| Wachovia names David Pope president of mortgage and retail credit
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wachovia Corp. named David Pope president of mortgage and retail credit, the bank said Thursday. Pope, who has worked at Wachovia for 20 years, has been chief operating officer of the division for seven months. Before that, he was head of business banking for three years, co-head of the retail bank, regional executive for Washington and retail executive for Virginia. Wachovia shares added $1.53, or 4.3 percent, to $36.83 shortly after the market opened. .
Microsoft profit exceeds expectations, rises 79%
Microsoft Corp. said Thursday its fiscal second-quarter profit topped analysts' expectations and climbed 79 percent, buoyed by rising sales of Windows-based personal computers. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, profit increased to $4.71 billion, or 50 cents per share, from $2.63 billion, or 26 cents per share last year. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had forecast a profit of 46 cents per share. Revenue rose 31 percent to $16.37 billion, from $12.5 billion in the year-ago quarter, ahead of the analysts' prediction of $15.95 billion in sales. Microsoft's client division, responsible for Windows Vista, posted revenue of $4.34 billion. The company said it has sold 100 million copies of Vista since its January 2007 launch. Shares of Microsoft closed at $33.25 Thursday, up $1.32.
Inventive and dynamic risk-takers who changed the face of Britain
He took on a similar role at Vodafone, a company whose market value is equal, and depending on stock market vagaries, sometimes larger than the bank. Sir John took the nonexecutive role at Vodafone just in time to settle investors concerned that the company had lost its way – strategically, operationally and in terms of its executive leadership. Steely calm, one of Sir John’s most attractive characteristics, returned to Vodafone. The shares, which were in the doldrums for much of the early part of this decade, rose 30 per cent in 2007. He was knighted for services to banking in 1999. Sir John, who is married with three children, enjoys golf, skiing and reading biographies. 5 - Cynthia Carroll became both the first female and first non South African head of Anglo American on her appointment as chief executive of the mining conglomerate ten months ago.
October 2005 Archives
Last night I saw Sheryl Crow at Avery Fisher Hall in NYC. She sounded good -- classic Sheryl. Her new album, Wildflower, isn't as rockin' as her older stuff -- it's more laid-back, mellow, chilled-out tunes. The audience reflected the maturity of the album. It was definitely a 30-and-up set. There were a lot of families, which was interesting. Linda Wells, the editor-in-chief of Allure, sat right near me with her husband and her two sons. (My sister commented that both boys could use a haircut, but I liked their shaggy 'dos.) Another celeb sighting: comedian Gilbert Godfried, who sat directly behind me. He was wearing earplugs at a Sheryl Crow concert. I don't know exactly what he was expecting, but I guarantee that earplugs weren't necessary. Besides, with all the screaming he does during his stand-up you'd think he'd have trouble hearing in the first place.
North Korea tells U.S. to remember the Pueblo
North Korea tells U.S. to remember the Pueblo ReutersWednesday, January 23, 2008; 5:31 AM
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea marked the anniversary on Wednesday of one of its rare Cold War victories over the United States by saying a U.S. spy ship it seized 40 years ago served as a lesson to show it can repel an invasion. It is the paranoid state's latest dig at its long-time foe and which it still labels as an arch enemy despite Washington's pledge to provide aid and better diplomatic standing to Pyongyang in a disarmament deal. "(The Pueblo) is historical evidence proving before the whole world the victory of the DPRK (North Korea) in the confrontation with the U.S. to protect the national sovereignty and dignity," the North's state media quoted an official as saying on the anniversary of the January 23, 1968 capture of the USS Pueblo.
Marblehead's Golden Opportunity
This transaction poses an interesting question. First Marblehead is a middleman -- it mainly provides expertise to the student lending process, not capital. With its agency business model, First Marblehead has so little need for cash that it never even spent the proceeds of its initial public offering. Apparently, the only reason the company even went public at all was to provide a market for its founders and executives to cash out stock and options -- not unlike Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) in that regard. So why sell another big block of stock right now, near all-time lows for the share price, thereby diluting value for stockholders? Why raise all that debt? The answer is likely twofold. In the short term, the company is playing defense, reacting to the credit crunch. Over the long term, it's playing offense, as First Marblehead's continued growth requires that its business evolve from a pure agency into something more capital-intensive.
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