Finance Matters

Archive for February 17th, 2010

Nick Bilton at the New York Times Bits Blog:

I canceled cable last year and haven’t looked back since. Although the vast majority of Americans still pay a cable or satellite TV operator a monthly fee to watch their favorite TV shows, a small segment of viewers does throw away its cable boxes and opt for Web-based services like Hulu, Apple’s iTunes and the streaming videos on Netflix.

According to Eric Kessler, co-president of HBO, the company is not offering the HBO GO service to attract a new audience. Instead, it hopes to extend its relationship with its current audience.

Read more at the New York Times >

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See Also:

• HBO GO Launches Live On Verizon FiOS Thursday, Links With Fancast
• HBO’s Answer To Hulu Preps For Big Debut
• Why Netflix Won’t Be The HBO Of The 21st Century

Sometimes it’s not hard to see why lawyers have such a bad reputation.

There is more news out of California of scamster lawyers taking advantage of desperate homeowners.

According to the ABAJournal, the California Bar is looking into more than 400 lawyers who may have taken advantage of homeowners by accepting payments despite exerting little effort to save their homes.

ABA Journal: A total of 15 attorneys have either been suspended or resigned in the face of pending disciplinary charges, and many more are expected to lose their licenses, according to state bar authorities. The complaints are still going through the roof,” says Suzan Anderson, who serves as lead mortgage fraud prosecutor for the bar and says she is deluged with more than 30 new complaints a day.

The state previously reported they were investigating 1,200 loan modification cases and 300 lawyers who are accused of mishandling funds from clients.

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See Also:

• The Recession Was Bad For Minorities In Law
• BigLaw Firms Lose Out To Boutique Firms In Recession
• California Judge Censured For Ordering Lawyers Be Paid In Gift Cards

After several months of delays, video software company On2 shareholders finally approved the company’s $130+ million merger with Google.

The deal should close by the end of the day Friday.

From the release:

On2 stockholders holding in excess of a majority of the outstanding shares of On2 Common Stock voted in favor of the merger proposal.

Under the terms of the merger agreement, as amended, each outstanding share of On2 Common Stock (other than shares owned by (a) Google, Oxide Inc., Oxide LLC or On2 and (b) any On2 stockholders who are entitled to and who properly exercise appraisal rights under Delaware law) will be cancelled and extinguished and will be automatically converted into the right to receive (1) $0.15 in cash; (2) 0.0010 of a share of Google Class A Common Stock; and (3) cash in lieu of any fractional share of Google Class A Common Stock (after aggregating all fractional shares of Google Class A Common Stock issuable to such On2 stockholders), without interest.

On2 and Google anticipate closing the transaction on or about February 19, 2010, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of other previously disclosed closing conditions.

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See Also:

• Google Bullied Out Of Another $26.5 Million In Cash By On2 Shareholders
• On2 Settles Lawsuits Holding Back Its Acquisition By Google
• Google’s On2 Deal Hits A Bump

The beginning of an official Gmail iPhone app? — Ed.

Days after Google acquired social search startup Aardvark, the search giant has acquired another email-based startup, reMail. ReMail developed a powerful iPhone application that gives you instant full text-search for all of your Email.

Continue reading at TechCrunch »

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Rumor is that a closed-end fund will soon open that will give Canadian investors access to John Paulson’s greatest trades.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the fund’s units will be valued based on the performance of some of the hedge funds managed by Paulson.

The fund — which is basically a drawbridge allowing investors to overcome accredited investor limitations — will be listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Strategies like this have not done very well in the past, notes The Journal.

Star Hedge Managers Corp, which is exposed to the funds managed by hedge fund managers Eric Sprott, Rohit Sehgal and Normand Lamarche, raised only C$75 million in an IPO in September 2008. The fund had a C$500 million maximum target.

And T. Boone Pickens Energy Fund, which gives investors access to T. Boone Pickens’ TBP Investments Management LLC recently listed and only raised C$28.1 million.

Of course Paulson has gotten arguably more good press than all of these managers combined, so the odds might be in his favor.

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See Also:

• Amazing: John Paulson Makes $50 Million In Five Weeks On A Gold Trade
• John Paulson Is Killing It Again This Quarter
• John Paulson Hits It Out Of The Park Again