Archive for February, 2008
This train wreck is going to be interesting. Jerry just sent out the following email. Here is part of what he says.
we believe microsoft’s proposal substantially undervalues yahoo!—including our highly recognizable global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms, future growth prospects, our ability to generate free cash flow and our earnings potential as well as substantial unconsolidated investments (like alibaba and yahoo! japan).
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Monday, Feb. 11, 2008
by Christian
Well it looks like Yahoo is talking to AOL.
It is understood that Yahoo! and its team of advisers from Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers, the US investment banks, have spent the past week evaluating possible tie-ups with media and technology firms that would save it from being swallowed by Microsoft.
It is also understood that one option being explored is to restart merger talks with AOL, the online business owned by Time Warner.
You have got to be kidding me. Is Microsoft that bad? According to the attitudes of Yahoo it seems to be. It is this sort of thinking that has me very pessimistic on Yahoo. When personal decisions get in the way of business decisions then you know something is very wrong.
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Monday, Feb. 11, 2008
by Christian
Jason brought up a good point:
BTW, those Fast Money guys don’t seem as concerned about disclosing their positions or trading under altered rules like Jim Cramer is.
I wonder why that is.
It’s tough though. If you disclose, your trying to pump/dump stocks. If you don’t, you’re hiding stuff.
I think the reason why the Fast Money people don’t mention all of their holdings is because they are traders/investors. It’s like Buffett where he only mentions things after they have occurred.
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Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008
by Christian
Well it looks like Yahoo rejected the deal. Here is what the board said.
Quoting sources familiar with the situation, the Journal reports that Yahoo’s board feels the offer of $31 per share “massively undervalues” the company. A letter spelling out the position is expected to be sent Monday. Yahoo also expressed concern that Microsoft’s offer does not account for risks to Yahoo should the deal be overturned by regulators.
The Journal source said the company would be unwilling to consider an offer below $40 per share, which would represent a $12 billion increase over Microsoft’s original $44.6 billion bid. It is unclear if Microsoft would be willing to increase its bid by such a significant amount.
So I thought, ok let’s look at the numbers and see what they say from a valuation perspective.
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Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008
by Christian
The indices in Europe, and America are down around 4 to 5%, and the question is if we hit bottom. First let’s look at the overall picture for the past year.
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Friday, Feb. 8, 2008
by Christian
Throughout the years I have invested and worked for financial institutions. On the weekend I had a long talk with my wife on my future direction. The future is as follows:
- Long Term Goal: Become a fund manager of my own fund. This goal is a long term goal because I need to become fully licensed before I can offer my fund. I have no problem with becoming licensed, but it requires time.
- Medium Term Goal: Become a central repository for alternative financial information. I want to talk about how I see the investment world, from the perspective of a techy that went into the investment world. That means more research papers and introductions to concepts. And when I write a research paper I need to come up with recommendations on what to do with the information.
- Short Term Goal: Write more financial content, and solve more problems for people. It is interesting to see that since the middle of December many people have come to me and asked about how to implement strategies. I have very competitive rates and feel free to send me an email christianhgross at gmail.com
So take a look at www.happyasahippo.com (or www.devspace.com) and send me email if there are any research topics or strategy analysis that you want me to pursue. For now I will be giving away the information for free. But as time progresses I plan on doing a sort of subscription request model. Though that is down the road and I want to see how things progress.
For now take a look at my first research on the Microsoft Yahoo Deal. You will probably be surprised because when I decided to do some indepth research I learned something very interesting about the deal and why Google is very concerned.
Monday, Feb. 4, 2008
by Christian
I don’t like this merger one bit because it is a waste of money and resources. I am probably the only one saying this. Here is why I think its a dud.
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Friday, Feb. 1, 2008
by Christian
