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Showing results for:  “digital markets act”

Mutual Fund Name Changes

Today’s W$J has an article about mutual fund name changes entitled “The Bull Market in Mutual-Fund Name Changes.” Last year 719 funds changed their names, up from 505 the year before. Some name changes are the result of acquisitions. For example, following the acquisition of various Strong mutual funds, Wells Fargo changed their names to ... Mutual Fund Name Changes

Making markets seem thicker

The Internet (read: inexpensive information dissemination) comes to the notoriously informationally-challenged housing market. The WSJ reports on a new website, zillow.com, which, as the WSJ says, uses data such as tax records, sales history and the actual prices of “comparables” — homes in your area that are similar to yours — to come up with ... Making markets seem thicker

Oakland’s Fast-Food Tax — Madness or Genius?

From the good folks who brought us Ebonics as a second language (wait, make that first language) comes another creative policy proposal. On Tuesday night, the Oakland City Council decided to deal with its local trash problem by taxing fast-food restaurants up to $3,815 per year to pay for street clean-up. (Reports here and here.) ... Oakland’s Fast-Food Tax — Madness or Genius?

Vonage IPO and VoIP

Vonage, a provider of broadband telephone services, filed an IPO registration statement with the SEC today for the sale of $250 million of common stock. Basically, Vonage offers a cheap alternative to traditional phone service. For about $25 per month, you get unlimited calls to anywhere in the U.S. and Canada with all the bells ... Vonage IPO and VoIP

IPO Marketing Practices During the Waiting Period

The make or break time for an IPO from the underwriter’s perspective is the waiting period (the period of time beginning when the IPO registration statement is filed with the SEC and ending when the SEC declares the registration statement effective). This is when the underwriting syndicate is bookbuilding, i.e. actively marketing the deal and ... IPO Marketing Practices During the Waiting Period

Accurately Disclosing Oil Reserves

Yesterday’s W$J reported on an effort by oil companies to change the way reserves are reported in securities filings. SEC rules, it seems, mandate that reserves be measured in a manner that understates the actual amount of available oil. For example, the rules (available here) require that only proven reserves (those for which there is ... Accurately Disclosing Oil Reserves

Directors' Duties Even in Solvent Firms

In the Ribstein & Alces paper mentioned below by Keith, Ribstein & Alces write: The problem with holding that directors have duties to the “corporation” is that the corporation is composed of contracts among claimants with varying and possibly conflicting interests in the firm’s wealth. In solvent firms this is not troubling. Serving the firm’s ... Directors' Duties Even in Solvent Firms

Paternalism and the iPod, Part II: The Behavioral Economics of Apple?

Dave Hoffman over at Concurring Opinions asks: “Is Apple Exploiting Consumer Irrationality?” Dave is worried that consumers’ continuing iPod purchases may be irrational in the face of evidence that many iPod’s fail within their one year warranty period or shortly after, and that this strategy might explain Apple’s “growing market strength.” How likely are consumer ... Paternalism and the iPod, Part II: The Behavioral Economics of Apple?

Venture Backed Firms Going Public in London

This article from CFO.com reports that VCs have been having trouble taking their portfolio companies public in the U.S. largely because SOX has made it too expensive for small companies and the Wall Street research settlement has resulted in much less analyst coverage of small public companies. Larry Ribstein also talks about this here. As ... Venture Backed Firms Going Public in London

What’s "Courageous" When It Comes to Taxing Investment Income?

Today’s New York Times accuses President Bush of getting things “exactly backwards” by exhorting Congress to demonstrate political courage by resisting the urge to raise taxes. The politically courageous move, the Times says, would be to raise taxes (i.e., to refuse to extend the 2003 cuts beyond their expiration date). In particular, the Times calls ... What’s "Courageous" When It Comes to Taxing Investment Income?

Icahn Sued by Hedge Fund

Carl Icahn has been all over the news lately. I’m beginning to think it’s to garner publicty for the launch of a new reality show called something like “The Activist.� I would watch it. Anyway, today the W$J reports (click here) that Icahn is being sued by a hedge fund in connection with proposed transactions ... Icahn Sued by Hedge Fund

Record Hedge Fund Launch

The FT reports today that Jack Meyer, former manager of Harvard’s $25 billion plus endowment, has raised more than $5 billion for his new hedge fund, Convexity Capital. This represents the most successful launch in hedge fund history. Does this mean the talk of the decline of hedge funds was overblown? Perhaps not. Meyer is ... Record Hedge Fund Launch