Portfolio.com: Daily Brief

ACBJ to relaunch Portfolio.com

Josh Moss — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:44:35 GMT

Portfolio.com will migrate to a new home as part of Charlotte-based American City Business Journals Inc.'s bizjournals, effective in July.

Portfolio and American City Business Journals made the announcement Wednesday. Bizjournals will oversee the editorial and business sides of the site. The Portfolio.com editorial team and sales staff will be based in New York.

Condé Nast Portfolio magazine and its Web site Portfolio.com launched in April 2007; the magazine closed in April. The site provided insight into the day's top business stories, with analysis from bloggers and columnists.

Tim Bradbury, president of new media at ACBJ, and David Carey, group president at Condé Nast, announced the move Wednesday. ACBJ and Condé Nast are units of Advance Publications.

In addition to newly created content, Portfolio.com will share content with other Condé Nast sites such as Wired.com, GolfDigest.com, and WWD.com, as it did before. It also will be the home of the archives of content published by Portfolio's print and digital properties over the past 24 months.

"We are excited about continuing Portfolio.com and including the site in the bizjournals network because we were impressed by Portfolio's strong Web presence, its clean and crisp design, and its voice in the business-journalism marketplace," Bradbury says. "We believe our readers will benefit as the relaunched Portfolio.com will have a stronger focus on industry news and a greater mission to offer information relevant to today's business professionals."

On top of its existing strengths, Portfolio.com will leverage the collaborative skills and insights of the more than 600 ACBJ business journalists around the country, Bradbury says. The site will have access to local market intelligence and work collaboratively with ACBJ newsrooms across the country, presenting the most important local insights through a national lens and making it unique among national business media, he says.

"We knew that Portfolio.com was a highly valuable asset, with an established digital brand, strong direct navigation by users, and a solid, long tail of traffic from content published over the past two years," Carey says. "We saw ACBJ as a perfect match due to its great editorial resources in the business arena, and view this as a win for both Portfolio.com's readers and the company."

Portfolio.com grew to 2.8 million monthly unique visitors and won industry praise with awards such as the MIN:Best of Web Award 2008, MIN:Hottest Launch of the Year 2007, and Webby nominees in Best Business blog and Financial Services categories.

American City metropolitan business newspapers reach 4 million readers each week with exclusive, in-depth coverage of their business communities. Bizjournals is the online media division of ACBJ, the nation's largest publisher of metropolitan business newspapers. It operates the Web sites for each of the company's 40 print business journals and operates a Web-only site with local business news and information for Los Angeles. Bizjournals provides nearly 9 million monthly online users daily and weekly local business news and information.

Condé Nast includes 22 consumer magazines, Condé Nast Digital, the Fairchild Fashion Group, Parade, the Condé Nast Media Group and the Shared Services Centers.

by bizjournals

44, Day 97: On Golf, Swine Flu, and a "Hallmark Holiday"

Josh Moss — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 21:39:22 GMT

An ongoing log of the daily activities of the 44th president of the United States during his first 100 days:

-- Not much from the man who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue today. He spent much of the day playing golf at Andrews Air Force Base with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, trade representative Ron Kirk, and White House staffer Marvin Nicholson.

-- Even though the president plans to hold a town hall meeting in Arnold, Missouri on Wednesday morning, and then return to Washington to hold a nationally-televised press conference, his spokesman today downplayed the entire idea of a 100-day-calendar. Calling the milestone a "Hallmark Holiday," Robert Gibbs said on NBC's Meet the Press that Obama "would want the American people to spend a good eight or 10 seconds reflecting on those 100 day."

-- Meanwhile, at the White House, administration officials today tackled growing concerns of a swine flu outbreak. Officials, led by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, announced that the government activated an emergency plan to contain the virus. One question officials had to deal with was what it meant that they were briefing reporters at the White House on a serious public health issue while Obama was playing golf. "I'm not sure I would draw a direct conclusion between the news today and the president's golf," Gibbs said. "The president has been updated regularly on this and will continue to do so as we will continue to regularly update you."

Sources: Politico, MSNBC.com, and FoxNews.com.

44, Day 96: Where's the Suggestion Box?

