Finance Matters

Archive for March 19th, 2010

Christopher Dodd called on Attorney General Eric Holder today to launch a criminal probe into t Lehman Brothers and “other companies that may have engaged in similar accounting manipulation with a view to prosecution of those who broke of the law.”

Dodd, the Chairman of the Senate Bnaking Commitee, sent a letter to Holder today, according to Bloomberg.

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See Also:

• Read The Letter Lehman Brothers Whistle Blower Wrote
• Lehman Blasts Barclays For $11 Billion Secret Windfall
• Former Lehman Exec: If You Think Repo 105 Is Bad, Just Imagine What Goldman Sachs Is Doing

Engadget’s Joshua Topolsky pens a lengthy article on what has gone so terribly wrong at Palm over the last year. His solutions aren’t perfect, but it’s worth reading. —Ed.

Oh Palm. Just a little over a year ago your future seemed so bright, so renewed. You walked away from CES 2009 reborn, held aloft by a completely innovative new mobile operating system, a striking piece of hardware, and a feeling amongst the press and investors that you were back in the game and playing to win. Now, less than a year and a half later, you’ve nearly returned to the dark and desperate place you’d found yourself in at the end of 2008; a rapidly declining mindshare, the bottom falling out of your stock, and bad dips in phone sales.

Continue reading at Engadget >

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During an event to introduce the first living organ donor registry in the country today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs told a crowd he “almost died” waiting for his own transplant in 2009.

According to The Mercury News, Steve told California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that 21,000 Californians are waiting for organ transplants.

“I was fortunate,” he said. “Last year, 400 other Californians died waiting. I could have died.”

 ”I was almost one of the ones who died waiting for a liver.”

Steve is better now, he said.

“I’m feeling fine. I almost died. It’s been a pretty good last few months.”

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See Also:

• "And Boy Have We Patented It"
• How Steve Jobs Screws With The Press
• Steve Jobs: We’re Hoarding Cash For ‘Big, Bold’ Moves

The New York Times vs. Wall Street Journal war is getting uglier: Kate Taylor, one of the Wall Street Journal’s earliest hires for their new New York section, is quitting today to join the New York Times, John Koblin at the New York Observer reports.

She leaves the WSJ just as Rupert Murdoch is getting ready to launch his new section next month to battle with the Times.

Will she give away the Journal’s secrets to their enemy?

“People here are fucking furious,” one source told Koblin. “She knows all the plans.”

Read more at the New York Observer >

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See Also:

• NYT Vs. WSJ War Continues: New York Times Ads Slam Wall Street Journal Stats

With 8.2 million unique visitors viewing over 600 million pages per month, photo-sharing, meme-making 4chan.org is an extremely popular Web site.

But it’s not worth much — just a little less than a Lexus GS10.

In an interview the New York Times published this afternoon, 4chan founder Christopher “Moot” Poole says he would sell the site, but he hasn’t gotten any good offers.

“When I was 17 years old I was approached by an online Japanese toy store and they offered me $15,000 for the Web site, I told them I wasn’t interested in selling so they bumped the price up to $45,000. I said No.”

“I haven’t received another offer in the past 5 years.”

Moot told the NYT that 4chan doesn’t even make much money.

“The site is technically profitable, we do a little more than break even, but no-one is taking a paycheck.”

The reason 4chan can’t make any money, of course, is that it is the dark, disgusting underbelly of the Internet. For every LOLcat, there’s a dead cat. For every photo of a cute girl in punky clothes, there’s seven of people with no clothes. It’s content no advertiser would ever put its brand near.

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