I kind of like seeing the CEO of Wells Fargo on the hot seat in front of the house and senate for the fraudulent opening of customer accounts. I always felt Wells Fargo’s conduct in general and their attitude toward their customers was criminal. I just didn’t know how accurate my sentiments were. Don’t get me wrong. The […]
Back in 1991, when I was freelancing, casting central newsman Bob Flaherty, then of Equities magazine and now head of his own financial news service, told me to get on a train to New York, visit the offices of something called Instinet and write a story about it. Instinet, owned by Reuters at the time,
I just finished a white paper for a large financial institution on the well worn topic about which is better: active or passive investment strategies. Sometimes, it’s productive revisit old topics because they bring a fresh perspective that either reinforces ones’ conviction or makes a slight chink in the wall that slowly exerts its influence
My friend, entrepreneur Marc Kramer has started about 20 businesses. Some have succeeded, others have not. Among his start-ups, I asked him if he got signals early on that he had a clunker on his hands, and if so, what the signs were. Generally, he said, he knew within about 120 days whether or not the
I like earnings season because of the surprises. But sometimes, you get to see something over and over again. In what has become a tough reporting period, CEOs are taking to broadcast outlets explaining, first hand, the shortcomings of the most recently reported results. Notable so far this season was Sally Smith of Buffalo Wild
If a stock shows a significant positive change in revenues or earnings with an attendant rise in the price, do you believe portfolio managers will be moved to buy it? Conversely, if there were a significant negative change in earnings or revenues, would they short or sell it? Chances are the portfolio manager would not
All businesses occupy a perch. By that, I mean the manner in which their business operates throws off data that sheds light on their industry, competitors, suppliers or customers. Here’s some examples: • The number of times men click the profiles of fair-haired women on match.com answers the question whether or not gentleman do prefer blonds. Similarly
As the content arms race rolls on, I’m beginning suspect that some CMOs are getting off track in their approach to content marketing. Too much oversight. Too much strategy. Too much handwringing. In my experience, the primary value of content marketing is catching a prospect at the moment they happen to be searching for the product
Twitter will be acquired. Wall Street loves a good story, but it hates losses. With half a billion in losses in 2014, and the company on track to lose more this year than last, somebody is going to pull the plug. Parenthetical prediction: Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will not survive the year and focus on
My client was a unicorn way back in 2008, before the present day meaning of the word was repurposed to mean private companies valued at more than $1 billion. Last time I checked, the company was worth about $10 million, a stunning loss of 99% of the company’s value. Here’s how the company’s 12 step ascent and descent went: