Sunday, November 30, 2008

Deutsche Bank tells Donald Trump to pay up



Deutsche Bank Trust Co. filed the suit last week in New York state court, alleging Donald Trump didn't pay off a remaining $334.2 million loan due on Nov. 7 to Deutsche Bank and its syndicate of lenders.


Trump Chicago

Liquidity problems at the casino that Donald Trump built



Trump Entertainment to miss interest payment

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Facing tough competition and sliding revenue amid the economic meltdown, Trump Entertainment Resorts will have to skip a $53.1 million interest payment scheduled for Monday on its 8.5% senior secured notes due 2015 in order to maintain sufficient liquidity.


full article



also read - Is Donald Trump a Millionaire?

Saturday, November 29, 2008

What the hell was Sam Zell thinking?

The newspaper death spiral continues as noted on TechCrunch this week.

So, we decided to check in with one of our more favorite billionaires to determine what the hell happened.

In a recent interview, Sam Zell explains that a small forecasting assumption apparently turned into a big forecasting error relative to his recent purchase of the Chicago Tribune.


Think Billion$ comment: Oops.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Carl Icahn averages down with Yahoo! shares



Carl Icahn, the billionaire corporate raider and takeover artist, has picked up another 6.8 million shares of Yahoo (YHOO) stock this week for just under $10 a share (about a third of what he paid in May when he started building his position)

Icahn now holds 75.6 million shares (just under 5 percent of total outstanding shares)

He also controls three seats on Yahoo’s board. Jerry Yang, the Yahoo co-founder on his way to early retirement, issued no official comment on the Yahoo! share pick up by Carl Icahn.

Think Billion$ comment: What else is he going to do at this point???

Just what the hell does Michael Bloomberg have against pregnant women?


This is not a thread about politics, because we talk only business here at Think Billions.

This is a thread about motherhood! and questioning a billionaire's sanity.

The title of the article we are referencing is not the title of the thread. Instead the title of the article is: "Mayor Bloomberg's Delicate Condition."

The article mentions the class action lawsuit, the disturbing sexist behavior and raunchy comments from Bloomberg Himself over the years; but, ultimately resorts to a puff and praise piece for the mayor at the end. Too bad for Portfolio. Read it anyway.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Carlos Slim Fattens up on Stocks



Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has purchased shares in both Citigroup and Saks recently.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Warren Buffett Mouths Off About General Motors

The Oracle of Omaha, aka Warren Buffet the number one billionaire in the whole wide world, has commented once again about the fate of General Motors.

(BTW, Doesn’t this guy have a day job?)

According to Uncle Warren it is either: bankruptcy or bailout for GM.

Very odd talk, indeed, from this self-professed capitalist.

Maybe Warren Buffett is really a renounced or retired capitalist or maybe is now a member of the: “I’ve got mine club ….. suckers!”



Update (for Warren): No sympathy for Detroit at a Kia plant in Georgia

Thursday, November 20, 2008

German billionaire Adolf Merckle cries "Uncle"


Dr. Adolf Merckle, one of the richest people in Germany, has incurred significant losses from wrong-way bets on Volkswagen shares, putting him under pressure to restructure or sell assets.

Speculation has been sparked that he could sell his Ratiopharm generic drug business.

Merckle has now turned to the government of Germany for bailout assistance. If agreed to, a Merckle bailout would be one of the first non-banking state bail-outs in Germany since the start of the financial crisis.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Love and the Billionaire: Are Paris Hilton and Stavros Niachros Back on?


Paris Hilton and ex-boyfriend, shipping Billionaire Stavros Niachros were recently (very) publicly reunited at the exclusive Miami nightclub Mokai. Paris' boyfriend Benji Madden was absolutely nowhere in sight.

Following the Victoria's Secret fashion show an eye witness reported:

"Paris and Stavros were all over each other. They were at the same table for about an hour and then they left together. It didn't seem like Benji was on her mind at all!"

Billionaire bad boy Mark (Mamma) Cuban

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Billionaires, Soccer and Risk



What does Keith Harris say when some billionaire comes to him wanting to buy an English football club? Harris reaches for the inside pocket of his immaculate blue suit. "The first thing I do," says football's premier dealmaker, "is I produce an imaginary pack of cigarettes and say that buying, owning and actually running a football club is more risky than these are."

And so begins the Financial Times in the Weekend Edition regarding the financial stupidity of billionaires buying English football clubs. For the full article read: Soccer’s billion dollar brain.

This month seems to be the month to be writing about this subject. Forbes has gotten into the act with its article entitled: The Billionaire Soccer Club.



GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllll???????

Monday, November 17, 2008

Billionaire boy bozo Jerry Yang finally steps down


Yahoo Inc. co-founder Jerry Yang finally faced the music and decided to step down as CEO.

Boy billionaire Yang, as the whole world remembers, had more than a rocky 2008. This year was punctuated by Yang's absolute foolishness and stupidity by his refusal to sell YHOO to Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion -- more than triple Yahoo's current market value.

