Free Investing

Robert Salomon submits: I have written much about the perils and pitfalls of acquisitions (see Why M&A Deals Go Bad, Acquisitions: A Great Shareholder Ripoff?, or DaimlerChrysler Post Mortem). So in the interest of fairness I thought I would share a story of a deal that seems to have provided value to the acquirer. In an article that appeared in today’s New York Times, Ashlee Vance details how HP (HPQ) was able to derive value from its acquisition of EDS (EDS) (see HP’s Bet Seems a Winner). Consistent with what I’ve mentioned in previous posts, it is in the integration phase where deals are either won or lost, …and HP seems to have been able to generate both cost saving and revenue enhancement synergies through this deal.Complete Story »

Robert Salomon submits: Given my interest in the history and development of universities and colleges, I found today’s article about private college enrollments interesting, though not entirely unexpected (see Enrollment to Drop at a Third of Private Colleges). According to Bloomberg: Almost a third of U.S. private colleges expect freshman enrollment to decline in the 2009-2010 school year as families struggle to pay bills and hold down debt, according to a survey.Complete Story »

Robert Salomon submits: In January I predicted (see Notable Bankruptcies of 2009: Q1) that “major” bankruptcies in 2009 would challenge the 383 mark set in 2001 (the high-water mark after the dotcom bubble). I even suggested that it was possible that we could exceed 400 “major” bankruptcies in 2009. According to Bankruptcydata.com, there have been 156 “major” filings thus far in 2009. Assuming that bankruptcies are equally distributed throughout the year, this puts us on pace for 312 bankruptcies. That is tracking well shy of my prediction. In fact, bankruptcies were down significantly from Q1 to Q2, as there were 90 bankruptcies in the first quarter but only 66 in the second.Complete Story »