Josh Moss — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 18:10:11 GMT

An ongoing log of the daily activities of the 44th president of the United States during his first 100 days:

-- President Obama, staring down at an anticipated $1.8 trillion budget deficit this year, wants government employees to help develop ideas to reduce federal spending and he wants Congress to approve legislation requiring lawmakers to offset any spending increases with budget cuts or tax increases. "This principle -- known as pay-go -- helped transform large deficits into surpluses in the 1990s. Now we must restore that sense of fiscal discipline," he said during his weekly radio and internet address.

- Obama also made a pitch for pay-as-you-go legislation to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a letter Friday. "After years of fiscal irresponsibility, returning our nation to fiscal health also requires a budget process that can help make those plans a reality," he wrote.

Sources: The White House, the Washington Post, FoxNews.com, and the Associated Press.

44, Day 95: Let Them Have Student Loans

Josh Moss — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 22:49:45 GMT

An ongoing log of the daily activities of the 44th president of the United States during his first 100 days:

-- President Obama wants to see government stop the practice of backing private loans to college students, and instead wants to see a program of direct government financial aid to students. "We have a student loan system where we are giving lenders billions of dollars in wasteful subsidies," he said today at a White House event. Obama added that "there are few things as fundamental to the American dream or as essential as a good education."

-- Obama had to be "briefly relocated" today when authorities discovered a single-engine airplane going where it shouldn't be. The plane had gone into restricted airspace near the Capitol, and that triggered the action to move the president. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said it was done out of an "abundance of caution."

-- A self-proclaimed BlackBerry addict, the president will soon get a top-secret version of the device.

Source: The White House, the Associated Press, the Washington Post, and the Washington Times,

Stressing Out Over Stress Tests

Mark Stein — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:14:15 GMT

Worried about what the government's "stress tests" will reveal about the U.S. financial system when the feds begin to privately disclose the results to America's biggest banks today?

Take some comfort in knowing that no matter how bad things are in New York, Charlotte, and San Francisco, they're probably better than the situation in Frankfurt, Paris, and Edinburgh.

A young Swiss credit-analysis firm did its own analysis of 17 leading banks around the world and concluded that American banks are in pretty good shape, especially compared with their rivals across the Atlantic. "The biggest risk is in Europe," Peter Jeggli, founder of Independent Credit View in Zurich, told the Daily Telegraph in London.

"Americans are ahead of the curve," Jeggli said. "European banks are exposed to U.S. commercial real estate and to problems in Eastern Europe and Spain, where the situation is turning dramatic. We think Spanish savings banks are basically bust and will need a government bailout."

To back up his assertion, Jeggli said his firm's research concluded that Deutsche Bank has on hand enough reserves to cover a default rate of 0.7 percent; that compares poorly with its ratio of non-performing assets, which is 1.67 percent.

RBS has enough reserves to handle a 1.23 percent default rate; its non-performing assets now comprise 2.43 percent of its loan portfolio. Credit Agricole, meanwhile, has set aside reserves sufficient to cover a 2.63 percent default rate, while reporting that 3.64 percent of its loans are non-performing.

Contrast that with U.S. banks. J.P. Morgan -- Portfolio.com's pick as the new king of Wall Street -- has reserves equivalent to 3.11 percent of its loans, of which 1.95 percent are considered non-performing. Even on-the-ropes Citigroup's reserves, 4 percent, more than cover the 3.22 percent of loans it says are non-performing.

Perhaps American banks are just more realistic about how deep a hole they have dug themselves into. As the International Monetary Fund noted earlier this week in its semiannual Global Financial Stability Report, U.S. banks have written down the value of their suspect loans by $510 billion, or about 48 percent of the $1.05 trillion haircut they will ultimately suffer. European banks outside Britain, meanwhile, have written down $154 billion in assets, a mere 14 percent of the $1.1 trillion in losses the IMF expects them to suffer by the end of next year.

Now that's stress.

by Mark Stein

King of the Private Equity Hill

Mark Stein — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:23:16 GMT

The trade magazine Private Equity International is just out with its annual list of PE funds ranked by their success in raising capital.

Before we get to the winner, let's confirm that, yes, raising capital amid the worst recession in more than half a century has been difficult. Exactly how difficult is not easy to gauge, since PEI magazine uses a five-year rolling average^† in compiling its list. (And it doesn't get into the touchy business of ranking how much the firms earned on their investments.)

