How to negotiate with a BK candidate .... Buffett-style

It was in 2008 that Warren Buffett was on the receiving end of many phone calls from New York and Dick Fuld, Lehman’s former chief executive, and others with the deal of the month for Berkshire to come to the rescue of that financial disaster of an investment bank known as Lehman Brothers.

What did Warren Buffett do? He read the Lehman annual report, asked a few questions (got answers he didn't like), ate some more ice cream (his favorite dish), and then stopped answering phone calls from New York (effectively saying no to the deal).

Read further about the Lehman soap opera:


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What about U.S. billionaire geeks???

With Carlos Slim winning the "2010 Forbes Billionaire Contest" (our title), he displaces Microsoft's Bill Gates for the World Billionaire Thrown. Not only was Bill Gates on top of the money list for an extended time, Mr. Slim represents the first non-U.S. citizen to gain the title.

So, we here at Think Billion$, started to feel a little sorry for our U.S. technology billionaires. (yes, including Mr. Gates) We put together a little list of tech billionaires that, at least, will get their names favorably mentioned.

Here is the tech list (below). Can you name the companies they are each associated with (without looking it up?)

Bill Gates: $53 billion.
Larry Ellison: $28 Billion
Sergey Brin & Larry Page: $17.5 Billion Each
Steve Ballmer: $14.5 Billion
Paul Allen and Michael Dell: $13.5 Billion
Jeff Bezos: $12.3 Billion
Eric Schmidt: $6.3 Billion
Steve Jobs: $5.5 Billion
Pierre Omidyar: $5.2 Billion
Mark Zuckerberg: $4 billion.

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Carlos Slim at $53.5 billion tops world's billionaires

Carlos Slim Helú of Mexico beat Bill Gates and Warren E. Buffett for the top spot on Forbes magazine’s annual list of billionaires, becoming the first person from outside the United States to lead the rankings in 16 years.


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Carl Icahn closes on the Fontainebleau Las Vegas resort

Billionaire investor and financier Carl Icahn has acquired the unfinished hotel and casino Fontainebleau in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Icahn picked up the casino property after a Florida court approved the offer last month following the Fontainebleau Las Vegas LLC bankruptcy filing and inability to complete the resort.

Icahn Enterprises closed on the hotel and casino on Thursday this past week for about $150 million. The deal is structured: $105 million in cash, plus $45 million in debt.

Billionaire Superhero 'Tony Stark' in the upcoming "Iron Man 2" this May

Movie Synopsis

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster film based on the legendary Marvel Super Hero "Iron Man", reuniting director Jon Favreau and Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr. In "Iron Man 2", the world is aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the armored Super Hero Iron Man. Under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor because he fears the information will slip into the wrong hands.


USA Today preview: "To continue to savor Downey's distinctive reinvention of a comic-book crusader while checking out comeback-kid Rourke's whip-snapper of a villain." 1/22/10



Iron Man 2

Indian billionaire bids for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Reliance's Ambani expected to bid for MGM

Anil Ambani, the Indian billionaire, is expected to bid for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), the iconic but beleaguered Hollywood studio.

MGM, whose hits have included Ben Hur, the Wizard of Oz and Gone With The Wind, has put itself up for auction after struggling to service debts of $3.7 billion (£2.27 billion), the legacy of a 2005 leveraged buyout.


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Billionaire investor Chanos says to short China Inc.

Contrarian Investor Sees Economic Crash in China




NY Times article

Billionaire Paul Allen Wants to Know: The secret to happiness???

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Tiger Woods costs shareholders $12 billion

If you own stock in AT&T, American Express or other companies, Tiger Wood's extramarital affairs has already cost you if you hold stock in a company he sponsors or a mutual fund that holds stock in those companies.

"Total shareholder losses may exceed several decades' worth of Tiger Woods' personal endorsement income," said Victor Stango, a professor of economics at the University of California, Davis and co-author of the new definitive study on the subject.

Professor Stango examined stock market returns for the 13 trading days that fell between Nov. 27, the date of the car crash that ignited the Woods' scandal, and Dec. 17, a week after Mr. Woods announced his indefinite leave from golf. He compared the stocks to the total market and to competing stocks, plus they looked back four years to get a sense of how the stocks have historically done in comparison to the market and to competitors.

Tiger Woods is now a drain on capitalism itself (sorry to say)!

a visit to the Billionaires Car Club

America's Billionaire Moneymakers Of 2009

In Pictures: America's Billionaire Moneymakers Of 2009

Topping the ranking is Larry Page, last year's fifth biggest loser. The Google ( GOOG - news - people ) co-founder made $8.4 billion between January and mid-December 2009 after shedding $11.9 billion in 2008.

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Ex-wife (Ivana) of ex-billionaire (Donald Trump) booted off plane

Socialite Ivana Trump kicked off an airliner after 'foul-mouthed tirade at noisy children'

Socialite Ivana Trump had to be escorted off a plane after launching a foul-mouthed tirade at noisy children.

The former wife of billionaire property mogul Donald Trump started screaming the F-word as several excited youngsters ran up and down the first-class aisle.

The grandmother of one became even angrier as flight attendants tried to calm her down, allegedly rushing towards the cockpit.

When the pilot asked her to leave the New York-bound flight before take-off, the hysterical Miss Trump refused to budge.

Daily Mail article

New Zealand names its "Billionaire of the year"

Billionaire of the year

David Tepper made bucketloads of cash by betting that banks had been oversold early in 2009.

According to the story, Tepper has pocketed about US$2.5 billion of his hedge fund firm's profit this year. I suppose that explains the cheesy grin (but not the squint, the cheap PC in the background, the rumpled tieless shirt or the rolled up trousers - why is he dressed like a journalist?).

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The Top 5 bad billionaires for the year 2009

Well, here we are at Think Billion$ at the end of 2009 and the end of the decade.

How do we close out the year with some sort of profound post? Well, once again we've been doing some thinking and serious research.

Last year The outcome of which is our First Annual "The Top 5 bad billionaires for the year 2008" list. How about that?

So here's the bad-boy list for this year, and let us know what you think:



Tiger Woods: while technically not a billionaire in net worth terms, everyone has been calling him that over the past couple of years because he has earned a billion from golf winnings and from personal endorsements. Why has Tiger been a bad billionaire for 2009? Come on, is this really a serious question???

Bernie Madoff: we found out about Bernie's badness in 2008, but was locked away in 2009.

Al Gore: we found out this year that Al is a "carbon Billionaire"

Allen Stanford: another convicted billionaire con.

Mark Cuban: for being Mark Cuban.