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I used Shazam to discover Let Me Go by Nouvelle Vague
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Business Card
mer., 14 oct. 2009 21:42
tags:bestcamera work
这次没了title，不知到明年能不能加上一行小字，眼睛累，不多写了。
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(BN) Tengzhong Buys GM's Hummer as Yang Sees `Explosive Growth' for SUV Brand
Sichuan Tengzhong Agrees to Purchase Hummer From General Motors Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. agreed to buy the Hummer brand from General Motors Co., adding sport-utility vehicles to a product lineup that includes bridge parts and construction equipment. Tengzhong will have an 80 percent stake through an investment group with entrepreneur Suolang Duoji, who will hold the rest, according to a statement on GM’s Web site. The sale is worth $150 million, people familiar with the deal said Oct. 8, about 70 percent less than GM valued it in court. Acquiring Hummer propels Chengdu, China-based Tengzhong, a privately owned industrial manufacturer, into the passenger- vehicle industry. Chief Executive Officer Yang Yi said he wants to grow the business beyond the U.S. market, which accounts for about two-thirds of the brand’s sales. “We are really looking to expand our global reach to tackle some of the high-growth markets, particularly the China market, in which we expect to enjoy explosive growth,” Yang said yesterday through a translator in an interview. Disposing of Hummer is a victory for GM in its post- bankruptcy restructuring after the sale of the Saturn unit to Penske Automotive Group Inc. fell through last week. GM is shutting Saturn and Pontiac and is close to a deal with Sweden’s Koenigsegg Group to acquire the Saab brand. Hummer plans to resume exports to China, Europe, the Middle East and Russia, CEO Jim Taylor said in an interview. It will probably take five to six months to adapt vehicles to Chinese regulations before Hummer can export in any significant numbers, Taylor said. Staying in Michigan Hummer will remain based in southeastern Michigan, starting with about 100 to 150 people, Taylor said. The next step would be to hire about 200 engineers, he said. The company plans to continue contracting with GM for vehicle production from plants in Mishawaka, Indiana, and Shreveport, Louisiana, for two to three years, Taylor said. Tengzhong and Hummer executives will meet in China next week to determine product, manufacturing and expansion plans, Taylor said. The brand has been profitable, Taylor said, and he expects it to continue to make money. Hummer plans to ramp up exports before exploring assembly in China, pending the appropriate regulatory approvals, Taylor said. He expects Hummer to follow the typical pattern of importing to China in small numbers, then send almost fully assembled vehicles for final assembly in the country, then send kits for assembly and finally produce most of the car in China. “It will be a gradual process,” Taylor said. “It takes three to four years to accommodate.” Protecting Jobs Rising gasoline prices helped erase U.S. demand for the full-size SUVs made by Hummer, whose value Detroit-based GM had projected at $500 million in court documents earlier this year. GM left Chapter 11 on July 10 and is keeping its Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC brands in the U.S. Tengzhong and GM had said the accord would protect more than 3,000 U.S. corporate, manufacturing and dealership jobs. The sale agreement caps talks that Tengzhong had disclosed in June. Hummer’s dealer accords and senior management team will be taken over by Tengzhong, the maker of special-use vehicles, structural parts for highways and bridges, and construction machinery. Tengzhong plans to apply for Chinese regulatory approval once a binding agreement with GM is made, said a person familiar with the matter. Duoji, Tengzhong’s investment partner, has holdings that include Hong Kong-based Lumena Resources Corp., in which he holds a 38 percent stake, according to Bloomberg Data. Credit Suisse is the financial adviser and Shearman & Sterling LLP is international legal counsel to Tengzhong. Citigroup Inc. is advising GM. Declining Demand GM bought the license for the Hummer brand from AM General in 1999 and started selling the $140,000 H1, a 7,600-pound (3,400-kilogram) SUV patterned after the all-terrain military vehicle popularized for road use by actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is now California’s governor. H1 production ended in 2006, when Hummer’s U.S. deliveries peaked at 71,524, according to Autodata Corp. U.S. sales of the SUVs fell 51 percent in 2008, when retail gasoline reached a record $4.11 a gallon, and 63 percent this year through September. The cheapest model, the H3, starts at about $31,000. To contact the reporter on this story: Katie Merx in Southfield, Michigan, at kmerx@bloomberg.net Find out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://bbiphone.bloomberg.com/iphone
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[Google Fast Flip] M&A: Behind the Boom in Unsolicited Bids
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M&A: Behind the Boom in Unsolicited Bids
By Frank Aquila Although merger and acquisition activity has fallen significantly since the start of the credit crisis in 2007, one corner of M&A seems rather busy these days: unsolicited takeover bids. The recent increase in the size and number of these Business Week M&A: Behind the Boom in Unsolicited Bids...