We can say that the aggregate five-year rolling average among the top 50 firms was essentially flat in the latest tally -- $813 billion versus $810 billion -- after having soared 47 percent between 2007 and 2008.

Who's on top? TPG, having raised $52.35 billion over the last 64 months -- $3.6 billion more than its total last year, when it finished in third place. Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Area came in second place for the second year, and last year's leader, Carlyle, slipped to third place.

The Top 10 finishers are in a chart below. The Top 300 will be revealed soon on Private Equity International's website.

For those keeping score, the biggest decliner was Permira, in London. Its total dropped by more than half, to $12.67 billion in the most recent tally, and it fell to 21st place from 8th place last year.

by Mark Stein

^†It's actually closer to a 64-month rolling average, since the magazine starts counting on January 1 -- of 2004 for this year's total -- and doesn't stop until April 15 of the year the numbers are release.

RANK	FIRM	CAPITAL (billions)	CHANGE (billions)	2008 RANK
1	TPG	$52.35	+$3.60	3
2	GSPIA*	$48.99	-$0.06	2
3	Carlyle Group	$47.73	-$4.27	1
4	Kohlberg Kravis Roberts	$40.46	+$0.79	4
5	Apollo Global	$35.18	+$3.36	6
6	Bain Capital	$34.95	+$3.24	7
7	CVC Capital	$33.73	-$3.11	5
8	Blackstone Group	$30.8	+$7.5	10
9	Warburg Pincus	$23.0	N/C	11
10	Apax Partners	$21.33	-$3.90	9

*GSPIA is Goldman Sachs Principal Investment AreaRelated Links
Masters of the Universe, Ranked
Private Equity and Sex
Barbarians Must Wait

44, Day 94: What's in Obama's Wallet?

Josh Moss — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:39:29 GMT

An ongoing log of the daily activities of the 44th president of the United States during his first 100 days:

-- President Obama, meeting today with senior executives from 13 companies that issue credit cards, called for easy-to-understand contracts that would consumers understand the real terms of their cards.
"The days of any time, any reason rate hikes and late fee traps have to end," Obama said. The credit card industry has been largely opposed to new congressional efforts to reform what they do. The executives said they'd try to work with the administration--not exactly the rousing "we'll solve this problem" lots of Americans in debt want to hear.

-- Obama went to Capitol Hill to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day. "Today, and every day, we have an opportunity, as well as an obligation, to confront these scourges -- to fight the impulse to turn the channel when we see images that disturb us, or wrap ourselves in the false comfort that others' sufferings are not our own," he said. "Instead, we have the opportunity to make a habit of empathy; to recognize ourselves in each other; to commit ourselves to resisting injustice and intolerance and indifference in whatever forms they may take."

-- Let it be known: Barack Obama would like to see a playoff schedule put in place to determine the national college football champion. "I don't want to stir up controversy," Obama said as he welcome the Florida Gators to the White House. "You guys are the national champions -- I'm not backing off the fact we need a playoff system. But I have every confidence that you guys could have beat anybody else. And so we'll see how that plays itself out."

Sources: The White House, the Washington Post, and the Boston Globe.

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Madoff Clawback Campaign Targets Ex-Clients

Mark Stein — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:00:08 GMT

Whether it's adding insult to financial injury or a matter of fairness, hundreds of former investors in Bernard Madoff's bankrupt management firm may have to return as much as $735 million.

The trustee unwinding the confessed fraudster's massive Ponzi scheme has alerted 223 of Madoff's former clients to return any money they ever withdrew from the investment securities company. The letter could be a prelude to legal action to recoup dispersed funds and redistribute them to victims who lost everything, including their initial investments.

The letters, from trustee Irving H. Picard, of Baker & Hostetler law firm in Manhattan, went to clients who withdrew their money before Madoff admitted to running his vast Ponzi scheme where he used money from new investors to pay off old ones. Picard's targets are individuals, not funds that fed client investments to Madoff.

Picard said he is not trying to recoup money from clients who were "net losers," meaning they had deposited more money than they withdrew. Legally the trustee can recover money paid out then redistribute it proportionately to all the investors hurt in the scam -- and it's a procedure that has been used in prior investor fraud schemes.

