The Facebook hit to UBS: $350 million

ZURICH—UBS said it took a loss of more than $350 million on the ill-fated Facebook Inc. initial public offering, wiping out nearly half of its second-quarter profit, and it accused Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. of a "gross mishandling" of the stock-market listing.

Wall Street Journal article

Fortune Jumps on the Sears Bandwagon

Just like the Wall Street Journal this month, it is now Fortune-CNNMoney-TermSheet's turn to jump on the Sears bandwagon and honor the "turnaround" that is still in its infancy after oh these so many years.

Fortune says: "The turnaround at one of the nation's largest retailers is good news for Eddie Lampert and hedge funds in general."

Read more, Eddie Lampert groupies. Read more.


Fortune Article: "Fast" Eddie may end up saving Sears


Fortune, bullish on SHLD for a reason:

Eddie Lampert and Sears: Is This Move More Than a Dead Cat Bouncing?

Eddie Lampert, formerly known as The Next Warren Buffett, is Chairman of Sears Holding Corp.

Eddie, throughout 2012, has been desperately trying to prove to Wall Street that Sears is not a "dead cat bouncing." But, rather, a sustained growth move to the upside.

Amazingly, so far in 2012, Chairman Eddie is seeing some success contrary to critics (including Think Billions). Sears stock is up an amazing 60% YTD this year.

The Wall Street Journal, always up for jumping on a stock bandwagon, is sending Chairman Eddie and Sears much financial love these days.

In a recent 'Behind the Tape' article ("Lampert Skeptics Could Get Seared" May 16, 2012), the WSJ brazenly lays out the undervalued case for Sears that even a Motley Fool subscriber could read and understand.

Calling Chairman Lampert "a master of financial engineering" our WSJ reporter applies some quick-and-dirty advanced math and accounting skills he picked up somewhere to arrive at a $8 billion value for Sears. Undervalued and under-appreciated. Bank it.

Again, our brazen WSJ reporter: the "good news at Sears can be particularly potent. Look out above."

It is just The Wall Street Journal doing a public service to short-sellers of SHLD recommending they immediately close out positions.

Not Found: $1.2 billion in MF Global money has "vaporized"

From the WSJ:

"As the sprawling probe that includes regulators, criminal and congressional investigators, and court-appointed trustees grinds on, the findings so far suggest that a "significant amount" of the money could have "vaporized" as a result of chaotic trading at MF Global during the week before the company's Oct. 31 bankruptcy filing, said a person close to the investigation."

India: Where did all the billionaires go?

Sorry to report sad net worth news, but billionaires in the BRICS did not have a bullish 2011. Especially India.

According to the Wall Street Journal and data from ET Intelligence Group, India now has just 40 billionaires, down from 60 in 2010. An amazing fall in individual economic power.

Stock market declines and cyclical macroeconomic conditions are the main drivers behind the decline.

For example, India's wealthiest billionaire, Mukesh Ambani, saw his worth drop to $16.8 billion from $20.8 billion in 2010.

Not worth billions: A Subprime "Wall Street"

...Mr. Douglas's performance in the sequel measures up to Gekko's rep, but the rest of the movie is pumped up to the bursting point with gasbag caricatures, overblown sermons and a semicoherent swirl of events surrounding the economy's recent meltdown. The story certainly holds your attention, but it's a dramatic bubble about a financial bubble.

Although the action starts in 2001, the time frame soon shifts to 2008, and a superheated economic climate that even Gekko could not have envisioned. There's a nice irony in the veteran conniver coming on, during public appearances, as a cross between Cassandra and a common scold—he rails against speculation as the mother of all evils, and denounces leveraged debt.

But his preachments sound awfully familiar at this juncture, and they're played against a crisis that unfolds much too slowly to capture the frenzy of the September 2008 meltdown. In a fictionalized version of those events, an old-line investment bank with a strong resemblance to Lehman Brothers goes belly up, and all hell threatens to break loose in the media surround—Jim Cramer in full cry, Warren Buffett likening derivates to WMDs. Yet the fall of other dominoes is delayed while the scatterbrained script, by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, takes time out for Gekko's warnings, and plunges into the turgid complexities of a morality melodrama that involves the next Gordon Gekko—a provisionally idealistic young trader who falls under the old man's malign spell while making plans to marry his estranged daughter.

Shia LaBeouf plays the trader, Jake; he's effective within the limits of Mr. Stone's ham-fisted direction. (Jake's idealism is signaled by his ardent belief in the green promise of fusion energy.)...

WSJ movie review

Fast Eddie Lampert bets on a housing rebound

Edward S. Lampert, last mentioned here at Think Billion$ during the Sears meltdown, has been profiled today by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ, June 12, 2008, p. C4) for his new bets on the housing sector.

Eddie has recently added the following stocks to his ESL Investments, Inc. portfolio; which owns half of Sears and 40% of AutoNation. As a public service to our readers, here's what Eddie likes:

CIT Group
Centex
Home Depot
KB Home
PHH

And remember, buy low and sell high (except when shorting). Good luck and happy investing!


update -

I just noticed this YouTube video posted on Dealbreaker. Can you spot Eddie???

Jim Rogers on Commodities, US markets and Bernanke

Rupert Murdoch buys Dow Jones, owners of the Wall Street Journal

Rupert Murdoch has succeeded with his $5 billion bid for Dow Jones, owners of the Wall Street Journal, according to sources acting for the Dow Jones board. Negotiations have been completed and the board is confident the terms of the deal will be accepted by the Bancroft family, which controls a majority of voting shares in Dow Jones, over the next few days. A formal announcement is expected next week.


previous stories -

New York Times Hits at Murdoch, Wife

Help! Billionaire Wanted: To Rescue Dow Jones & Co.

New York Times Hits at Murdoch, Wife

NYT TUESDAY HIT: MURDOCH DOES CHINA; MOGUL ANGER AT PAPER'S INVESTIGATION OF WIFE

**Drudge Report Exclusive**

Late Monday, NEW YORK TIMES Executive Editor Bill Keller upped the ante and set a Tuesday Page One placement for a controversial examination of Rupert Murdoch's ties to Communist China, newsroom sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.

The paper has launched an exhaustive investigation of Murdoch on the eve of his possible purchase of the WALL STREET JOURNAL, a NEW YORK TIMES rival.

Privately, Keller has been highly critical of Murdoch, sources say.

Tuesday's expose will examine Murdoch's wife, Wendi Deng, a mainland Chinese native.

The investigation into Deng has thoroughly enraged Murdoch, insiders say.