Army Times calls for Rumsfield resignation

Don't see that every day.

A fairly astonishing editorial appears in today's editions of Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times, and Marine Corps Times, calling on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign.

These weekly newspapers are not official organs of the U.S. military. They're published by a private corporation, the Military Times Media Group, which is, in turn, owned by the Gannett Corp. This is why the editorial is only "fairly" astonishing. (If Stars & Stripes, which is the official newspaper, had called for a secretary of defense to step down, it would be prelude to insurrection.)

Full Slate.com Article here

Dilbert - Scott Adams Blog

Pretty good. Sometimes serious, sometimes very funny!

http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/

Modestly funny VC joke from PE HUB

Maybe you’ve heard this joke before, in one format or another, but, I have to say, it always cracks me up… A New Associate arrives early Monday morning to the VC firm where he is to begin work. His watch reads 6:24am. The front door failed to respond to his attempts to turn it.

He knocks. No answer.

He waits patiently, clutching the stack of newspapers previously strewn on the floor outside the front door. He wants to make a good impression. Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Mercury News, Financial Times.  It doesn't occur to him to crack one open to read while he waits. He hasn't read a hardcopy newspaper. Ever. He was a child of the Internet. But he understands that the old guys still liked the feel of newsprint — and he sure wants to impress the old guys.

Time passed.

Read the rest of the joke.

MBO and conflict of interest

not hard to find the conflict here. From dealbook

Management-led buyouts have always raised questions about conflicts of interest, because in such deals, the management that is supposed to represent shareholders is suddenly representing itself as well. That potential for conflict was especially evident this morning when Isadore Sharp, the chief executive and controlling shareholder of Four Seasons Hotels, made a $3.7 billion takeover bid for the company with the backing of Kingdom Hotels International, a company owned by a trust created by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud; and Bill Gates’s Cascade Investment.

At first glance, the offer of $82 a share seems pretty decent; it represents a 28 percent premium to Four Season’s closing stock price on Friday. In early 2005, however, shareholders could have sold their stock for about that price on the open market.

And then there is the money Mr. Sharp will pocket in what essentially amounts to a sale to himself. According to a press release announcing the proposed buyout, Mr. Sharp stands to make $288 million as part of a 1989 incentive arrangement as a result of any deal. Now that’s an incentive!

Mr. Sharp also seems intent on preventing any rival offers, which raises questions about whether he is fulfilling his fiduciary duties to shareholders. In a statement, he said, “this transaction, with these investors, is the only one I am prepared to pursue.”

Management-led buyouts like this one play into the hands of critics who say they are rigged from the outset.