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[Google Fast Flip] Did Bankers’ Pay Add to This Mess?
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Did Bankers’ Pay Add to This Mess?
PROPOSALS to cap the compensation of bank C.E.O.’s have gained traction lately as a means of heading off another financial crisis. summit meeting last week in Pittsburgh agreed in principle to reform , with the goals of reducing risk-seeking behavior New York Times Did Bankers’ Pay Add to This Mess?...
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[Google Fast Flip] One Year Later, Google's Project 10^100 Lives! But Overwhelmed Google Needs Your Help.
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One Year Later, Google's Project 10^100 Lives! But Overwhelmed Google Needs Your Help.
by MG Siegler on September 24, 2009 Every so often, we get pinged about Google's Project 10^100. The program, which asked for ideas that could change the world which Google would in turn put money towards, launched exactly one year ago (in honor of the TechCrunch One Year Later, Google's Project 10^100 Lives! But Overwhelmed Google Needs Your Help....
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NYTimes: Stock Traders Find Speed Pays, in Milliseconds
Stock Traders Find Speed Pays, in Milliseconds
High-frequency trading may give traders using powerful computers an unfair advantage in the stock market, critics say....
It was July 15, and Intel, the computer chip giant, had reporting robust earnings the night before. Some investors, smelling opportunity, set out to buy shares in the semiconductor company Broadcom. (Their activities were described by an investor at a major Wall Street firm who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his job.) The slower traders faced a quandary: If they sought to buy a large number of shares at once, they would tip their hand and risk driving up Broadcom’s price. So, as is often the case on Wall Street, they divided their orders into dozens of small batches, hoping to cover their tracks. One second after the market opened, shares of Broadcom started changing hands at $26.20.
The slower traders began issuing buy orders. But rather than being shown to all potential sellers at the same time, some of those orders were most likely routed to a collection of high-frequency traders for just 30 milliseconds — 0.03 seconds — in what are known as flash orders. While markets are supposed to ensure transparency by showing orders to everyone simultaneously, a loophole in regulations allows marketplaces like Nasdaq to show traders some orders ahead of everyone else in exchange for a fee.
In less than half a second, high-frequency traders gained a valuable insight: the hunger for Broadcom was growing. Their computers began buying up Broadcom shares and then reselling them to the slower investors at higher prices. The overall price of Broadcom began to rise.
Soon, thousands of orders began flooding the markets as high-frequency software went into high gear. Automatic programs began issuing and canceling tiny orders within milliseconds to determine how much the slower traders were willing to pay. The high-frequency computers quickly determined that some investors’ upper limit was $26.40. The price shot to $26.39, and high-frequency programs began offering to sell hundreds of thousands of shares.
The result is that the slower-moving investors paid $1.4 million for about 56,000 shares, or $7,800 more than if they had been able to move as quickly as the high-frequency traders.
Multiply such trades across thousands of stocks a day, and the profits are substantial. High-frequency traders generated about $21 billion in profits last year, the Tabb Group, a research firm, estimates.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/business/24trading.html
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(BN) SAP Loses Clients to Oracle as Ellison's Acquisition Spree Boosts Products
June 22 (Bloomberg) -- SAP AG, whose new software sales plunged 33 percent last quarter, is struggling to wrest orders from Oracle Corp. as more customers like Jeff Kuckenbaker opt for the U.S. company’s software and services to run businesses.
