Summertime for Billionaires

Dealbreaker today reminds us in Where Wall Street Summers that billionaires such as Henry Kravis and Pete Peterson will soon be heading up the coast to the east end of Long Island for a little billionaire R&R. Enjoy guys.

For you old timers, this is how daybreak on the island looked to Gordon Gekko many years ago. "Money never sleeps, pal."

Jerry Yang Continues to Hate Microsoft and Yahoo! shareholders. The end.

As reported on ThinkBillion$ here, here, and here, Boy Billionaire, Yahoo! co-founder, and Microsoft hater Jerry Yang has now totally and officially jumped the financial shark with his rejection of any and all things Microsoft.

The only thing we could approriately conclude with here is with Michael Arrington's piece in TechCrunch, ("Massive Destruction Of Shareholder Value, Employee Morale and Internet Balance Of Power") reporting the whole affair this way: "I don’t believe that there is anything Yahoo could do at this point to further destroy their business that would surprise me."

YHOO ended today's trading at $23.47 a share, down 5 cents.


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WSJ: Microsoft Studies Strategy as Yahoo Talks End

Eike Batista Brings it in Brazil

This week in Brazil, Eike Batista, bet a couple of his millions and several of Brazil's investing public billion's that OGX Petroleo e Gas SA, and its undersea leases off the coast, will yield a gusher. Thursday's initial offering of oil venture OGX Petroleo e Gas SA raised nearly $3.6 billion, the exchange's biggest IPO.

Eike, a self-made billionaire in the gold and iron mining sector, is now making this big bet in the oil industry. It is a story and entrepreneur to closely follow.

His friends call him "a serial entrepreneur doings things on a massive scale." (WSJ 6/12/08).





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Eike Batista ranks 142 on The World's Billionaires 2008

Brazil's Batista Is `Creator of Wealth,' Turning Gold Into Iron

Eike Fuhrken Batista, Founder, Chairman of the Board and CEO of EBX,MMX Mineração e Metálicos S.A.,

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???

Steve Ballmer of Microsoft is "The World's Hardest-Working Billionaire"

According to Forbes Magazine .....

Ballmer has been working especially hard this year to revamp Microsoft and make it more competitive with tech's new "it girl," Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ). The major battle is for online search advertising, which the Internet king all but created--and dominates.

Ballmer will go to any length to sell a product, and doesn't worry about looking like a fool. In public appearances, he jumps and screeches like a monkey, drenches himself in sweat and sticks out his tongue when he's really pumped up about something.

Update -

WSJ: Gates-Ballmer clash

Billionaire Proxy Battle: Icahn vs. Yang

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn will seek to remove Jerry Yang as chief executive of Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) if Icahn succeeds in a proxy battle against the company over its failure to reach a deal with Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

full story

It is a Red Light earnings special for Sears and Eddie Lampert

We like Eddie Lampert, we really do. He is a self-made billionaire who did it the hard way, not the easy way.

But, let's face it, he is an investor, not a CEO type.

Yesterday, we opened to the second section of the Financial Times and saw the headline: Sears suffers dismal quarter of poor sales. It was more of the same for Eddie.

What is more of the same, you ask? More poor branding strategy, more management defections, more financial problems, more of everything going wrong.

Sears announced a further share repurchase program. However, Think Billion$ has a better idea: Take the damn company PRIVATE! This is the only sensible thing to do from a financial re-engineering standpoint. Let us break it down for one and all -

Step 1: more share repurchases for the rest of 2008. Step 2: take Sears private next year. Step 3: re-engineer the damn thing. Step 4: years later, take it public to an unsuspecting public and to Wall Street accolades.

Come on Eddie, you know what to do.


Stock chart

Barry, Barry, Barry

No we don't mean the lovable Barry Bonds.

We mean the lovable billionaire (#317 on the Forbes The 400 Richest Americans list resting at $1.5b), Barry Diller.

This UCLA drop-out, born in Beverly Hills, and married to Diane von Furstenberg has recently come out victorious from a well-publicized lawsuit with former business buddy John Malone.

And it is all described, and more, in the June Conde Nast Portfolio article: The Confessions of Barry Diller.

