FORTUNE -- Here's what needs to be asked about giant hedge fund Bridgewater Associates and its founder Ray Dalio: Is this guy really worth $2 billion a year? That's roughly the amount investors paid his firm in management fees in 2012.
If you stop by Starbucks regularly for a caffeinated fix, you're about to have a good excuse to try Pay with Square, Square's mobile-payment app for iPhone and Android. The coffee chain has struck a deal which will result in 7,000 Starbucks-owned U.S. locations accepting Pay with Square, starting this fall.
The agreement has multiple other facets: Square will handle Starbucks' credit card processing and Starbucks will promote local businesses that accept Pay with Square.
FORTUNE -- One question keeps arising in the saga of Knight Capital and its $440 million software glitch: why did Knight, one of the premier U.S. market makers that handles more than 10% of total stock trading, introduce glitchy software into the market?
CEO Thomas Joyce explained in a television interview that the company’s new software program sent thousands of erroneous trades into the market because of “a large bug.” This was software Knight introduced Wednesday in conjunction with the New York Stock Exchange’s new platform that allows market makers like Knight (
Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester will give up his bonus in 2012, after technical glitches in the last week left thousands of customers unable to access their accounts. It's not the first time Mr. Hester has forgone pay: He turned down a $1.5 million stock award for 2011, and a larger amount still in 2009.
News of Mr.
As the largest banks in the United States prepare “living wills” for the government in the event that any of them should become financially nonviable, Americans continue to lose their trust in banks. According to a new poll by Gallup:
These bleak perceptions of the nation’s banks are consistent with ongoing banking issues worldwide, including the continuing crisis in Europe, particularly regarding European banks.
To head off any allegations of inter-blog rivalry, let me start off by saying that Sarah loves Business Insider. Clicks for hours, she does. Adores every preposterous headline and asinine slideshow. She explains as much in this episode of "Why Isn't This News."
I, as any of my Twitter followers will testify, do not care for Business Insider. I hate those headlines and slideshows for the same reason as Sarah loves them.
On Wednesday, we all gathered around to watch the latest PandoMonthly fireside chat, this time between Sarah Lacy and Ben Horowitz. You've been asking for it, and we've now got you covered, with the full video embedded below. There's glitter!
Along with about 500 other people, we watch as Horowitz discussed his early years in SIlicon Valley, the Loudcloud "IPO from Hell,"
Michael J. Burry, featured in Michael Lewis’ 2010 book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, gives his commencement speech to the UCLA graduates of 2012.
Reblogged from Financial Post | Business:
JERUSALEM, ISRAEL--Last week, Harvard professor Niall Ferguson argued that volatility induced by the Greek elections could cause a "Lehman moment" in Europe, a wave of bank runs that could lead to either the collapse or resurrection of the European Monetary Union.
While the events of this weekend do not seem to have caused this to happen, Feruguson still believes that the climax of pressures on Europe is yet to come.
Not content with just the automotive industry, Ford may be moving into the password storage business.
According to a promotional video created by French ad company Ogilvy Paris (spotted by Fast Co Design earlier today), Ford is working on a way for users to more easily log in to websites like Facebook and Twitter.
The functionality comes from KeyFree Login, an app that allows users to log in simply by placing their phones next to their computers.
Facebook's business model just hit a stumbling block, as the social network is being forced to let users opt out of having their likenesses repurposed as endorsements in Sponsored Stories ads. The requirement of opt out controls comes as part of a settlement of a class action lawsuit where five Californians said they did not consent to having their names, faces, and activity used to promote companies who paid Facebook.
Reblogged from Business & Money:
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is extending a program intended to further lower long-term interest rates, noting hiring has weakened, consumer spending is rising more slowly and the economy needs more support.
The Fed will continue Operation Twist through the end of the year. The Fed has been selling $400 billion in short-term Treasurys since September and buying longer-term Treasurys. It says it will shift another $267 billion through December.
