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.

Warren Buffett dumps shares of Moody's

The billionaire investor who rarely sells, has sold 2.7 million shares of Moody's Corp. (MCO), according to a filing this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRKA, BRKB) sold the shares of Moody's Corp. (MCO), according to a filing Wednesday.

The credit scoring agency was once strongly backed by Buffett, in numerous comments over the years, has experienced all sorts of problems associated with the credit crunch and also due to poor internal controls. However, this seems to be a risk reduction move overall. Berkshire still owns 15% of Moody's outstanding stock after the recent sale, down from 20% in July.

It is "Next Time" for Tiger, Inc.

ARTICLE: Tiger Woods, Inc., A Failure in Corporate Governance

Richard Branson Takes Reservations From Would-Be Astronauts

Sir Richard Branson shows off the SpaceShipTwo in a Mojave, California, hangar on Monday.

CNN article

Discover Magazine

Bloomberg

Investor Michael Price is bullish on Bank of America

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire investor Michael Price said he bought shares of Bank of America Corp. in its $19.3 billion equity sale yesterday after shunning large lenders.

Bank of America raised money in the biggest U.S. offering of stock or preferred shares since at least 2000 to free itself from government restrictions after accepting funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The Charlotte, North Carolina- based company, the largest U.S. bank, sold securities at $15 each, or 4.8 percent less than its closing price yesterday.

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stock quote

Budapest cave-men become instant billionaires

There's rags to riches and then there's rags to mega-riches. Two brothers from Hungary definitely fall into the second category.

Until recently, Geza and Zslot Peladi lived in a cave near Budapest. Completely destitute, the two cave-brothers earned money by gathering scrap metal and selling candy they found on the street. That all changed the moment they heard that they stood to inherit a substantial portion of their maternal grandmother's $6.6 billion fortune. (That's billion, with a "B.")


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Back to the smartphone biz for Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie

NHL commish takes dim view of Canadian billionaire Balsillie


NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman all but ruled out the prospect for Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie one day owning a team in the hockey league.

Balsillie, the co-CEO of BlackBerry wireless device maker Research in Motion, failed in a bid to move the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton, Ontario in September when a U.S. judge blocked the attempt.


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Mrs. Woods tries to tame a Tiger

Tiger Woods --- the first billion-dollar earning sportsman in the world (estimated by Forbes magazine).

In September of this year, he won the prized FedEx Cup. Besides winning golf tournaments, Tiger has incredible endorsement contracts with companies such as Gatorade, Gillette and Rolex. The most lucrative is with Nike.

Now, as the whole world knows, he is in a Tiger-sized mess. Mrs. Tiger Woods was allegedly trying to brain him with a golf club!

Tiger Woods is probably embarrassed that his wife beat the crap out of him. Police investigation, certainly. TMZ and entertainment shows, heck no!

BTW, by law, Florida law enforcement is required by law in FL to investigate the potential spousal abuse by either party. Could get more interesting.

See you on the course next year Tiger!

Billionaire John Malone tames his shareholders

'Hey, just buy stock in Liberty and become a billionaire just like me!'

At Liberty Media's special meeting Nov. 19 in New York to approve the spinoff of Liberty Entertainment, Malone fielded a question from an obviously disgruntled shareholder who complained the company was not redeeming fractional shares in the transaction.

Malone at first tried to appease the man by telling him that he would take up his proposal of holding a separate "odd-lot" tender offer with counsel. But the questioner persisted.

So Malone told him that if he had bought Liberty stock when he said he bought it - the questioner he said he originally owned Liberty Satellite stock, which was retired several years ago - and held onto his shares, then he had done "extremely well." The man continued to complain.

"Let me put it this way," Malone said. "I started broke and I'm now a billionaire. And I never sold any shares."

Facebook strategizes pre-IPO

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO

Facebook Inc. took steps to solidify the control of founder Mark Zuckerberg and other existing shareholders in the event the social-networking company goes public.

The closely held Silicon Valley firm, emulating one of Google Inc.'s well-known strategies, established a dual-class stock structure that would increase the voting power of Mr. Zuckerberg, who is the company's chief executive, and other existing shareholders if they hold onto their shares during an IPO.


WSJ article