Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:43:10 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Roderick Boyd :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Roderick+Boyd istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/warren-buffett-criticizes-hedge-funds-even-as-he/13332/ Thu, 5 May 2005 00:00:00 EST When the multibillionaire chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, criticized hedge funds recently at his company's annual meeting as a potential threat to the stability of the global markets, many of his followers and shareholders hung on every word. What many did not know, however, is that Mr. Buffett has invested $620 million of Berkshire Hathaway's money in a hedge fund run by the son of a close family friend. The $1.3 billion fund, Value Capital L.P., is run by Mark... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/new-york/schumer-taxes-too-high-but-tax-cuts-costly/13261/ Wed, 4 May 2005 00:00:00 EST Senator Schumer said yesterday that New York's state and local taxes are too high "in the abstract," but that the cost of cutting taxes - and the services they provide - is also too high. The comments came during a breakfast for business leaders, at which the Democrat also pleaded for an end to the "bureaucratic inertia" that he said is threatening the successful redevelopment of Lower Manhattan, including the World Trade Center's Freedom Tower and the new headquarters of Goldman Sachs. At the... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/three-political-web-logs-make-a-run-for/13179/ Tue, 3 May 2005 00:00:00 EST In a dramatic sign that Web logs are going mainstream, three of the largest political blogs are banding together to form what is believed to be a first-of-its kind ad-supported network. To broaden their appeal beyond national security issues, the three - ArmedLiberal.com, RogerLSimon.com, and LittleGreenFootballs.com - will receive editorial advice from the owner of one of the most heavily trafficked blogs, Instapundit.com's Glenn Reynolds, among others. The venture will be called Pajamas... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/langone-runs-into-a-money-problem/12952/ Thu, 28 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST Kenneth Langone, co-founder of Home Depot and former director of the New York Stock Exchange, faces an increasingly uphill fight to mount even a semblance of a challenge to the merger of the stock exchange and Archipelago. His main problem is money. Despite being a billionaire, Mr. Langone has failed to win the support he sought from Wall Street's leading investment banks, and so lacks the resources to challenge the Big Board's $3.3 billion bid. To scuttle the deal, according to the merger... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/arthur-andersen-settles-ny-suit-over-worldcom/12822/ Tue, 26 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST Arthur Andersen LLP, the last defendant in the investor lawsuit against the investment banks and accounting firm that provided capital and advice to collapsed telecom giant WorldCom, has agreed to a settlement, according to U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote. The terms of the settlement are scheduled to be released this morning at a 9 a.m. hearing. The sole plaintiff in the three-year old suit is the $100 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund, whose trustee is the state comptroller... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/americas-stock-markets-in-turmoil/12668/ Fri, 22 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST The most prominent casualties of the historic merger between the New York Stock Exchange and Internet-based Archipelago will probably be the 1,500 traders and clerks who work for the Big Board's seven major specialist firms, as trading commissions drop and order flows are routed to more efficient, computer-driven trading systems. Specialists are floor traders responsible for matching buyers and sellers in individual stocks, and who use their own capital to maintain orderly markets. Under the... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/big-board-to-merge-with-internet-firm-in-historic/12571/ Thu, 21 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST The New York Stock Exchange announced yesterday it will merge with Internet-based marketplace Archipelago Holdings Incorporated. The historic deal would convert the not-for-profit, member owned NYSE into a publicly traded company, to be called NYSE Group, offering customers both traditional floor trading and Archipelago's "Arca-Ex" Internet-based system of trading stocks, options, and derivatives, according to the stock exchange's chief executive, John Thain. The new company would be 70% owned... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/general-motors-reports-11-billion-first-quarter/12535/ Wed, 20 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST On the heels of a conference call yesterday during which General Motors reported a $1.1 billion loss and withdrew its earnings guidance for the year, Wall Street analysts said the company made matters worse by offering no clear vision as to how it plans to turn itself around. At the core of GM's woes are its struggling North American operations, which its chief financial officer, John Devine, said lost $1.57 billion in the first quarter compared to a profit of $561 million in the same period... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/woman-who-sued-ubs-aims-to-get-back-on-wall-street/12459/ Tue, 19 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST To Laura Zubulake - who just won a bitter, public three-year legal battle against her former employer, UBS, over allegations she was a victim of sexual discrimination - resuming her career selling Asian stocks is just a matter of hard work and the right connections. "I've kept in touch with former colleagues, and I plan to do whatever it takes to restart my career," she said. But if the stories of others who have taken on Wall Street under far less adversarial conditions are any indication, Ms... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/tax-refund-season-is-paying-dividends-to-citys/12277/ Fri, 15 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST City retailers are already benefiting from the tax refund season, as New Yorkers receive billions of dollars in federal, state and local tax refunds. Because the Internal Revenue Service estimated that more than 50% of personal income-tax returns this year will be filed electronically - drastically cutting down on processing time - many of those returns have already been sent. At Sherry-Lehmann Wine and Spirits on Madison Avenue, tax refunds have been fueling the sale of cases of French... Roderick Boyd http://www.nysun.com/new-york/new-yorker-for-growth-via-tax-reform/11976/ Mon, 11 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST One of the most high-profile stock market analysts, LizAnn Sonders, who is Charles Schwab's New York-based chief investment strategist, is both the only New Yorker and the only Wall Street professional appointed to President Bush's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. The tax commission's report is due July 31. She spoke the other day with The New York Sun's Roderick Boyd. Q. How did a market strategist from New York wind up trying to change the tax code? A. I was invited down by the... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/nintendoworld-store-to-open-in-rockefeller-center/11853/ Thu, 7 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST Video-game icons Super Mario and Donkey Kong will soon have a prestigious Manhattan address when Nintendo opens its retail store, NintendoWorld, at 10 Rockefeller Center. A company spokesman said the store, the first in America, should be ready in late spring, but said there was no opening date scheduled. The store will span two floors and feature "sampling bars," where gamers can pull up chairs and test unreleased games and new releases. The Manhattan single-brand retail landscape has seen its... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/morgan-stanley-dissidents-name-ceo-choice/11770/ Wed, 6 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST The offer to sell its Discover Card business won't be nearly enough to save the job of Morgan Stanley's embattled chief executive, Philip Purcell, if eight dissident former senior Morgan Stanley executives have their way. The group yesterday named one of its members and a former president of the firm, Robert Scott, 59, as its choice to lead the company. Mr. Scott, a 33-year Morgan Stanley veteran, was forced out of the firm in December 2003 in a power struggle with Mr. Purcell. The dissidents'... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/heres-a-new-twist-on-responsible-mutual-funds/11690/ Tue, 5 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST The Roosevelt Investment Group is trying to make the war on terror a profitable one for investors with the Bull Moose mutual fund, the first fund that actively screens potential investments for connections to terror-sponsoring states such as Iran, Cuba, and Sudan. The New York-based investment manager, with $800 million under management, is betting that Americans will pay to guarantee their investment dollars don't support these regimes in the same way that many investors avoided investing in... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/aon-corp-agrees-to-examine-its-ties-to-iran/11521/ Fri, 1 Apr 2005 00:00:00 EST Under pressure from the New York City pension fund, Aon Corporation has agreed to form a senior management committee that will examine the giant insurance company's business ties to Iran, chief executive Patrick Ryan said in a letter to City Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. that was obtained by The New York Sun. The announcement comes on the heels of an announcement last week by Halliburton that it won't seek new business in Iran, also as the result of pressure from the New York City pension... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/halliburton-agrees-to-leave-iran-thompson-says/11150/ Fri, 25 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson's two-year quest to force American companies to stop doing business in Iran paid more dividends yesterday when oil-field services and construction giant Halliburton formally agreed to sever business ties with Iran. Mr. Thompson, as the trustee and investment adviser to $74 billion in city pension funds, has been submitting proposals to companies within its equity investment portfolio since November 2002, asking them to review their operations for... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/gms-north-american-head-lays-out-turnaround-plan/11082/ Thu, 24 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST General Motors' head of North American operations, Gary Cowger, yesterday said in a speech at the Jacob K. Javits Center that better marketing would help turn GM's slumping fortunes around, but his prescription differed mightily from what independent analysts said. In a keynote address at a press preview of the New York International Auto Show, Mr. Cowger said that GM needs to do a better job conveying to potential buyers the unique aspects of its cars and trucks. "We want to make sure that... