Sunday
Oct292006

Photo Needs Caption and Yahoo Gets Too Much Grief For Not Buying YouTube

Craig Blitz, one my fellow regulars at Grounded Coffee and Tea, recent posted this fantastic photo on his flickr page. He is looking for captions. Please feel free to add one. /images/16689-15956/Scandinavian_Couple.jpg">Photo by Craig Blitz. Stock Market Angle?Yahoo gets too much grief for not buying YouTube. They own Flickr, which is a widely used and excellent site. As a matter of fact it's the only site I've ever paid an annual subcription to get an upgrade for. I think the $25 bucks a year for nearly limitless uploads and archiving is a great ...

Click to read more ...

Sunday
Oct292006

Shifting Equity Exposure To Asia

As the Dow Hits New Highs and the Economy Slows I Look For Ways to Shift Holdings to Asia. There is building pressure for a rally in Asian currencies. 1. The dollar has been gaining recently relative to the Yen.2. The Chinese Yuan is still pegged to the dollar at an artificially low valuation.3. At some point Asians are going to get sick of holding US Govt. IOU's.4. Asian economies look to remain strong relative to the U.S. as they diversify trading partners away from the U.S.5. ...

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
Oct252006

Seven Reasons Why I Bought More DIAGEO PLC (DEO)

What follows is a list of reasons that like an alcoholic ordering a Makers on the rocks, I couldn't resist Diageo.

Click to read more ...

Monday
Oct232006

Time's Magazine Properties for Sale

Comment on Jon Fine's Media Blog. He guesses a $300 million price tag for the magazine properties of Time/Warner. I just had to up the anti. Historically, Time Warner has had management that makes bad desicions. I think also that if we knew the breakdown of online revenues versus print revenues we could assign a proper multiple to each peice. I'd put a 30-40 multiple to the online business. I'm sure somone else can make more out of online than Time Inc. And a 12-15 p/e on the print businesseses. You have a breakdown for print revenue versus online revenue for the magazine properties? That will help us zero in on a price. NY Times P/E = 17 (great brands revenue's fighting internet trends)E.W. Scripps p/e = 32Gannet p/e = 11.5Tribune = 30. I can see how he got to a p/e of 15 but there is so much private equity around desparate to find big deals in which to park all that cash. I'll bet the multiple is even higher. And every bidder is going to have some genius way to increse margins to that the earnings number is higher too. I'm betting $400mm+ by the time egos and all are done. ...

Click to read more ...

Sunday
Oct222006

Infamous (the movie) Blows Away Capote (the movie)

While Infamous is not technically a chick flick it does have some homophobic moments.Okay you probably saw Capote with Phillip Seymor Hoffman (why does this man need three names?). You, know, he won that Oscar for playing an extremely affected gay man. Well, I'm glad I saw Capote first because Infamous blew it away. The presentation

Click to read more ...

Thursday
Oct192006

Oil Headed Back Up After the Election

A trader friend from the West Coast who has taken a couple month away from trading recent told me that he was back in one position in oil. He agrees with me that oil will go up ("see #1 from "Ten Post Election Predictions") after the mid-term elections but states clearly a reason I thought but didnt'

Click to read more ...

Monday
Oct162006

Ten Post Election Prediction

After the US mid-term election in November the following things will change: (where appropriate I've tried include how I am or might play these themes)

Click to read more ...

Monday
Oct162006

Book Review: Signs of Life: Surviving Katrina. (Neubie's Photo Debut Included)

When people feel politically powerless and frustrated what do they do? They take out a can of spray paint and let the world know how they feel. This is just what happened in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Click to read more ...

Friday
Oct132006

In My Next Life . . . I Would Like to Be A Popstar Please

Here you have James Blunt at Radio City on October 11th. This guy only has one record which doesn't give him a lot of material but boy did he have fun being a popstar. I could feel his joy at the "I can't believe all these people are here to see me" attitude he seemed to have.

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
Oct112006

Trade Log: Recent Trades

Somebody asked, "Hey Dave what are you buying lately?" Here is my answer, I haven't blogged the reasons for these trades and I should but I've been busy on magazine issues and last weekend's birthday bash.

Click to read more ...