- Goldman Holders Miffed at Bonuses
- SEC told to improve ways it chooses probe targets
- Pequot Worker Told Therapist That Samberg Sought Tips
- House Attacks Fed, Treasury
- Commodities to Get Record $60 Billion, Barclays Says
- Giuliani Said to Consider Run for U.S. Senate Over Governorship
- Problem mortgages hit new high at 14 percent
- GM Says Auto Sales Rate May Be 10.8 Million in Sign of Recovery
- Zucker Says He Regrets Focus on Margins in Leno Shift
- Winfrey’s long goodbye
Goldman Holders Miffed at Bonuses – Wall Street Journal
Some of the largest shareholders in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have urged the Wall Street firm to reduce the size of its bonus pool, arguing that it should pass along more of its blockbuster earnings to investors, according to people familiar with the situation…..
Their complaints in private conversations with the company and at analyst meetings show how anger over its big-money culture is spilling into the ranks of investors who typically shy away from debates over Wall Street pay…..
SEC told to improve ways it chooses probe targets – AP
The Securities and Exchange Commission must tighten its process for deciding which investment advisers to inspect if it is to avoid colossal breakdowns like the one that allowed Bernard Madoff’s multibillion-dollar fraud to go undetected for 16 years, the agency’s inspector general says…..
Pequot Worker Told Therapist That Samberg Sought Tips - Bloomberg
A former Pequot Capital Management Inc. employee now at the center of a U.S. insider-trading probe told his psychologist that the hedge-fund firm fired him in 2001 after he stopped delivering secret information on Microsoft Corp., the therapist said in a deposition.
David Zilkha, who had previously worked at Microsoft, said he was supervised by Pequot founder Arthur Samberg, who pressed him for insider information, psychologist Peggy Thomson testified in an Oct. 15 proceeding tied to Zilkha’s divorce, according to a transcript obtained by Bloomberg. Thomson said she performed a psychological evaluation of Zilkha in June and July last year.
“He said that Mr. Samberg wanted him to get inside information on Microsoft,” the transcript quotes Thomson as saying, recalling their conversations. “Mr. Zilkha stopped providing it, he was fired.”….
House Attacks Fed, Treasury – Wall Street Journal
Political frustration over the rescue of Wall Street and high unemployment erupted in the House Thursday, with one committee threatening to impose tighter scrutiny on the Federal Reserve and another trading verbal insults with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
The House Financial Services Committee voted, 43-26, to approve a measure sponsored by Texas Republican Ron Paul, vociferously opposed by the Fed, that would direct the congressional Government Accountability Office to expand its audits of the Fed to include decisions about interest rates and lending to individual banks. The Fed says the provision threatens its ability to make monetary policy without political interference…..
Commodities to Get Record $60 Billion, Barclays Says – Bloomberg
Commodities will likely attract a record $60 billion this year as investors seek to diversify their assets, Barclays Capital said.
Inflows so far this year are almost $55 billion, already more than the previous full-year record of $51 billion set in 2006, the bank said in a report. Total commodity assets under management will probably expand to $230 billion to $240 billion by the end of the year, Barclays said…..
Giuliani Said to Consider Run for U.S. Senate Over Governorship – Bloomberg
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who lost a bid for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, is considering running for the U.S. Senate next year against freshman Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, current and former Republican officials said…..
Problem mortgages hit new high at 14 percent – Washington Post
More than 14 percent of borrowers were in trouble on their mortgage during the third quarter, a new record, according to an industry survey released Thursday, which also suggests that the foreclosure rate is likely not to peak until next year as unemployment rates continue to rise.
Unemployment remains a big driver of the problem, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, which conducts the survey. Those with delinquent loans now include a growing portion of people traditionally considered creditworthy and people whose mortgages are insured by the Federal Housing Administration…..
GM Says Auto Sales Rate May Be 10.8 Million in Sign of Recovery - Bloomberg
General Motors Co. said U.S. auto sales in November may run at an annualized rate of 10.8 million vehicles, the third-highest total this year, in a sign of improving industry health.
“Things are solidly looking up,” Susan Docherty, GM’s U.S. sales chief, said today in a conference call with reporters. She said November sales for Detroit-based GM are on pace to rise 10 percent to 15 percent from a year earlier……
Zucker Says He Regrets Focus on Margins in Leno Shift – Bloomberg
NBC Universal Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Zucker said he regrets that profit margins are cited as the rationale for moving Jay Leno to prime time, backing away from remarks at the time of the scheduling switch.
It’s unfortunate if “anybody comes away from looking at that decision at NBC with a sense that we care more about making money than putting on memorable television,” Zucker said today at a conference at the Paley Center for Media in New York…..
Winfrey’s long goodbye – Chicago Tribune
….Now Oprah Winfrey has decided she’s ready to move on from her top-rated daytime program.
Winfrey plans to tell viewers on Friday’s show that she will retire the Chicago-based syndicated gabfest at the end of her current contract, which runs through the 2010-11 season, her 25th on national TV. It’s going to be a long goodbye.
Harpo Inc., Winfrey’s company, on Thursday confirmed her move to end the program that spawned a multimedia empire, making her one of the country’s wealthiest and most influential people and giving rise to several best-selling authors and other daytime talk shows….
Tags: Art Samberg, Bonuses, Commodities, Compensation, GM, Goldman Sachs, Oprah, Pequot, Politics, Rudy Giuliani, SEC, Tim Geithner, U.S. Treasury