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/analysts-unimpressed-with-fannies-rumored-ceo/11001/ Wed, 23 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST Rumors swirled throughout Wall Street yesterday that troubled mortgage giant Fannie Mae has narrowed its search for a new chief executive officer down to three candidates: a former New York Federal Reserve president, William McDonough, a former Republican senator from Texas, Phil Gramm, and the former chief executive who helped steer then scandal plagued asset-backed lender Conseco Incorporated out of bankruptcy, William Shea. Bloomberg first reported news of the discussions yesterday, citing... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/what-does-robert-toll-know-that-the-rest-of-us/10870/ Mon, 21 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST Though executives at high-flying luxury home builder Toll Brothers Incorporated insist the so-called housing bubble is not ready to burst, the recent actions of company co-founder and chief executive Robert Toll could be interpreted to indicate otherwise. He and his brother, Bruce, sold $241 million worth of Toll Brothers stock when the shares hit an all-time high last month. The company's chief financial officer insisted to The New York Sun that the shares sold were part of Robert Toll's... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/jp-morgan-chase-to-pay-2-billion-in-worldcom-case/10701/ Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST WorldCom's former bondholders weren't the only winners yesterday when J.P. Morgan Chase finally settled a lawsuit over its role in underwriting the fraudulent telecom company's bonds in 2000 and 2001. Smiles were deep and broad on the faces of the lawyers at the two modestly sized plaintiffs' law firms that brought the case in June 2002 - Barrack, Rodos & Bacine and Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann - as they will eventually split more than $330 million in fees earned to date. Jury... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/bank-of-america-ex-broker-to-stand-trial/10598/ Tue, 15 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST A former Bank of America broker lost his pretrial bid to have New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's charges against him dismissed for allegedly facilitating a hedge fund's mutual fund timing trades. As a result, Theodore Sihpol will have to stand trial April 26 on 40 allegations of destroying evidence, grand larceny in the first degree, and scheme to defraud. He was indicted last April and if convicted, faces up to 25 years in prison. Mr. Sihpol, 37, was the first arrest in the Canary... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/huge-write-downs-at-viacom-clear-channel-may/10520/ Mon, 14 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST The multibillion dollar charges taken recently by conglomerates Viacom and Clear Channel Communications on assets they bought in the late 1990s signal potential earnings troubles ahead, according to a New York investment banker. This is because these companies have their stocks valued on revenue and asset growth, rather than earnings, said R.W. Wentworth's Thomas Au, giving these companies too much incentive to grow by acquisition regardless of the cost. He said the write-offs for Viacom and... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/spitzer-slams-corporate-taxes/10414/ Fri, 11 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST Sounding more like Ronald Reagan than Mario Cuomo, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer acknowledged the cost to the state's businesses of high corporate taxes, preached the virtues of limited government, and railed against bureaucratic inefficiency in a speech yesterday to Manhattan construction executives. Speaking before the New York Building Congress at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, the attorney general laid out an economic agenda that was music to the builders' and contractors' ears. Though he... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/audacious-bid-is-made-for-hockey-league/10061/ Fri, 4 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST An audacious proposal was made this week to buy the National Hockey League's 30 franchises for $3.5 billion. A private-equity firm started by the man who is now Massachusetts's governor made the offer, in conjunction with a second company. Bain Capital Partners LLC, founded in 1982 by Mitt Romney, and a sports advisory company, Game Plan LLC, proposed the purchase to the NHL's board of governors in a meeting Tuesday afternoon in New York, a league spokeswoman, Amy Sweeney, said yesterday. She... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/novell-once-a-highflier-is-seeing-rough-times/9961/ Wed, 2 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST Battered software consultant Novell Corporation's proxy contains some stark language in proposals from a high-profile shareholder frustrated at the once high-flying company's generous compensation packages, despite the slide in stock price. Shares of Novell, Waltham, Mass., hit a 52-week low when they briefly dropped to $4.94 Monday. In early 2000, the stock had traded above $49 before beginning what would be a four-year decline in value. A proposal from the $183 billion California Public... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/interest-rate-curves-may-slow-bond-profit-machine/9884/ Tue, 1 Mar 2005 00:00:00 EST The changing shape of the interest-rate curve might do what terrorist attacks, a war, and an economic slowdown could not: slow down Wall Street's bond profit machine. As major equity indices have been inconsistent performers for the past several years - the S&P 500 is up 0.01% this year - and mergers and acquisitions have only begun to emerge from a multiyear slumber, the profits generated by the relatively steep shape of the interest-rate curve by Wall Street dealers' bond desks helped... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/viacom-takes-18-billion-write-down-one-of-biggest/9728/ Fri, 25 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Viacom, the entertainment colossus located on Broadway, was forced to take an $18 billion write-down yesterday as the value of its Infinity radio and outdoor advertising businesses plummeted in the fourth quarter. The charge - the fifth largest in American corporate history - was noncash, meaning it did not affect the actual cash position of the company. This amounted to a loss of $10.99 per share. The stock dropped $0.89 to $35.28 on the news. Its 52-week low is $32.56. Since the beginning of... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/world-bank-praised-on-anti-corruption/9730/ Fri, 25 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST The World Bank's release of its annual examination of allegations of fraud and corruption involving the bank was hailed by a leading anti-corruption crusader, Transparency International, as, "A welcome step, and an example for other development banks to follow." The "Annual Report on Investigations and Sanctions of Staff Misconduct and Fraud and Corruption in Bank-Financed Projects" was released yesterday. Berlin-based TI - which has long been dedicated to eliminating corruption in... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/wall-street-to-hollywood-moguls-trajectory/9668/ Thu, 24 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST For J. Morton Davis, the CEO of D.H. Blair Investment Banking, Wall Street's most durable underwriter of the high-risk issuances known as "penny stocks," there is indeed a second act in life, especially since he's bankrolling it. Mr. Davis is providing most of the seed money for the $50 million D. H. Blair Film Capital Fund LLC, a venture designed to take advantage of a recently enacted tax provision to produce and distribute independent movies filmed in America. The film business will be run... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/fannie-mae-continues-its-shrinkage/9617/ Wed, 23 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Fannie Mae, the troubled mortgage guarantor, is continuing to shrink its massive portfolio of residential mortgage loans and bonds, in order to comply with regulatory capital standards. Yesterday, the company reported that its mortgage portfolio - which provides about two-thirds of the company's income - shrank $13.7 billion to $890.8 billion. Annualized, the drop represents a 16.8% decline in size. Fannie Mae has been forced to take a series of unprecedented measures to meet regulatory capital... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/national/progressive-groups-plot-new-protests/9510/ Tue, 22 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The second national assembly of the nation's largest anti-war coalition, United for Peace and Justice, turned a cold and rainy St. Louis into Moscow on the Mississippi over the weekend. More than 400 progressives, representing the spectrum of left-wing political thought, met to carve out an agenda for coordinating protests against American foreign policy. The groups represented here ranged from hard-core Marxists to several organizations that asserted the attacks of September... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/with-83-billion-acquisition-novartis-is-now/9549/ Tue, 22 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST In a move seen by many as heralding a shift in pharmaceutical company strategy, Swiss drug giant Novartis AG agreed in principle to purchase Hexal AG and its American affiliate, Eon Labs, for $8.3 billion in cash. It is believed that the purchase, when completed, will make the combined company the world's largest maker of generic drugs. Prior to the merger, Hexal was the world's fourth largest generic drugmaker. In an interview published yesterday in Germany, Novartis CEO Daniel Vasella said he... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/times-pays-410-million-for-internet-company/9470/ Fri, 18 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST The New York Times gave a vote of confidence to the future of online advertising when it announced yesterday it purchased Internet consumer-information provider About Inc. for $410 million in cash from magazine publisher Primedia. The sale to the Times is a sharp reversal of strategy for Primedia, who purchased the once high-flying About in October 2000 for $690 million in stock. The purchase is the Times' largest since 1993, when it acquired its rival, the Boston Globe, for $1.1 billion. About... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/tech-bubble-under-greater-scrutiny/9343/ Wed, 16 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST The cleanup of the wreckage of the dot-com era continues as a federal judge granted preliminary approval yesterday for a $1 billion settlement for investors in companies that went public during the height of the tech bubble in 1998-2000. The investors are drawn from 298 separate class-action suits against some of that era's former highfliers, including CNET, Red Hat and Corvis. The amounts that companies have committed to paying vary, according to Bloomberg News, which said CNET agreed to pay... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/jerusalem-post-ownership-in-doubt/9264/ Tue, 15 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST The question of who owns the Jerusalem Post apparently was not settled when CanWest Global Communications and Mirkaei Tikshoret Ltd. signed a letter of intent to buy the former Hollinger International property for $13.2 million last year. Eli Azur, the chairman and CEO of Mirkaei Tikshoret, an Israeli publishing company, has filed court papers against CanWest in both New York and Jerusalem alleging that because CanWest managed to obtain a temporary restraining order against him, he has suffered... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/new-york/far-left-leaders-rue-stewart-conviction/9132/ Fri, 11 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Attorney Lynne Stewart's conviction is a blow to the far-left legal community that lionized her, but will matter little to the mainstream Democrats whose principles and platform she rejected long ago, several observers of the case said yesterday. Moreover, although Stewart was representing clients during her trial, they had been made to acknowledge in open court that they understood the risks associated with retaining a lawyer under indictment. Given her conviction, Stewart faces automatic... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/goldman-sachs-investment-is-envied-on-street/9027/ Thu, 10 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Despite stagnant equity markets and a Federal Reserve committed to raising interest rates, a glimpse at Goldman Sachs's 10-K annual report shows that the firm continues to put its money where its mouth is, in the form of more and larger bets on bonds, derivatives, and currencies with its own capital. Moreover, given its profitability - it earned $4.55 billion with a 15.26% net profit last year, among the highest on Wall Street - many competitors and investors look to the firm's financial... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/arab-bank-alleged-terrorism-funder-departing/8974/ Wed, 9 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Arab Bank PLC, the defendant in a series of lawsuits by American and Israeli terrorist victims of Palestinian Arab terrorist groups, announced yesterday that it is ceasing operations at its branch at 520 Madison Ave. Moreover, the group is under investigation by the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for possible violations of the Anti-Terrorist Act of 1990. An individual familiar with the OCC investigation said a cease-and-desist order was likely to be issued soon... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/national/cnn-executive-says-gis-in-iraq-target-journalists/8866/ Tue, 8 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST The head of CNN's news division, Eason Jordan, ignited an Internet firestorm last week when he told a panel at a World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, that the American military had targeted journalists during operations in Iraq. Mr. Jordan, speaking in a panel discussion titled "Will Democracy Survive the Media?" said "he knew of about 12 journalists who had not only been killed by American troops, but had been targeted as a matter of policy," said Rep. Barney Frank, a Democrat... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/new-york-times-wall-street-journal-encounter-woes/8901/ Tue, 8 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST The stocks of two of the world's premier newspaper franchises, the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, have been sagging under a combination of advertising revenue slides, higher newsprint costs, slower earnings growth and competition from the Internet, according to analysts and investors. The New York Times Company's class A stock - the class B voting stock is largely owned by the paper's founders, the Sulzberger family - has drifted down to $38.80 from a six-month high of $44.04 in... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/associating-with-richard-grasso-meant/8696/ Thu, 3 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST In the late 1990s through 2002, it appears that some of the best jobs in New York were connected to former New York Stock Exchange CEO Richard Grasso, according to a report prepared for the NYSE's board by Chicago law firm Winston & Strawn. For example, the report noted that his personal assistant averaged $240,000 in compensation from 2000-03; his two drivers were paid $130,000 each. The report said that the assistant and the drivers were each paid two to three times more than market value... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/anti-outsourcing-campaign-renewed-by-lou-dobbs/8635/ Wed, 2 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Veteran CNN anchor Lou Dobbs has had it with American companies shipping jobs overseas and he wants you to know it. So much so that his "Lou Dobbs Tonight" show is featuring the controversial topic in a weeklong, five-part series examining its effect upon American society. Operating in a medium where a two-minute segment is often considered in-depth, Mr. Dobbs has dedicated up to 10 minutes a night on the subject. Mr. Dobbs, who was not available to comment, has not minced words on the issue... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/big-acquisitions-mark-corporate-scene/8581/ Tue, 1 Feb 2005 00:00:00 EST Corporate appetite for large-scale mergers and acquisition has exploded over the past week, driven by an unlikely combination of historically low interest rates and maturing product lines, said several M&A analysts. Moreover, these observers said yesterday's announcements by both MetLife and SBC Corp. - of the purchase of Citigroup's Travelers unit and AT&T Corp., respectively - are more than likely to be followed by dozens of others as the ranks of global industries are realigned... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/thain-suggests-ipo-for-big-board/8400/ Fri, 28 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST The Big Board has seen thousands of initial public offerings in its time, but perhaps none will be as important to the exchange as the one it is considering now: its own. The New York Stock Exchange's chief executive officer, John Thain, told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, yesterday that going public "is certainly one thing we'll consider and talk to our members about." On Wednesday, Mr. Thain said the NYSE should consider opening two hours earlier, at 7:30 a.m... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/big-board-chief-wants-to-lengthen-exchanges-hours/8364/ Thu, 27 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST The coffee carts might be opening two hours earlier on the corner of Wall and Broad Streets if New York Stock Exchange chief executive officer John Thain has his way. Mr. Thain, speaking to reporters yesterday after a session at the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, said the Big Board is pondering a 7:30 a.m. opening to stem market-share erosion from Internet-based competitors and grab additional business from European institutional investors. There was no timeframe placed on the... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/glitch-in-subway-service-means-downturn/8290/ Wed, 26 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST Since Sunday night, thousands of New Yorkers have been forced to extend their commute or make alternate plans to cope with the C train debacle. But straphangers aren't the only ones suffering-the owners of newsstands in several C train subway stops, many of which are recent immigrants whose livelihood depends on New Yorkers' appetite for newspapers and candy, told The New York Sun that business is off up to 20% since C train service was halted. At the Chambers Street stop, the smell of burnt... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/atlantic-exchange-time-for-a-new-dollar-diplomacy/8214/ Tue, 25 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST The request by the finance ministers of France and Germany yesterday to have the Bush administration address the falling value of the dollar was an exercise in managing the political expectations of French and German voters, said several currency analysts. To European economic leaders, the falling dollar - especially against the euro - is at bottom a question of fairness. "Europe has until now assumed too much of the adjustment," said French Finance Minister Herve Gaymard. After a meeting with... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/defense-fighting-back-in-spitzers-first-market/8092/ Mon, 24 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST In the Canary Capital case, the first of the market-timing scandals involving mutual funds, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer brought criminal charges against only one individual. It wasn't the man who ran Canary, Edward Stern, son of a billionaire pet food and publishing executive, Leonard Stern. It wasn't a top executive of the Bank of America, though the firm paid more than half a billion dollars to put the market-timing case behind it. Rather, the single criminal defendant... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/reality-check-for-hedge-fund-industry/8060/ Fri, 21 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST When it comes to the reality of starting up and managing a hedge fund, $3-billion launches and astronomical pay packages remain the exception, not the rule. Many managers face a stark choice between focusing exclusively on performance with a small capital base or extensive pre-launch marketing in the hopes of raising enough cash to hire staff and build infrastructure, said several current and former portfolio managers. Those managers who aren't immediately successful at one or the other will... RODERICK BOYD http://www.nysun.com/business/hedge-type-fund-eyes-an-approach-to-small/7903/ Wed, 19 Jan 2005 00:00:00 EST On Fifth Avenue, where you can pay $5,000 for a fancy tiepin or evening gown, you'll be able to invest with a hot Vienna-based hedge-fund manager. Quadriga Asset Management, with $1.8 billion under management, is opening a 7,000-square-foot "investor center" at 489 Fifth Ave. in mid-March, across from the New York Public Library. To invest in the two futures funds Quadriga is offering, the investor will need to demonstrate either a net worth of at least $150,000 or annual gross income of at...