And get this, Jerry had the audacity of saying the following via a statement today: ""I will continue to focus on global strategy and to do everything I can to help Yahoo realize its full potential and enhance its leading culture of technology and product excellence and innovation."

If you want to see how Jerry Yang destroyed YHOO shareholder value, go here.

The following CNET poll got it right when Jerry decided he needed his old job back.



Mark Cuban, insider trading?


The SEC has charged Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with insider trading.

According to the WSJ:

The SEC alleges in a civil action that Mr. Cuban sold his entire 6% ownership stake on June 28, 2004, after learning that Mamma.com was raising money through a private investment in a public entity, or PIPE. The next day, on June 29, the company announced the PIPE financing and shares of the company dropped by more than 10%. By selling his stake, the SEC alleges, Mr. Cuban avoided more than $750,000 in losses.

WSJ article



related:

mamma.com - the mother of all search engines

Sunday, November 16, 2008

The Year of the Rat takes a bite from China's billionaires



The Year of the Rat has been challenging for China's billionaires as well.

According to Forbes: "the combined net worth of the 400 richest [Chinese] dropped to $173 billion from $288 billion."

Liu Yongxing, president of East Hope Group, is now number one in China as his wealth has risen from $0.6 billion to $3 billion.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

More billionaires hit with margin calls

Forbes, in its November 17 issue, identified the following five global billionaires hit with substantial margin calls:

Aubrey McClendon
- sold most of his shares in Chesapeake Energy for well over a $1 billion loss

Sumner Redstone
- dumped half his shares in Viacom and CBS, at half its value just a couple of months ago

Oleg Deripaska
- sold $1.5 billion of Magna Intl. and Hochtief for a net loss

Alisher Usmanov
- is "forced to give back a stake now worth $700 million in ... Gazprom"

Kostyantin Zhevago
- the Ukranian billionaire unloaded 21% of Ferrexpo at a sizeable loss

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Yellowstone Club, the club for Billionaries, goes bust
















Tim Blixseth, co-founder of Yellowstone Club—the world’s only private ski and golf community located in Big Sky, Montana—has filed for bankruptcy.

The Yellowstone Club, which includes Bill Gates as a member, can't pay its creditors.

“Yellowstone Club World membership is capped at 150, offered by invitation only. Entry fee to the first 25 is $3 million and $10 million to the 150th member.”

— Tim Blixseth, Co-Founder & Chairman

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Steve Jobs and Apple, billions of cash







Steve Jobs, with an estimated net worth of over $5 billion, has Apple's cash position on the balance sheet nicely reaching over $24 billion.

How does he do it? Well, last month's conference call noted the iPhone now surpassing RIM's blackberry.

Looks like more billions ahead for chairman Steve Jobs and the folks at Apple.


Forbes article

Friday, November 7, 2008

Billionaire T. Boone Pickens says a Greener U.S. would boost the economy


Billionaire T. Boone Pickens says the following during an interview with CNN chief national correspondent John King:

Pickens: You've got to fix the energy issue because just look at the 40 years that have passed. No energy plan, zero. If we go forward for 10 years with no energy plan, we got the picture in the last year. Go back five years and the [Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries] nations' revenues were $250 billion. This year, 2008, will be $1.25 trillion.

Now go forward 10 years and say we have no energy plan; we will be importing at that point 75 percent of our oil, which is a huge security problem for America. And we will be paying $300 a barrel for the oil.


CNN article

Thursday, November 6, 2008

The Village Billionaire Idiot, Yahoo's Jerry Yang, Now Loves Microsoft


Readers, we cannot make this stuff up.

Billionaire Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang is now ready to bargain with Microsoft over the sale of his company after screwing over shareholders and many others all year long.

"To this day, I believe the best thing for Microsoft to do is to buy Yahoo," Yang said from the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco this week.

Microsoft withdrew its $33 per share bid offer earlier this year after Village Idiot Yang demanded $37. Current price: $13.96. Where did this guy go to school?

Steve ... offer $9 bucks a share. See what happens. LOL!

Jim Rogers, billionaire investor commentary

John D. Rockefeller - the 1st Billionaire

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

David Murdock awarded the first “Living Award” from Martha Stewart

David Murdock, the billionaire owner of Dole Food, is the recipient of the first “Living Award” from Martha Stewart.

article


other articles:

David Murdock: ‘Failure is a great teacher’

Forbes article

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Warren Buffett and Larry Ellison are billions less rich


Sure, billionaire guys like Buffett, Ellison and Steve Ballmer have ridden the capitalistic market cycle quite in their favor over the past 20 or 30 years.

However, each of these guys have something in common other than being billionaires. They have each dropped over a billion, as in several billions, in net worth over the past year or so due to the stock market crash. It may not hurt, but it has to sting.

Ouch. Payday loan guys? lol.

Read all about it in - Billionaire Blues