"The purpose of the letter is not to threaten customers but to initiate discussion with them and hopefully each an amicable resolution," he said in a statement.

New York law only permits pursuing the return of assets -- principal as well as profit -- over the six years prior to the investment firm's bankruptcy in December.

Looming behind Picard's clawback letters is the threat that the former clients might be sued -- a prospect that is unlikely to sit well with those who were breathing a sigh of relief over their close escape from the collapse of Madoff's fake financial empire.

While Madoff sits in jail awaiting his June sentencing for the $65 billion rip-off, activity is swirling around his assets, including homes and boats. His investment securities company will be put up for sale at an April 27 auction; several potential buyers have submitted bid, including Castor Pollux Securities.

The sale's proceeds will go to defrauded investors. Some 8,000 have submitted claims. However, the $15 million or so expected from the sale (the amount of which will depend on gross revenue and shares traded through 2012) will be far from enough to cover investor losses.

The case is Securities Investor Protection Corp. v. Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, 08-01789, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

by Elizabeth Olson

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Merrill, Muzzle, and the Mob

Megan Barnett — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:45:49 GMT

The Bank of America-Merrill Lynch deal has pretty much looked rotten from the start, but the accusations flying around today about who-said-what are making it downright putrid.

This morning's Wall Street Journal must have landed with a particularly loud thud on Henry Paulson's and Ben Bernanke's doorsteps. In it, a story included testimony by Bank of America chief executive Ken Lewis that specifically fingered former Treasury secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke for effectively muzzling Lewis on the ugly details of the Merrill financial picture. Basically, Lewis says he wanted to disclose the bank's losses to shareholders and kill the deal but Paulson and Bernanke instructed him not to.

Paulson and Bernanke denied the charges.

But later today, New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo corroborated Lewis's testimony. In an angry letter to regulars and lawmakers overseeing the TARP bailout program, Cuomo says that his investigation found that Paulson actually threatened to oust Lewis and the Bank of America board if they walked away from the Merrill deal. Paulson himself corroborated this story, according to Cuomo, but he said he made the threat at the request of Bernanke.

Now we understand why Ken Lewis always seems so nervous and uncomfortable in public appearances. Managing a waste removal franchise for Tony Soprano would be less stressful than holding out your shareholders to dry in order to save your job and the U.S. financial system at the secret demand of the Federal Reserve chairman and Secretary of the Treasury.

Is this a conspiracy theory or a political stunt or the truth? Whatever the case, Joe Weisenthal at the Business Insider has it right: it's time to put these guys under oath in public to find out exactly who is lying. It's pretty clear someone is.

by Megan Barnett

44, Day 93: Earthly Concerns

Josh Moss — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:14:03 GMT

An ongoing log of the daily activities of the 44th president of the United States during his first 100 days:

-Marking Earth Day, President Obama traveled to Iowa to tout what he called a "beginning a new era of energy exploration." To do that, the president unveiled an initiative to lease federal waters as a way to generate electricity from ocean currents and the wind.

-Meanwhile, Vice President Biden declared that "every day is Earth Day" as he announced that $300 million in stimulus money will be earmarked for state and local efforts to expand the number of clean and sustainable vehicles on the roads.

-And on Capitol Hill, administration officials called for legislation to curb US greenhouse gas emissions. But they steered clear of telling lawmakers how it should be done.

Sources: The White House, CNN.com, and the Wall Street Journal.

Portfolio.com: Daily Brief

ACBJ to relaunch Portfolio.com

44, Day 97: On Golf, Swine Flu, and a "Hallmark Holiday"

44, Day 96: Where's the Suggestion Box?

44, Day 95: Let Them Have Student Loans

Stressing Out Over Stress Tests

King of the Private Equity Hill

RANK

FIRM

CAPITAL(billions)

CHANGE(billions)

2008RANK

44, Day 94: What's in Obama's Wallet?

Madoff Clawback Campaign Targets Ex-Clients

Merrill, Muzzle, and the Mob

44, Day 93: Earthly Concerns

CAPITAL
(billions)

CHANGE
(billions)

2008
RANK