Saturday, November 12, 2016

Gold will rise with Trump Victory

With a Trump victory, gold prices will be on the rise. The Fed might want to raise rates but that will be an extremely costly move considering that full employment is not there and there are no signs of inflation. Trump's plan for fiscal stimulus and trade protectionism also leads to uncertainty.

It does not make sense for interest rates to rise while trying to stimulate the economy. Americans still need jobs to be created. Trade protection will lead to currency devaluation and it does not make sense for the US dollar to strengthen at this point.

Gold will rise.

Friday, July 1, 2016

Hottest Tech IPOs flocking to NYSE instead of NASDAQ

Nasdaq has always been the exchange of choice for US tech companies seeking an initial public offering (IPO). But the tides seem to have changed and many tech companies are starting to favor NYSE over Nasdaq.

Part of this was the Facebook IPO on Nasdaq. But some of it is probably due to NYSE's marketing done in the Silicon Valley.

Biggest tech firms registered to go public include Twilio, Line Corp and Elevate Credit. Last year's batch include familiar names such as GoDaddy, Square, Fitbit, and Box.

Monday, June 13, 2016

How Much is Yahoo Worth?

So Yahoo is trying to sell its core business as well as a bunch of patents that it owns. Analysts have thus far been pricing these assets around US$6 to 8 billion. Meanwhile, certain news commentators have suggested that Yahoo is looking at a price of sound US$10 billion.

Meanwhile, bids by AT&T and Dan Gilbert are at US$5 billion for Yahoo's core business, patents and real estate.

Verizon has put in a lower bid but that is without the patents.

There are other bidders and some news outlets have reported that sources indicate that bids are ranging between US$4-8 billion.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Temasek and GIC buy Alibaba

Singapore's Temasek Holdings and GIC have each bought $500 million worth of Alibaba shares at a price of $74 each from Japan's Softbank. Softbank has been unloading its Alibaba shares in order to strengthen its balance sheet. While it initially wanted to raise $8.9 billion, this has since increased to $10 billion.

Alibaba is China's greatest e-commerce company listed on NYSE. Alibaba is itself buying back $2 billion of shares from Softbank at the same price of $74 per piece. 

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Starboard seeks change to Yahoo's management and board

Activist investor Starboard Value LP which owns less than 1% of Yahoo's shares has delivered another letter to Yahoo's board asking for a change in management, board composition, and changes in strategy and execution. In the same letter, Starboard cited that it was growing increasingly frustrated even as it attempted to work constructively with the board.

Yahoo was previously considering a sale of it's Alibaba business but has now decided to put it on hold after there was no certainty that the sale would not be taxed. Starboard which first proposed the sake is now encouraging a sale of Yahoo's core search and advertising business instead.