cfyves.com - Business

AIG and huge bonuses

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:16:00 -0300

Anyone think this is pretty wild??

A huge company that the american government gave billions and billions of dollars to in order that they could be "bailed out".

This company was about to issue huge bonuses out.... totalling somewhere in the 165 million dollar range. Bonuses for what?

A company that was about to faulter can now give it's own millions of dollars in bonuses in money that was "given" to them in order that they can continue to do business (and better business at that).

While many people worldwide live in the reality of this new economic frontier it seems that some of these corporations do not. It's not bad enough that in some cases corporations were pretty much gambling with people's money.... life savings in some cases... with little regard for those people's well being that they could make increasingly larger profit margins.... but now they've gotta reward themselves with more dough.

So as many have lost it all or near all... these guys should have bonuses after begging for billions and billions of $$..

Nice.

CNN : AIG's insistence on bonuses raises ire in Washington

OPEC emergency meeting on oil - What about consumers?

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:40:00 -0300

I think OPEC have realized just a little bit of what their consumers have experienced... a steep decline in monetary value.

Consumers have had their gas/energy prices spike incredibly high leaving their pockets drier... and OPEC has had their oil devalued by about %50 of where it peaked.

Although, products never go down for the consumer as fast as oil prices do... and while there's that convenience excuse about the delay in pricing due to the refining process... they forget that part when the wind blows a little and they jack the price of oil again.

All of this financial crumbling is creating panic (of course) and panic is not causing any positive results.

One thing that I've been thinking for quite some time is that all of these huge Corps have forgotten some simple principles that people like Henry Ford seemed to understand.

That you're growth really has to be in sync with the consumers of your product. Otherwise, you ain't selling cause no one's buyin'.

And in this global market, to have balance, there has to be syncronicity amongst growth as a whole.... and there has to be such a thing as reasonable growth or healthy growth when speaking of profit margin.

But.... i'm just some guy who's told you his $0.02... not some high roller who just gambled billions and lost them in "investments". So what do I know....

Here's the International Herald Tribune article on OPEC.

An RIAA tidbit

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:40:00 -0300

I found this article.. which echos a couple of things I mentioned before on this blog.

Seems like their trying to put a different spin.. suing an attorney who's been quite successful in cases against them.

Silly almost.

(InfoWorld blog post)

Corruption: Sex, drugs and oil

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:06:00 -0300

"Government in bed with the oil companies"... this is common "theory" for many people...... but I'm not sure anyone would have thought that "Government in bed with the oil companies" should be taken in literal terms.

Well, CNN is reporting that it's quite possibly a literal theory.

I guess.... one could say that in this relationship... there probably is an equation.

(Big Oil + Record$$$$$) + Government = One heck of a party.

Nothing like taking piles of money from people whom you (both as businesses and government) serve and making fools of yourselves.

Check out the CNN article here:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/10/news/economy/oil_officials.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008091015

ACDC to sell new album as WalMart exclusive??

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:22:00 -0300

I was pretty surprised to see this.... but maybe it's a gag.

ACDC is mentioned as possibly selling their upcoming album through WalMart... exclusively... on CD....

It would somewhat shock me, as digital sales seem to be where the market is and will be. I've switched to iTunes myself.

But, say if this did happen... I'm not anti-CD... and if the album had a ton of strong material on it... .I'd still possibly buy it.

Still kinda surprising though.

(ACDC + WalMart here)

A tale of Bill and Paul - Microsoft

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 09:13:00 -0300

I love looking around and reading articles about current news or of historical events gone by... about a wide range of subjects.

Technology is something that I both work in and love. So I'm often interested by "tech" stuff....

Here's a short article on Bill Gates and Paul Allen, and in brief how they started Microsoft.

Enjoy!

(Wired article)

Microsoft to "muscle" Yahoo into submission

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 22:25:00 -0300

This is why I dislike these huge corporate entities....

Microsoft may attempt to basically pay their way into the dismembering of Yahoo's board of directors.

I swear, in the tech business... all it's ever about is the control of the market. Not innovation or technology. The coporate entity is out to forever fatten it's profit margin. Not to serve the best "technological" solution or product.... but to have you guy "what they make".... partly by eliminating the competition.

(InfoWorld article)

RIAA website hacked

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:13:00 -0300

Seems like someone decided to have a little fun with the RIAA today as they hacked their website.

Here's a couple of interesting articles.

(ZDNet article)

(TorrentFreak article)

My opinion??

Well, I'm not really into the whole hack thing.... but at the same time, I'm not into going after every Tom, Dick and Harry out there to protect my old fashion business model that seems to miss what my current and potential market wants...

I'm an observer.

RIAA not suing for CD ripping

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:25:00 -0300

According to a couple of things I found, they are not suing over ripping mp3s from CDs, but they do non the less allege that it's making illegal copies of their product.

(article here)

That's my only blurb on the subject today.

Oh RIAA, you're so cute....

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:26:00 -0300

Ok.

I've read so much in the last few years about the RIAA vs copyright infringement.... illegal downloading, chasing little kids and/or single moms.

After reading through this, I find the claims could get silly..... or sillier....

I'd like to make my position clear first... I don't really believe in taking music without paying the artist unless the artist is actually giving the consumer the choice (ala Radiohead.... which was brilliant). I believe in paying for music.

