I’ve seen a lot of documentaries on Dubai but thought this one stood out. It focuses on the 120,000 English businessmen and women who have traveled to Dubai to find fortune in the country, and its booming real estate market. Video also addresses the credit crunch. Hosted by Piers Morgan.
Pretty amazing Howard Schultz profile from 60 minutes below (12 minute video)
Schultz talks about how he went from living in public housing and selling his blood to get through college, to creating a $29 billion corporation that doubles sales every 3 years. He also dives into some of the unique marketing practices Starbucks used to create such a dominant brand, and how how he managed to get investors back in 1987.
Research in Motion (better known as the Blackberry maker) has taken a huge beating lately. Apple and Google’s steady march into the cell phone market has spelled trouble for the Canadian based company. The stock continues to decline, and it went down almost 10% in one day last week. However, I wanted to share this article in BusinessWeek last week as I believe RIMM could be a potential undervalued stock. (LINK BELOW)
Looking at key statistics it has an EPS of 2.2, and more importantly NO DEBT on its books.
I see two likely options, either it recovers or the company gets bought out, both of which results positively.
Haven’t pulled the trigger on this one, waiting for it to fall more (and still debating over AGNC or IVR for yield), but wanted to share this very interesting article.
The recent stock market rally (in conjunction with rising oil prices) has many people expecting a correction.
I’m a fan of value investing and purchasing undervalued stocks so it was refreshing to see this article in Barron’s titled “The Market’s Pullback Watch”, and to quote the article “does the market ever oblige the group that awaits the pullback?”
Some interesting statistics noted in the article:
“Investors Intelligence Survey of investment newsletters noted:
22% calling for correction
51% outright bullish
27% bearish”
The article touches on rising global oil prices (a hot political topic (hint: Iran) , and how this will affect the rally we have just seen. More on rising oil prices HERE, and HERE
This week will also be interesting to see how the BP civil trial plays out (recently delayed adding to the suspense!), and how much of an impact this will have on their stock price.
Barron’s “The Market Pullback Watch” Article located HERE.
The long waited Berkshire Hathaway portfolio is out.
Berkshire filed documents on Tuesday with the SEC revealing some of his new positions.
Buffett is taking a bigger stake in Wells Fargo and selling shares of J&J and Kraft. Buffett also took new positions in DVA, LMCA and added to IBM. Anything Buffett purchases or reups on is definitely worth taking a look at, especially if it drops below what he bought it at (which is how I had a huge gain on GE).
From Guru Focus:
New Purchases: DVA, LMCA,
Added Positions: IBM, DTV, WFC, CVS, V, GD, INTC, VRSK,
Reduced Positions: JNJ,
Sold Out: XOM,
For more info on Berkshire’s portfolio click links below:
GuruFocus “Warren Buffett Buys More IBM, Wells Fargo, DTV, CVS; Sells XOM and JNJ”
Washington Post “Berkshire Hathaway adds to Wells Fargo stake, scales back J&J, Kraft holdings in busy quarter”
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Reuters “Buffett builds media portfolio in fourth quarter”
Tony Horton profile yesterday on WSJ worth sharing.
Horton describes why/how he created P90x, his humble beginnings and what keeps him inspired
P90x is always good after a cheeseburger and donut combo at Tim Horton’s in Canada.
Pretty interesting background on the creator of Red Bull. Austrian entrepreneur and former marketing executive Dietrich Mateschitz actually discovered the drink in Thailand, which was previous called Krating Daeng (see below)
Dietrich found the concoction to be a great deterrent against jet lag during business trips, and thus used his marketing skills to change the flavor a bit and launch it globally, after realizing these revitalizing syrups did very well in Asia.
Krating Daeng drink creator Chaelo Yoovidhya, who Dietrich partnered with for all the secret ingredients, is now the wealthiest person in Thailand with an estimated net worth of $4 Billion.
More on Dietrich, founder of Red Bull HERE.
Great Bloomberg Venture interview below with Pete Cashmore (CEO of Mashable). I recently saw Pete in Forbes’s 30 under 30 which states “with 20 million monthly unique visitors, [Mashable] is almost as large as Huffington Post was when AOL bought it for $315 Million last year”
Mashable is:
-One of the most profitable blogs on the internet
-The second most linked to blog only after the Huffington Post
-Top 10 Blog within a year and half after launching
Cashmore describes his background, the rise of Mashable’s vast audience, and the site’s monetization.
Forbes article on Cashmore HERE
Guest Lecture at Yale by Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone. This video is over 1 hour in length but very informational, and Stephen describes some of his previous experiences in the Private Equity business (as well as the basic principles of leverage). Stephen’s net worth is approximately $4 billion.
Below is a great brief interview of Larry Leight as he describes the beginnings of upscale eye wear brand Oliver Peoples. Larry basically started as an apprentice, networking and learning the intricate design components that piece together metal eye wear. As a salesman for retailers, he eventually knew what sold to customers and what didn’t. [...]
Recently back from a trip to Canada, I wanted to include some business advice from our entrepreneurial friends up north. I could not find a better example than Quebec born Guy Laliberte, the CEO of Cirque du Soleil, whose story is most fascinating (he is one of the wealthiest men in Canada). Guy actually dropped [...]
Below is a quick, very informative video detailing the history and various acquisitions of News Corp since it’s inception. Most interesting to notice is that the company’s origins came from Australia, and it’s first American asset was the San Antonio Express News. CEO/Chairman Rupert Murdoch then bought The National Star, New York Post, and 50% [...]
With the film The Social Network being released recently, everyone has heard of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, the youngest billionaire in the world. However, some may not yet have heard of Yoshikazu Tanaka, the second wealthiest billionaire in the world under the age of 35. Yoshikazu is the only self made billionaire in Asia, of [...]
Whenever I’m getting a haircut I always notice all those Paul Mitchell bottles shelved up high, or in the hands of some hair stylists aggressively selling it to me. There must be a good story behind this brand which is constantly in ones face. Due to the packaging, most people know the name Paul Mitchell, [...]
