PetroChina: First Firm Worth $1 Trillion
November 5th, 2007Via: AP:
PetroChina became the world’s first company worth more than $1 trillion on Monday, surging past Exxon Mobil as the Chinese oil producer’s shares nearly tripled in their first day of trading in China.
State-owned PetroChina Co., a unit of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., is the country’s biggest oil and gas producer. Its Shanghai initial public offering of 4 billion shares raised $8.94 billion — a record for a mainland bourse.
Adding the value of PetroChina shares traded in Shanghai, Hong Kong and New York — and those still owned by the government — the company’s total market capitalization ballooned to just over $1 trillion, compared to Exxon Mobil Corp.’s $488 billion.
However, more than 85 percent the shares outstanding — 157.9 billion shares — are held by PetroChina’s parent company CNPC and are unlikely to trade in the market any time soon.
Saudi Prince Loses $4 Billion on Citigroup
November 5th, 2007Priceless.
Via: Telegraph:
The lift in Prince AlWaleed bin Talal’s Saudi Arabian Kingdom Holdings building has just two buttons. One is marked “ground floor”, while the other says, simply, HRH. AlWaleed is Saudi’s most famous businessman, a nephew of King Abdullah, the grandson of a former prime minister of Lebanon and a friend of Charles and Camilla.
He is a bedouin leader who still holds court to thousands of followers at his desert camp. And his hobbies include travelling the world in a custom Boeing 777 jet and taking the yacht to Cannes for the summer. You simply couldn’t make this stuff up.
He is also the single biggest shareholder in Citigroup, the bank in the eye of the sub-prime storm. Like other shareholders in Citi, he has seen his investment lose 32 per cent of its value this year – but in AlWaleed’s case that accounts for a whopping $4bn. The prince has not been afraid to throw his weight around at the bank in the past and will no doubt make his next trip on the corporate jet a visit to New York to make his presence felt with the bank’s remaining board members.
Research Credit: Ebbing
If Stocks Tank, Watch Gold
November 5th, 2007WARNING: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
Lots of very serious weirdness in the markets at the moment. The banking sector is on the ropes and isn’t catching any breaks at all. If U.S. equity markets sell off hard today—the futures are tanking at the moment—let’s see what gold does. If gold sells off hard, in lock step with stocks, you know that the current gold rally is blown full of speculator BS, and that they’re covering losses on stock derivatives. Now, if gold sells off just a little, stays flat or rises, it might mean that 800 is a real support, and that the people holding gold at these levels are strong longs.
I don’t like watching gold sell off with the stocks, unless, that is, I’ve got spare cash on hand to buy more gold.
I’m surprised that we haven’t seen a big sovereign gold dump by now on this rally. I know. Gold bugs don’t want to think about that possibility… But so what: Stay hedged. Stay happy. And if/when They dump, know that They can’t keep dumping it forever.
Death Threats for Analyst Covering Citigroup
November 5th, 2007“At some point, this thing is going to start looking less like a financial crisis and more like a mob war.”
—Unloading Toxic Waste Mortgage Backed Securities: “We Americans Were Very Cleverâ€
Via: Globe and Mail:
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce analyst Meredith Whitney says she’s received multiple death threats because of a research note she wrote that sparked a selloff in shares of banking behemoth Citigroup Inc.
The 37-year-old analyst, who is based in New York, is standing by her research, and lashing out against what she characterizes as analysts’ fear of negativity.
CIBC spokesman Rob McLeod said the bank is also standing by Ms. Whitney’s decision to downgrade Citigroup.
“People are scared to be negative, especially when a company has such a wide holding,” Ms. Whitney told The Times of London. “Clients are not pleased with my call, and I have had several death threats.”
Citigroup CEO Resigns, Replaced by Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin
November 5th, 2007“Such a tight relationship between politicians and business in the making of policy has probably not existed in the United States since the time of the “robber barons” in the late nineteenth century.”
—The Democratic Facade by Daniel Hellinger and Dennis R. Judd Brooks
To understand the nature of power in the United States, one has to look at the subgovernment—the network of iron triangles, revolving doors and corporate/government rat lines.
Americans sometimes get their knickers in a twist over the separation of church and state.
But what about the separation of Wall Street and state?
Not so much.
This Rubin situation at Citigroup is just the latest example of the gruesome blur of interests that I call the American Corporate State. Recall, of course, that Henry “Hank” Paulson, the current U.S. Treasury Secretary, is a former CEO of a little mom and pop operation called Goldman Sachs.
So, we’ve got the former head of the most powerful financial black ops firm in the world as the sitting Treasury Secretary and a former Treasury Secretary taking the reigns of Citigroup, one of the very largest corporations in the world—which also happens to be in deep, DEEP trouble.
How are these pricks going to pull the fat out of the fire this time?
Via: Yahoo / AP:
Citigroup Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Prince, beset by the company’s billions of dollars in losses from investing in bad debt, resigned Sunday and is being replaced as chairman by former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin.
The nation’s largest banking company announced Prince’s widely expected departure in a statement following an emergency meeting of its board. Citi also said Sir Win Bischoff, chairman of Citi Europe and a Member of the Citi management and operating committees, would serve as interim CEO. Rubin, a former co-chairman of Goldman, Sachs & Co., has served as the chair of Citi’s executive committee, and it was also expected he would take a greater role in leading the company.
In a separate statement, Citi, which took a hit of $6.5 billion from asset writedowns and other credit-related losses in the third quarter, said it would take an additional $8 billion to $11 billion in writedowns.
“It was the honorable course, given the losses we are now announcing,” Rubin said of Prince’s resignation in an interview with The Associated Press.