The markets were having a hard time identifying an early direction and now the move looks more entrenched on gains. Traders and investors need to be watching the technical pivots against yesterday's trading levels in order to not get burned. We are tracking the daily buy/sell pivot points on the SPDR S&P 500 (AMEX: SPY) as the most liquid equity ETF that there is.
Reblogged from Financial Post | Business:
By Sherry Su and Rupert Rowling
Oil rebounded along with equity markets as Spanish bond prices recovered after the government met its target at a debt auction.
Futures in New York rose as much as 0.5 percent, after dropping 1.2 percent, as the cost of insuring Spain’s debt fell from a record. Greek political leaders may agree as soon as today to form a government and to seek relief from austerity measures, also helping ease concern that Europe’s debt crisis will curb fuel demand.
London-based investment management service Nutmeg has raised $5.3 million. Still in private beta, Nutmeg promises to help you reach your financial goals with personalized investments and long-term savings advice.
Nutmeg asks you a series of questions to figure out where you are financially and what you hope to achieve, such as buying a home, starting a business, or sending your kid to college.
Editor's note: Nick Shalek is a Founding Partner of Sutter LLC. Previously, he worked at the Yale Investments Office, the firm responsible for managing the Yale Endowment.
Liquidity fever is in the air in Silicon Valley. I felt this viscerally last month when a friend from Facebook came to me to talk investing. A talented engineer who has been at the company for more than five years, my friend just reaped a…
Reblogged from National Post | News:
French President François Hollande's Socialists won an absolute parliamentary majority on Sunday, strengthening his hand as he presses Germany to support debt-laden euro zone states hit by austerity cuts and ailing banks.
The Socialist bloc secured between 296 and 321 seats in the parliamentary election runoff, according to reliable projections from a partial vote count, comfortably more than the 289 needed for a majority in the 577-seat National Assembly.
Reblogged from Financial Post | Business:
LONDON - Parties committed to Greece’s multi-billion-euro bailout are on course to secure a slim parliamentary majority on Sunday, according to an official vote projection from the interior ministry.
The projection showed New Democracy taking 29.5 percent of the vote, with SYRIZA in second place with 27.1 percent. The Socialist PASOK followed in third place with 12.3 percent.
The result translates into 128 seats for New Democracy and 33 seats for PASOK.
"The old paradigm that I'm trying to get rid of is that space is for governments and the super-rich, and it takes years, and it costs millions of dollars, and I say this is just wrong" said Peter Platzer, an Austrian-born former CERN physicist and hedge fund quant who was in town to promote his start-up NanoSatisfi. "It's the democratization of innovation.
WASHINGTON - Spain should raise taxes and cut government workers' pay to narrow its budget deficit, the International Monetary Fund said Friday.
The international lending group said Spain's deficit is likely to exceed estimates and the government should therefore consider several measures to boost tax revenue.
The IMF suggests the government increase in its value-added tax, or VAT, which is a type of sales tax.
The world's central bankers are gearing up to provide liquidity in the event that Greek elections Sunday cause a free fall in markets, Reuters is reporting, and you know, again (and again) after that.
It was only this weekend, of course, that a plan to rescue the Spanish banking system with $125 billion in European funds, news that soothed investors for about five minutes before markets turned back again Spain's government bonds.
What do you get when you put an AIDS activist, an actor and two technologists in a coffee shop? An idea to make the world a better place. Their project, part of this year's TechStars, is called Smallknot and it lets you invest a small amount into local businesses. When the business has made its improvements or bulked up its whiskey collection, you can request a gift or repayment in return.
Much has been made of Lloyd Blankfein's comments this morning during a speech in front of the Economic Club of Chicago, where the Goldman Sachs chief executive discussed matters like the Euro crisis, the future of the financial services industry, and why Goldman Sachs is (supposedly) bullish on China.
And then there was his aside about sticking around at Goldman
Reblogged from Fortune Management & Career Blog:
FORTUNE – I don't like Facebook. There, I said it, and you know what? It felt good. I don't like Facebook I don't like Facebook I don't like Facebook. I have a feeling there are a lot of people who feel the way I do but are ashamed to say so.
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