Read it so that you too can understand all-things-Barry.

Billionaires bullish on Yahoo!

First Microsoft, then Carl Icahn and now T. Boone Pickens. Who's next?

T. Boone Pickens Picks Up 10 Million Yahoo Shares, Betting On Carl Icahn


YHOO


update -

Icahn Gets Green Light For Yahoo Stock Purchase

Jerry Yang, Yahoo billionaire, tells both Microsoft and his own shareholders to "get lost!!!"

Jerry Yang, of Los Altos, CA is 38 years old, worth $1.9 billion (according to Forbes) and is the 261st richest person in the United States of America.

This weekend he has told both Microsoft and his own shareholders to "get lost!!!"

As the whole world now knows, Microsoft has abandoned the Yahoo bid after sides can't agree on acceptable sales price

SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft says it's dropping its three-month-old bid to buy Yahoo because the two sides can't agree on an acceptable sale price.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer says in a letter sent to Yahoo on Saturday that the software maker was willing to pay $47.5 billion for Yahoo. That's $33 per share.

Ballmer says Yahoo insisted that Microsoft pay at least $53 billion. That's $37 per share.

We, think this is absolutely insane. Jerry Yang is taking an anti-capitalistic, anti-shareholder approach to this proposed buyout. He clearly believes in a eastern Asian philosophy that corporations are made for its employees, not the shareholders. This is very anti-Think Billion$ as well, since Jerry clearly believes that he should be the billionaire and not anybody else. Good luck Jerr. Good luck in managing investor lawsuits in the upcoming months.


Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang on hot seat after rebuffing Microsoft's $47.5 ...
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE , AP SAN FRANCISCO - Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang has gotten what he wanted:

LeBron James: A Future Brooklyn Billionaire?

This is a story that has it all and will continue to have it all in the years ahead.

It is about current billionaires (Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, investor Warren Buffett) and future billionaires (Jay-Z and LeBron James).

It is about big money, the NBA, marketing, future trades and possible movement from the small town to the big city.

Will it happen? Will he do it? We will have to wait and see. It is not going to occur during the next couple of weeks to be sure.

Enjoy the drama that is LeBron James. When LeBron lets us know, you'll know.

Related -

Yahoo! Sports: Jay-Z, James relationship should worry Cavs

ThinkBillion$: LeBron James: Witness a (future) Billionaire

Billionaire Buffett Blasts Granddaughter! Must see billionaire tv!

"The One Percent," a documentary about people who are richer than not ninety-six, not ninety-seven, not ninety-eight but ninety-nine percent of the world (I went to college) premiers Thursday on Cinemax and though filmmaker Jamie Johnson couldn't secure a cameo with Warren Buffett, he does include a dramatic reading of the scathing letter the old guy sent to granddaughter Nicole Buffett......


Dealbreaker

Billion Euro trader Jérôme Kerviel plays the victim card

Billion Euro Société Générale trader Jérôme Kerviel (whom is not a billionaire himself) has played the victim card across the pages of the press worldwide.

Mr Kerviel, interviewed by Agence France Presse, is quoted as saying the following gems:

“I am taking my share of responsibility, but I will not be the scapegoat for Société Générale.”

“I never had any personal ambition in this affair. The aim was to earn money for the bank.”

“You lose your sense of the sums involved when you are in this kind of work. It’s disembodied. You get a bit carried away.”

Mr Kerviel has still not been relieved of his "responsibilities" at Soc Gen and still has not inked a Hollywood movie deal (yet). Stay tuned.

Bill Gates wants us to work on Capitalism 2.0

The usual suspects: Bill Gates, Bono and Michael Dell pose at the World Economic Forum in Davos January 24, 2008.

Gates called on Thursday for a new "creative capitalism" to help the world's 1 billion poorest who live on less than $1 a day.


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Capitalism doesn't work, Mr. Gates? (Lawrence Kudlow)

The Football Billionaires

Paul Allen, Seattle Seahawks

Malcolm Glazer, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Wayne Huizenga, Miami Dolphins

Robert Kraft, New England Patriots

Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys


Forbes