New Zealand: Geneva Finance Hits the Wall
November 5th, 2007Via: National Business Review:
Geneva Finance has secured a moratorium on capital withdrawals for the next six months at a shareholder meeting in Auckland today.
The moratorium resolution passed by an “overwhelming majority,” the company said in a statement.
During the moratorium investors will receive interest payments monthly. Geneva will continue to trade and lend to build up cash reserves, but will accept no new investments.
A third party, on behalf of the trustee, would monitor Geneva to ensure it kept to the conditions of the moratorium.
No Email Privacy Rights Under Constitution, U.S. Government Claims
November 4th, 2007The most fascinating aspect of this is that lots of people assume that their plain text email communications are private!
Via: Register:
On October 8, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati granted the government’s request for a full-panel hearing in United States v. Warshak case centering on the right of privacy for stored electronic communications. At issue is whether the procedure whereby the government can subpoena stored copies of your email – similar to the way they could simply subpoena any physical mail sitting on your desk – is unconstitutionally broad.
This appears to be more than a mere argument in support of the constitutionality of a Congressional email privacy and access scheme. It represents what may be the fundamental governmental position on Constitutional email and electronic privacy – that there isn’t any. What is important in this case is not the ultimate resolution of that narrow issue, but the position that the United States government is taking on the entire issue of electronic privacy. That position, if accepted, may mean that the government can read anybody’s email at any time without a warrant.
Related: NSA, AT&T and the NarusInsight Intercept Suite
Related: The Ugly Truth About Online Anonymity
Chicago Data Center Robbed… Again
November 4th, 2007And all the video security equipment was taken too.
Via: Register:
In the most recent incident, “at least two masked intruders entered the suite after cutting into the reinforced walls with a power saw,” according to a letter C I Host officials sent customers. “During the robbery, C I Host’s night manager was repeatedly tazered and struck with a blunt instrument. After violently attacking the manager, the intruders stole equipment belonging to C I Host and its customers.” At least 20 data servers were stolen, said Patrick Camden, deputy director of news affairs for the Chicago Police Department.
The Chicago location has been hit by similar breaches in the past, according to police reports. One report detailing an occurrence on September 23, 2005, recounts a “hole cut through the wall coming out onto the hallway of third floor.” During a September 20, 2006 incident, an intruder “placed a silver + blk handgun to [victim’s] head and stated ‘lay down on the floor.'” The victim, a C I Host employee, was then blindfolded, bound with black tape and struck on the head with a weapon, according to the report.
To add insult to injury, C I Host representatives haven’t been particularly quick to alert customers of the robberies. It took them several days to admit the most recent breach, according to several customers who say they lost equipment. According to James F. Ruffer III, support people told him his server was down because the company had a problem with one of its routers.
More: Webhosting Talk
More: Slashdot
Facing Jail, Banker Leaps to Death
November 4th, 2007What is it about Colorado and big time swindlers who don’t seem to be able to live long enough to show up to court for sentencing?
Remember Kenny Boy:
Kenneth Lay, the founder of Enron Corp. who ascended to the pinnacle of American business only to tumble into disgrace, died of a heart attack on Wednesday. He was 64.
Lay, 64, faced the prospect of the rest of his life in prison after his conviction May 25 of fraud and conspiracy in one of the biggest debacles in American corporate history.
Dr. Robert Kurtzman, Mesa County Coroner, said his autopsy showed Lay died of heart disease while on vacation in Aspen, Colo
…
Along with fraud and conspiracy charges, Lay also was convicted in a separate federal trial of bank fraud and making false statements to banks. Those charges related to his personal finances.
Lay was scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 23, along with Skilling, who also faces a long prison term.
Nothing solid, of course. Just echoes and coincidences among the bones, the entrails and the breathtaking financial crimes.
Via: Rocky Mountain News:
Former BestBank owner Edward Mattar, facing 14 years in prison and the forfeiture of millions of dollars at his fraud sentencing Friday, chose instead to leap from a 27th-story window.
The Denver coroner’s office identified Mattar’s body through fingerprints and ruled the death a suicide late Friday.
At 3:40 a.m, Mattar, 68, smashed a window with a hammer at his home at the Apartments at Denver Place, 1880 Arapahoe St. He then jumped, landing in the courtyard in front of the building.
…
The banker’s 2 p.m. hearing in U.S. District Court in Denver was canceled, and prosecutors eventually will dismiss the charges.
“Suicide is a terrible thing, whenever it happens,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Haried said. “That’s all you can say about it.”
…
Harrison Greene worked for Mattar at Central New England College for more than three years as director of admissions and then dean of institutional relations. He then worked at Mattar’s for-profit Nasson College.
“He was one of those guys, 20 percent of the things he taught me were lifelong business lessons I’ve continued to use,” Greene said Friday. “The other 80 percent, I wish I’d never heard.”
Greene said Mattar “managed people through intimidation,” once giving him an illustration of a dying apple tree with just one piece of fruit left. The caption was “the tree with the best apples gets the worst beating.” [This is an axiom that all stock and commodity operators are very familiar with. Gold bugs; take note— Kevin]
He expressed surprise Friday that Mattar killed himself.
“He had a tremendous fear of death.”
Pakistan Under Martial Law
November 3rd, 2007Via: BBC:
Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has declared emergency rule and suspended the country’s constitution.
He defended his actions in a national address, saying he was curbing a rise in extremism in Pakistan.
Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry has been replaced and the Supreme Court surrounded by troops, who also entered state-run TV and radio stations.
The moves come as the Supreme Court was due to rule on the legality of Gen Musharraf’s October election victory.
The court was to decide whether Gen Musharraf was eligible to run for re-election last month while remaining army chief.
The BBC’s Barbara Plett reports from Islamabad that fears had been growing in the government that the Supreme Court ruling could go against Gen Musharraf.
