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Remember the cheery pieces from the MSM about the CPP Investment Boards recent home run on our $300 million Skype investment? I wonder if the same interest will be shown in yesterdays Freescale initial public offering, now that our ~50% paper loss on that investment has been confirmed in the marketplace .

I was a big fan of the Skypke deal from the outset , but one of the challenges with LP co-investing is simply this: do you show them every deal? Or just the ones that are larger than the private equity firm wants to carry on its own balance sheet? If the average mega buyout firm does 12 transactions in a specific fund, and syndicates a third of them to their Limited Partners based solely on the sizes of the equity cheque required, how does the LP pick-and-choose whether to go into the deal or not? One of the primary reasons why pension funds invest into capital pools is to diversify their risk; which is undermined when you double or triple down on a deal .

The strategy worked in Skype, but not with EMI or Freescale, to name but two examples.

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Move over, e-cigarette: Here comes the new not-really-smoking thingamajig. We’d give you a name for it, but it’s not quite ready yet. Tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PM) has just laid claim to the new technology, which delivers nicotine in aerosol form. The spray will provide a nicotine “hit” faster than current alternatives, its inventor, Jed Rose, director of Duke University’s Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research, told the Associated Press. However, it’s expected that it will take three to five years to develop the technology into an actual retail product. No word on what Philip Morris paid for the rights.

Rose said in the AP article that users of the product won’t be inhaling the toxins associated with cigarette smoke, and that the new product would thus reduce the death and disease rates of tobacco users. Read full post…

What do you get when you mix investing with the largest social media network in the world? Zecco’s new Wall Street app for Facebook. Zecco has been known for years as one of the leaders in inexpensive trading and now they are taking it one step further by fully integrating their platform with the ever-growing social media king.

The social aspect of trading stocks and investing isn’t a new concept, but this is the first true full Facebook platform. The app acts like a financial hub right from your Facebook page. It greets you with real time stats, quotes, and charts from the market, most actively traded stocks, and then you can dig deeper and get real time individual quotes. Obviously, from there you will have your traditional Facebook features: liking certain stocks, leaving comments on them, or sharing with your friends. But what makes this app really unique is the ability to place trades right from Facebook. That’s right, with a few clicks you can buy 100 shares of that new company one of your Facebook friends just recommended. I was

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Once you become eligible for Medicare and you sift through all of your health care needs you will quickly come to realize that Medicare does not necessarily cover all of your needs. Luckily, there is Medicare supplement insurance, also known as Medigap, which fill in the coverage gaps for standard Medicare Plans. There are numerous plans to fulfill the needs of a variety of Medicare recipients and some of these plans include:

• Medicare Plan F
• Medicare Plan G
• Medicare Plan K
• Medicare Plan L
• Medicare Plan M
• Medicare Plan N

Each plan has a unique set of benefits and it can truly be overwhelming to sift through all of the choices and decide which plan works best for you. The good news is that the plan structure is mandated by the government so regardless of which insurer you choose, you can trust that the benefits will be the same as some other insurer. It’s important to know that prices do vary. Read full post…

SAP (SAP) recently announced its first quarter 2011 earnings results, in which it showed a healthy revenue growth of 26% compared to the same quarter last year. However, operating profits increased by only 7%, meaning that SAP’s operating margins declined to 19.7% from 22.2% during the same period.

We believe the dip in margins could be temporary, as SAP’s core business remains robust. SAP competes with Oracle (ORCL), Microsoft (MSFT), Salesforce.com (CRM) and IBM (IBM) in the applications software market.

We currently have a $64.16 price estimate for SAP stock, roughly in line with market price.

SAP’s Expenses Increase Could Be a Minor Blip

In the past few quarters, SAP has introduced a few new and innovative products.

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If Walmart customers find a lower price advertised elsewhere, Walmart says it will match that price at the register without requiring a copy of the competitors advertised price as proof.

Walmart reported that store managers are regularly checking competitor prices, so that they can streamline the price-matching process at the time of checkout.

Walmarts advertisements for its “ad match” program are part of an overall strategy as the big box store tries to come back from a relatively recent sales slump. Last month, Walmdart announced it was bringing back products that were cut from store lineups.

In an interview with CNNMoney, Walmarts chief merchandising officer, Duncan Mac Naughton, said “What our customers are telling us is that they want the right products in a one-stop shop at the lowest prices. We’re trying to reestablish that message.”

Do you shop at Walmart? Have you tried to price match when you checkout?

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Seth Goldman, co-founder of Bethesda, Maryland-based organic beverage company Honest Tea, said his company maintains a small business culture, even though parent Coca-Cola Co increased its minority stake to full ownership in March.

With 2010 sales of $71 million, the company’s teas can now be found in national retail chains such as Kroger and CVS. Goldman, in Washington recently for an SBA National Small Business week event, spoke to Reuters about the transition.

Q: Were you able to maintain the Honest Tea culture after Coke took full ownership?

A: Absolutely. What’s really nice about us is that we still operate as a small business. We still run everything out of this one room office in Bethesda, Maryland. I’m still the Tea-EO. Our senior management team still really has stewardship of the brand and the business. We’re accountable for it. Our pay

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According to the article “As Used Car Prices Hit a New High, Where to Look for Deals in Florida” by Steven Cole Smith on sun-sentinel.com, the cost of used cars is at a high in Florida and many other places throughout the US. This is not what drivers want to hear as they are already dealing with devastatingly high gas prices which are causing financial strain on millions.
May’s Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, which is a monthly analysis of used cars values through Manheim Consulting, is the world’s biggest broker of used vehicles and they are seeing the same trends throughout Florida. Used car prices are up and most likely not coming down any time soon. This can also have an impact on used car insurance since replacing one of these cars gets pricier for the auto insurance companies. This is a double whammy for those who were hoping to save a pretty penny by purchasing a used car during these tough economic times.
The analysis says lower wholesale supplies and higher retail demand are two of the main factors influencing the price of used cars. Read full post…