May 2008

It's not every day that we read a story that touches us to the core. Yesterday I received an e-mail from a close Wall Street friend and my father about an article written by George Vecsey. It was on the cover of The New York Times sports section entitled, "A Sporting Gesture Touches 'Em All." In a moment that was made for television, two young softball players carried a softball player from the ... read more

What a day for ExxonMobil? The company reported disappointing earnings today and the stock was down $3.37 to $89.70 – or 3.6%. Earlier this morning I interviewed Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, an economist and great-granddaughter of the late John D. Rockefeller. She is one of the fifteen members of the Rockefeller family petitioning for some major changes in both the management structure and ... read more

“We’re probably in a recession it’s not quite reflected in the GDP data, which is growing at like 0.6% or something. It’s certainly not a strong economy it can certainly ease down. A lot of people get hurt when GDP grows at that rate it’s got to grow a lot faster than that to keep everybody employed.” “It’s a recession for an awful lot of people if it’s not a general recession ... read more

Yesterday, I met up with a friend of mine who works on Wall Street. We talked about many things -- from the credit markets, potential job losses to anticipated market performance. At the very end he told me about a trip he's making to D.C. today. He's participating in a race to raise money for returning war veterans and their families. I was so touched by what he and many others are doing to help ... read more

It's been a couple of hours since the jobs numbers were released this morning, and the initial market gains have almost been wiped out. I must admit we were shocked to see a reading of a job loss of only 20,000 jobs and a decline in the unemployment rate to 5%. By no means do I want to downplay that number or dance in the streets knowing that Americans have been losing jobs for four consecutive ... read more

Think you’ve seen it all? Not until you’ve seen this movie: Iron Man!!!! This weekend we rushed out to see this movie and it met and easily exceeded our expectations. I would go see it today if I could. It was that good! Robert Downey Jr. blew me away. I have always liked him as an actor but seeing him in this role was a shocker. He looks as good as he’s ever looked and if there were one ... read more

This morning in our weekly installment of America's Greatest Business Rivals we took a look at the rivalry between Microsoft and Apple. How ironic given the news over the weekend that Microsoft withdrew it's $44 billion bid ($31 a share) for Yahoo!  Microsoft and Apple have been fierce competitors for years and at times great partners. It's a fascinating rival and one that has had its fair share ... read more

Yesterday my wheels started spinning. I don't know if you had an opportunity to see Liz Claman interview Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, Howard Buffet, Warren Buffet's son and the heir to chairman of the board, and Susan Decker, president of Yahoo. But if you didn't, you should! They talked about everything from railroads to technology to ... read more

Are you like me? Obsessed about all things superhero related? Have you watched Star Wars four thousand times and still love it every time you see it? Well Spike TV banked on that and reportedly spent close to $65 million in 2005 to get the rights to all six films in the Star Wars franchise. That bet is paying off big time! “Star Wars-Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” was the highest rated ... read more

Get this! Imagine you could buy or lease a car for three years and have a guarantee that for up to 12,000 miles a year or 36,000 miles over three years that you would pay $2.99 at the pump regardless of where gasoline prices are trading in your neighborhood? Sound too good to be true? Perhaps! This morning Chrysler’s Vice Chairman Jim Press joined me to discuss this new announcement by ... read more