Kuckenbaker, who manages technology at Star Trac, an Irvine, California-based fitness-equipment company with four million clients in 75 countries, picked Oracle over SAP last month to tie its diverse computers into a seamless network.
“Oracle demonstrated the best ability to address our globalization, working in multiple languages and currencies,” said Kuckenbaker, the vice president for information systems. Oracle’s range of products let him link operations “without having to be in the business of software integration.”
SAP, the world’s biggest maker of business-management software that tracks purchases and handles payroll, is losing market share to No. 2 Oracle. Corporations are reining in spending and seeking to buy more software from one company to get a better price. Oracle Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison has been the most acquisitive in the industry to expand his offerings. SAP CEO Leo Apotheker has made few deals, preferring to lean on internal development.
SAP is “clearly losing market share,” said Adam Wood, a Paris-based analyst at Exane BNP Paribas who rates SAP “underperform.” “Because of the acquisitions Oracle has made recently, it’s left them with a bigger product range for their existing customers.”
Oracle Outperforming
Oracle stock is outperforming SAP’s, rising 17 percent this year compared with a 14 percent gain for its German rival. Oracle rose 2 percent to $20.66 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on June 19. SAP fell 0.2 percent to 28.86 euros. No analyst has a “sell” rating on Oracle, 21 suggest buying the stock and eight recommend holding it, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Twenty-one analysts suggest selling SAP stock, 14 recommend holding it and 18 have “buy” ratings.
Based in the German town of Walldorf, SAP’s first-quarter license revenue plunged 33 percent to 418 million euros ($585 million). In March, Redwood City, California-based Oracle posted a 12 percent slide in new software license sales for this kind of application, to $396 million in the quarter ended Feb. 28. Oracle reports fiscal fourth-quarter results tomorrow.
Analysts watch license revenue because it is a measure of future business from maintenance and upgrades, and ensures a more sustained revenue stream. SAP’s Apotheker says his company prefers to look at product revenue, which includes software and software-related services.
SAP’s Model
“We’ve been saying for years that SAP’s model isn’t only based on licenses,” he said after an event in Paris June 17. “The real figure to look at is not licenses but product revenue, which was stable in the first quarter, or slightly down because of the crisis. I don’t think we’re losing market share. I rather have the feeling we’re gaining market share.”
Still, in a Goldman, Sachs & Co. survey on information technology spending by purchasing managers published March 9, Oracle was listed among gainers of IT spending dollars, while SAP was among the losers.
“SAP customers used to be steadfast to SAP,” Ray Wang, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc., said in an interview from Foster City, California. “They aren’t anymore. We talked to 900 SAP customers and about 816 of them said they are looking at alternatives to SAP for the first time. That means they are more open to looking at an Oracle component inside an SAP environment.”
‘Rising Faster’
This year, Oracle had orders from companies such as Kraft Foods Global Inc., Home Box Office Inc. and CherryRoad Technologies Inc. Both Oracle and SAP may be gaining on smaller rivals such as San Francisco-based Salesforce.com Inc. and Darmstadt, Germany-based Software AG.
“Oracle might be rising faster than SAP in terms of licenses,” said Ulrich Trabert, an analyst at Bankhaus Metzler in Frankfurt. “Likely they’re both winning market share from small companies.”
SAP’s market share for enterprise resource management software, which includes programs to handle financial, human resources and payroll tasks, remained unchanged in 2008 over the previous year at 18 percent, said Michael Fauscette, a San Mateo-based analyst for market researcher IDC. Oracle’s share rose one percentage point to 11 percent, he said.
Ellison’s Expansion
While SAP has mainly relied on expanding its existing businesses, Oracle’s Ellison went on an acquisition spree beginning with PeopleSoft Inc., buying more than 50 companies. That has enabled Oracle to expand beyond database software, and it now sells programs to handle a range of tasks from human resources to analyzing internal operations and manufacturing.
