Each year, thousands of tech startups in Silicon Valley compete to be what author Michael Lewis famously dubbed “The New, New Thing.” Eventually an elite group of winners emerges, ready to be crowned the next Googles, Facebooks or whatever. But in the early days of this battle for supremacy, is there any reliable way to tell which newcomers are gaining the most traction? …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Gregg Fairbrothers and Catalina Gorla, Contributor
A day ago Gregg was reading a great Michael Lewis article from the 2004 New York Times Magazine,“Coach Fitz’s Management Theory,” about Lewis’s high school baseball coach, Billy Fitzgerald, and was reminded of an experience with a founder he worked with for almost 20 years, Charles Schusterman. While the rhetoric today calls for visionary leaders, success entrepreneurship often boils down to the daily blocking and tackling, which require an attention to detail that can border on the neurotic. Here’s an example…
By Michael Lewis, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
While the majority of news regarding the M&A world revolves around the Dell takeover, one long, drawn-out battle continues for wireless company Clearwire . Telecom giant Sprint Nextel is the majority shareholder of the beleaguered, spectrum-rich company, and the leading prospect for the acquisition. But with competing (and more appealing) offers from other suitors and a minority shareholder suit on the rise, it looks like this battle isn’t anywhere near over. What should investors expect for the future of Clearwire?
Update
Clearwire is in constant need of cash, and Sprint has been its sugar daddy. While absolutely necessary and responsible for keeping the company afloat (not to mention shareholders), the Sprint relationship has left a sour taste in some investors’ mouths.
The telecom giant has a standing offer of $2.97 per share for the 52% of the company it doesn’t already own. That comes in at a sharp discount to today’s market price of $3.26 — a number partially fueled by speculation that Clearwire is worth more than Sprint’s offer, and also from a $3.30-per-share bid from satellite-television juggernaut DISH Network . One caveat to the Sprint deal, which must be very appealing to the Clearwire board, is immediate access to $800 million in financing — money that would go straight to the company’s 4G LTE buildout. The new network would give the company some much-needed cash flow, but it would come at the cost of an unappealing acquisition price.
Luckily for retail investors, the leading minority shareholder has taken action to provide a viable alternative.
Crest the savior
Clearwire’s largest minority shareholder, Crest Financial, has offered the board $240 million in short-term financing to give the company its desired cash infusion while allowing it time to shop for a better deal than Sprint’s. Crest also opened a lawsuit against Clearwire, alleging that it left “minority stockholders with the unfair choice of acquiescing to Sprint’s inadequate merger offer or suffering significant dilution at the hands of Sprint.”
Even if Clearwire dismisses Crest’s offer, it will accomplish part of the intended goal by delaying Sprint’s takeover and giving other suitors, mainly DISH Network, an opportunity to sweeten the deal and push Sprint to the side.
Investors need to keep a close eye on the situation, as there is mounting evidence that the Sprint deal truly isn’t in the best interest of shareholders.
It’s incredible to think just how much of our digital and technological lives are almost entirely shaped and molded by just a handful of companies. Find out “Who Will Win the War Between the 5 Biggest Tech Stocks” in The Motley Fool’s latest free report, which details the knock-down, drag-out battle being waged among the five kings of tech. Click here to keep reading.
The article Are Shareholders Losing the Battle for Clearwire? originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor Michael Lewis and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
His trade is legendary now, so much so that the Wall Street Journal’s Gregory Zuckerman penned a book about it titled The Greatest Trade Ever, but at one time John Paulson was something of a joke. Bulge bracket banks like Goldman Sachs took his calls and filled his orders in which he bought he bought insurance on mortgage backed bonds, but in the eyes of his GS coverage (as recounted by Michael Lewis in The Big Short) Paulson was a “was a third-rate hedge fund guy who didn’t know what he was talking about.” …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
NEW ORLEANS (Official Wire) — A knowing grin spread across Sean Tuohy’s face as he considered the uncanny connections between the hit film that changed his family’s life and the fact that Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Michael Oher will play in his first Super Bowl in the Big Easy.
New Orleans is where Tuohy grew up and went to high school with author Michael Lewis, who wrote “The Blind Side.”
The book led to the movie, which depicted the Tuohys’ rewarding experience as Oher’s adoptive family. Actress Sandra Bullock, who starred as Sean Tuohy’s wife, Leigh Anne, owns a home in New Orleans.
“And there are people that think that’s a coincidence,” Sean Tuohy said. “How stupid is that?
“We’ve got a huge sign in our garage that says: ‘We believe in miracles,’” he continued. “For other people, it may be hard to understand that. For us, it’s easy.”
Read more at Official Wire. By Brett Martel.
Photo credit: daisukeniwas (Creative Commons)