I do believe that a great advantage lies with consumers checking out services like iTunes, where as they can preview much of an album. Years back, I used to buy many CDs... and let me tell you, there were so many that only featured one decent song it made me sick. Now, I'll buy "the song" on iTunes if I choose.

Anyways.... here's where it gets fuzzy.

The RIAA now claims in the suit VS Jeffrey Howell that any legally purchased CD cannot be ripped into mp3 or similar format.... if this was ruled in favor of the RIAA, can you imagine just how many people who bought CDs and ripped them for their iPods and other MP3 players would be infringing on copyrights??? many many many.

I think that is purely nuts.

Imagine. Technology comes out, and certain markets begin to change.... technology changes again.... and all of a sudden, some rather large "vendors" notice their sales dip... they then notice the market for their product had changed (and it really had)... they failed on a new business opportunities.

They battle in courts on licensing issues....

Then, years after the battles began, they claim new damages resulting in technologies and practices that they failed to claim all along.... again... missing where their actual market is in today's age.

If I purchase music, I want to be able to back it up. Because the technology exists and I don't want to pay 4 times for the same album.

If I purchase music, I want to be able to play it in my car, on my MP3 player, because the technology exists... I'm not buying the album 4 times for 4 different formats.

If laws must be changed, I think that for both the consumer and the business... that when you purchase an album, you should have right to that music in whatever format. Not that you're gonna get a free CD if you bought it on iTunes, but if you bought it on iTunes, you burn it on CD... if you buy a CD, you should be able to rip it.

In my opinion (and I'm just some bozzo on the bus) the RIAA is either still lagging sorely behind where consumers are (and desire to be) or they are just trying to get some extra cash with lawsuits and pressuring law makers and courts.

That's 2 cents worth.

(Check out this article)

More funds for Facebook

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:07:00 -0300

Looks like Facebook may have gotten 2 more investors.... for about the same amount as Microsoft.

2 hedge funds worth $250 million each.

So, all of a sudden, Facebook has secured about $750 million in $$.

Not bad.

For about %4.8 of the Facebook business.... really really not bad.

(ZDNet blog)

Microsoft buys into Facebook

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 23:11:00 -0300

I just couldn't help but post something about this.

We've all heard of Facebook by now, like we should have all heard of Microsoft and Google.

Well, it was reported that Microsoft and Google were attempting to buy into Facebook.

It's now been announced that Microsoft has bought a 1.6% stake in Facebook.... and here's where it gets very interesting.

They bought the 1.6% stake in Facebook for $240 Million. ($240,000,000.00).

That means that the estimated value of Facebook is $15 Billion.
($15,000,000,000.00)

Facebook was started about 4 years ago.... out of an idea on a university campus.... now worth oodles and oodles.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is only 23 years old.

I have one question. Will their Web 2.0 bubble burst?

These businesses are based on user interest, user traffic.... users usage.... as fast as these businesses can be built, they can disappear.

Although, if invested properly, I'd say $15 billion could certainly last for quite some time.

(Yahoo article by AP)

Google's new venture - Mobile phone

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 20:43:00 -0300

The Google phone. Want one? Apple got into the Wireless industry.... to grab a piece of the 127 billion dollar pie. Now Google is set to jump into the game. And who can blame them. Maybe in about February 2008, we'll see the google phone. Here's an article about it on cnn.com

She's out for your money (or wants to make a deal)

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:05:00 -0300

I thought this article was quite amusing. Young lady, places an ad, looking for a wealthy husband. She says she's beautiful (common, we all are on the internet!).. 25... looking for romance as a business deal. There is a response in this article, by a banker... who analyzes this deal... and does a fine job. Seems as though the deal she tries to pitch is likely a terrible one in the eyes of the men she wishes to attract. Whatever happened to love???? Here is the article: (Reuters on Yahoo!)

RIAA longstanding shot in foot

Tue, 09 Oct 2007 09:06:00 -0300

I've followed (and really not that closely) all the RIAA legal movements, first against the file sharing programs like Napster et al. In more recent years, it has been against individuals... who just happen to be some of their potential market. Who can forget that young 12 girl in New York. I had forgotten about US congress's meeting with the RIAA, in which one congressman asked them "Are you headed to junior high schools to round up the usual suspects?" Classic. One thing that I've always thought... The record industry missed the boat with the new technologies that became so popular. They simply were not innovative when the market changed. Others were. Apple forged an identity with their iTunes and iPod (and all the others). That's a sevice I have quite happily used (iTunes). If the RIAA would have spent all that money they threw in lawsuits into some innovative venture.... just maybe they would have gotten more of a return than they got from the 12 year old girl or a single mom.. I think that in attempting to severly punish some potential customers (they still were and are potential customers) they're at greater risk with public image than they are with someone dowloading 24 songs (jurors found that Jammie Thomas made 24 songs available for download). I think the question is not and cannot be "how do we enforce the laws to keep with our business model" but rather "how can we keep and grow our businesses by adapting our business model to ever changing markets". The people who want to fight you (RIAA) tooth and nail are still your potential clients. Free Jammie - Ruled to pay $220,000 in damages. RIAA (ZDNet article)