“The thing that we used to get criticized for, having lots of applications, is actually a pretty good thing right now,” Oracle President Charles Phillips on a March 18 conference call.
Oracle also makes money on related software when it sells applications. A business application often requires additional database features and so-called middleware, programs that help different kinds of software communicate.
SAP, under the leadership of Former Co-CEO Henning Kagermann, expanded mainly through internal growth. SAP’s biggest acquisition is France’s Business Objects SA, which it agreed to buy in October 2007 for 4.8 billion euros.
Demand Drop
“SAP has a mixed-growth model,” as evidenced by the acquisition of Business Objects, said Apotheker. “We’re the only software maker with 20 straight quarters of double-digit internal growth. The only way to measure innovation is internal growth. We will grow through organic and non-organic growth.” SAP may emulate Oracle’s acquisition strategy. This month, Apotheker told French daily Le Figaro that SAP may spend as much as 5 billion euros on acquisitions. He declined to say what kinds of companies it would seek.
Both SAP and Oracle are experiencing a drop in demand for applications that help companies run so-called enterprise resource planning, or ERP, software.
In February this year, purchasing managers ranked such software as the 34th on a list of spending priorities, compared with 11th in June 2008 and third on the priority list at the end of 2007, according to the Goldman Sachs survey.
“Traditionally, SAP customers would start with SAP first and buy as much from them as they can,” Forrester’s Wang said. “They make a commitment to a single vendor. We have seen an erosion in that strategy. These are die-hard SAP shops, and now because of the pace innovation, the support issues, and the economic conditions, they are looking to alternatives.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Frances Robinson in Frankfurt at frobinson6@bloomberg.net Simon Thiel in London at sthiel1@bloomberg.net .
Find out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://bbiphone.bloomberg.com/iphone
Kuckenbaker, who manages technology at Star Trac, an Irvine, California-based fitness-equipment company with four million clients in 75 countries, picked Oracle over SAP last month to tie its diverse computers into a seamless network.
“Oracle demonstrated the best ability to address our globalization, working in multiple languages and currencies,” said Kuckenbaker, the vice president for information systems. Oracle’s range of products let him link operations “without having to be in the business of software integration.”
SAP, the world’s biggest maker of business-management software that tracks purchases and handles payroll, is losing market share to No. 2 Oracle. Corporations are reining in spending and seeking to buy more software from one company to get a better price. Oracle Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison has been the most acquisitive in the industry to expand his offerings. SAP CEO Leo Apotheker has made few deals, preferring to lean on internal development.
SAP is “clearly losing market share,” said Adam Wood, a Paris-based analyst at Exane BNP Paribas who rates SAP “underperform.” “Because of the acquisitions Oracle has made recently, it’s left them with a bigger product range for their existing customers.”
Oracle Outperforming
Oracle stock is outperforming SAP’s, rising 17 percent this year compared with a 14 percent gain for its German rival. Oracle rose 2 percent to $20.66 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on June 19. SAP fell 0.2 percent to 28.86 euros. No analyst has a “sell” rating on Oracle, 21 suggest buying the stock and eight recommend holding it, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Twenty-one analysts suggest selling SAP stock, 14 recommend holding it and 18 have “buy” ratings.
Based in the German town of Walldorf, SAP’s first-quarter license revenue plunged 33 percent to 418 million euros ($585 million). In March, Redwood City, California-based Oracle posted a 12 percent slide in new software license sales for this kind of application, to $396 million in the quarter ended Feb. 28. Oracle reports fiscal fourth-quarter results tomorrow.
Analysts watch license revenue because it is a measure of future business from maintenance and upgrades, and ensures a more sustained revenue stream. SAP’s Apotheker says his company prefers to look at product revenue, which includes software and software-related services.
