibilities of Google and Apple and brethren, and the likelihood of a Facebook Bank in the near future. One of the bank folks asked: “who would control the infrastructure if they did these things? We would.” The point being that all innovations in banking such as PayPal have been on the old bank plumbing in the past and it will be in the future. I agree to an extent. Banks are regulated and need licences and this is a key feature of the system from a governmental perspective in making them work. But this maybe ignores a basic tenet of the internet: freedom. Even I’ve been getting that bug a bit. And yes, it does get interesting if you think of a crowdsourced bank. Could it happen?
Importation des contacts : Google ferme la porte à Facebook 01net le 09/11/10 à 18h17 Mise à jour le 10 novembre :Google prévient ses utilisateurs qu'ils sont piégés sur Facebook Rebondissement dans la guéguerre sur l'importation de contacts qui oppose depuis quelques jours Facebook et Google. « Attendez une seconde. Google explique ensuite sa position face au refus de Facebook d'offrir la possibilité d'exporter les contacts dans l'autre sens. « Nous pensons qu'il est important que vous le sachiez avant que vous importiez vos données ici. Google propose ensuite ni plus ni moins à l'internaute que d'« enregistrer la plainte de l'utilisateur pour protectionnisme des données » par le biais d'une case à cocher ou de continuer l'importation en cochant une autre case. Première publication le 9 novembre 2010 Le torchon brûle entre Google et Facebook. Facebook vous propose de télécharger vos contacts Gmail, pour les réinjecter ensuite sur le site. Le partage de données : voilà un sujet régulier de discorde entre les deux entreprises.
Actualité à la Une Home | AlwaysOn In Goldman Sachs We Trust: The Story of a $222 Stock going to $ As we look over the masters of the universe on Wall Street with Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs only two remain standing and no longer in their previous form. Yet in the midst of all this turmoil, the storied Goldman Sachs is still churning out the profits. A recent report by Bloomberg shows that Goldman Sachs made more than $100 million on trading revenue on get this, 46 separate days during the second quarter. This is rather unbelievable in the midst of the deepest recession since the Great Depression. On the front page of the Goldman Sachs site, you will see the push for “the economics of climate change” which largely focuses on the cap and trade policies which they stand to benefit from. Yet this isn’t something new. “Goldman, Sachs and Company, an investment banking and brokerage partnership, came rather late to the investment trust business. Not a bad profit. Massive value increase even though tangible real value was much less. Mr.
Facebook modifie les CGU des credits suite à une plainte antitrust Vous ai-je déjà dit que les social games sont un sujet très chaud ? En ce moment le marché est ultra-tendu car l’acteur leader de ce créneau est en train de finaliser une introduction en bourse : Zynga Files for a $1 Billion IPO. Le segment des social games est donc très rentable, principalement au travers de la vente d’objets virtuels (“virtual items“) et les analystes estiment que ce marché pourrait dépasser les 2 milliards de $ en 2011. Autant vous dire que la compétition est très rude et que chacun essaye de tirer la couverture à lui. Dans ce contexte, Facebook occupe une position dominante car il concentre bien plus d’audience que les autres plateformes sociales proposant des jeux sociaux (Myspace, Netlog, Hi5…). Depuis le 1er juillet, la monétisation des jeux sociaux sur Facebook est encadrée selon les règles suivantes : Vu la position ultra-dominante de Facebook sur le segment des social games, les éditeurs n’ont pas eu d’autre choix que de se plier à ses nouvelles règles.
Google Declares War on Facebook I was almost four when it first occurred to me that no one else was missing legs. Flooded by questions without words to articulate them, I connected images with explanations. Those first confusing moments unravel in my mind like an old film. It begins with me being nudged awake by a waxy moon spilling silver-white light through the window as I sucked my thumb. But it wasn’t my window. Twenty-five years later, Aunt Gert would remind me of that day under the canopy of drying sheets when I picked up my cousin’s shoe and tried to put it on my own leg. “Is that a two-piece?” He started the engine, and I looked again at the house.
Le dernier combat de la zone euro NEW YORK – La crise de la zone euro arrive à son paroxysme. La Grèce est insolvable. Les obligations du Portugal et de l’Irlande ont récemment été dégradées au niveau de junk bonds (« obligations poubelles », présentant le niveau de risque le plus élevé, ndt). L’Espagne est toujours susceptible de perdre son accès au marché, à cause des incertitudes politiques qui s’ajoutent à ses difficultés fiscales et financières. Enfin, la pression financière sur l’Italie monte de plus en plus. D’ici à 2012, la dette publique grecque sera supérieure à 160% et toujours en augmentation. En attendant, la proposition française actuelle concernant une reconduction de dette volontaire par les banques est un bide, étant donné qu’elle imposerait des taux d’intérêt prohibitifs aux Grecs. Dès lors, la seule solution réaliste et sensée est une restructuration ordonnée et par le marché – mais coercitive – de l’ensemble de la dette publique grecque. Le status quo n’est plus soutenable.
Executive PayWatch 2010 I came to the United States from Mexico in 2006, driven by a dream we all share: a better life for my family. What I found, however, is suffering. Fernando is not my real name; I am an undocumented worker and, therefore, I have to protect my identity. I have six children and a wife to support, so I harvest tobacco. Another illness associated with tobacco harvesting is green tobacco sickness. As a farmworker in the supply chain for tobacco, I think it should be an obligation from the boss to pay our wages even when we are ill—when one has been helping him throughout the season. I don’t earn enough to cover major medical expenses. All the boss is interested in is that we work fast.
Goldman Sachs CEO interview Lloyd C. Blankfein, chief executive of one of the most wildly profitable financial firms in the world, rifles through his trash searching for a thank-you note. He has a point to make. Yes, his firm, Goldman Sachs, wasn't chosen to underwrite the Blackstone Group's planned initial public offering, but there are plenty of other Goldman clients grateful for the firm's services and Blankfein is going to find the note that proves it. Even though Goldman is the most imitated, envied and at times griped-about investment bank around, Blankfein -- who has just celebrated his first year at the helm and who happens to be smart, confident and very capable -- is still intent on proving himself and his firm to the world. "When I joined the firm I thought, 'How will I ever survive here?' Blankfein's makeover from frumpy gold salesman to chief executive has a bit of a reality-TV feel to it. Even with careful grooming, Blankfein remains a far cry from central casting's idea of a chief executive.