SAP’s Model
“We’ve been saying for years that SAP’s model isn’t only based on licenses,” he said after an event in Paris June 17. “The real figure to look at is not licenses but product revenue, which was stable in the first quarter, or slightly down because of the crisis. I don’t think we’re losing market share. I rather have the feeling we’re gaining market share.”
Still, in a Goldman, Sachs & Co. survey on information technology spending by purchasing managers published March 9, Oracle was listed among gainers of IT spending dollars, while SAP was among the losers.
“SAP customers used to be steadfast to SAP,” Ray Wang, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc., said in an interview from Foster City, California. “They aren’t anymore. We talked to 900 SAP customers and about 816 of them said they are looking at alternatives to SAP for the first time. That means they are more open to looking at an Oracle component inside an SAP environment.”
‘Rising Faster’
This year, Oracle had orders from companies such as Kraft Foods Global Inc., Home Box Office Inc. and CherryRoad Technologies Inc. Both Oracle and SAP may be gaining on smaller rivals such as San Francisco-based Salesforce.com Inc. and Darmstadt, Germany-based Software AG.
“Oracle might be rising faster than SAP in terms of licenses,” said Ulrich Trabert, an analyst at Bankhaus Metzler in Frankfurt. “Likely they’re both winning market share from small companies.”
SAP’s market share for enterprise resource management software, which includes programs to handle financial, human resources and payroll tasks, remained unchanged in 2008 over the previous year at 18 percent, said Michael Fauscette, a San Mateo-based analyst for market researcher IDC. Oracle’s share rose one percentage point to 11 percent, he said.
Ellison’s Expansion
While SAP has mainly relied on expanding its existing businesses, Oracle’s Ellison went on an acquisition spree beginning with PeopleSoft Inc., buying more than 50 companies. That has enabled Oracle to expand beyond database software, and it now sells programs to handle a range of tasks from human resources to analyzing internal operations and manufacturing.
“The thing that we used to get criticized for, having lots of applications, is actually a pretty good thing right now,” Oracle President Charles Phillips on a March 18 conference call.
Oracle also makes money on related software when it sells applications. A business application often requires additional database features and so-called middleware, programs that help different kinds of software communicate.
SAP, under the leadership of Former Co-CEO Henning Kagermann, expanded mainly through internal growth. SAP’s biggest acquisition is France’s Business Objects SA, which it agreed to buy in October 2007 for 4.8 billion euros.
Demand Drop
“SAP has a mixed-growth model,” as evidenced by the acquisition of Business Objects, said Apotheker. “We’re the only software maker with 20 straight quarters of double-digit internal growth. The only way to measure innovation is internal growth. We will grow through organic and non-organic growth.” SAP may emulate Oracle’s acquisition strategy. This month, Apotheker told French daily Le Figaro that SAP may spend as much as 5 billion euros on acquisitions. He declined to say what kinds of companies it would seek.
Both SAP and Oracle are experiencing a drop in demand for applications that help companies run so-called enterprise resource planning, or ERP, software.
In February this year, purchasing managers ranked such software as the 34th on a list of spending priorities, compared with 11th in June 2008 and third on the priority list at the end of 2007, according to the Goldman Sachs survey.
“Traditionally, SAP customers would start with SAP first and buy as much from them as they can,” Forrester’s Wang said. “They make a commitment to a single vendor. We have seen an erosion in that strategy. These are die-hard SAP shops, and now because of the pace innovation, the support issues, and the economic conditions, they are looking to alternatives.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Frances Robinson in Frankfurt at frobinson6@bloomberg.net Simon Thiel in London at sthiel1@bloomberg.net .
Find out more about Bloomberg for iPhone: http://bbiphone.bloomberg.com/iphone
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�NYTimes: Financial Careers Come at a Cost to Families
ECONOMIC SCENE: Financial Careers Come at a Cost to Families
Among elite white-collar fields, finance appears to be hardest for achieving a balance between work and family....
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/business/economy/27leonhardt.html
Among elite white-collar fields, finance appears to be hardest for achieving a balance between work and family....
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/business/economy/27leonhardt.html
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