Archive for August 16th, 2008

Filed under: Deals, Bad news, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO)

As if the getting-older-by-the-minute Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) didn’t need another mark against it, the internet pioneer and stubborn company recently provided information on the costs it incurred in fending off a successful Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) bid this summer. The final tab: $36 million.

Much of this tab was with advisory and law firms that helped the company deal with Microsoft along with a proxy battle by Carl Icahn that was settled just a few weeks ago with the installment of some Icahn puppets as board directors.

As a Yahoo! investor, are you pleased with the way Yahoo! has defended itself? Would the company be better suited for long-term success as a Microsoft division, or going at it alone as it has been?

How about the company taking $36 million from its cash pile to pay for all those consultants and attorneys? Was all the effort and expense in the best interest of the Yahoo! shareholder? Oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens doesn’t think so — but what about you?

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Via [bloggingstocks]

Filed under: Exxon Mobil (XOM)

The Associated Press reports that in San Antonio, TX, premium unleaded sold for 38 cents a gallon. That’s what I call a bargain — particularly since I considered myself lucky to pay $3.87 a gallon for mid-grade earlier this afternoon.

It turns out that there is a little problem with this 38-cents-a-gallon gas. It was a mistake in the pump. AP interviewed Dill Food Market’s Manager, Jim Duke, who said that the premium was supposed to be selling for $3.89 a gallon. AP also reports that WOAI-AM was the original source for this story and it said that “nobody reported the mistake, which apparently started Tuesday afternoon.”

It took a while for Duke to figure out what was going on. AP reports that he noticed “a lot of vehicles were being filled with premium and people were paying at the pump.” He went out to check Wednesday and noticed the price error. Maybe ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) can spare a little of its $41 billion in profit to reimburse Duke for his pump malfunction.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

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Fannie Mae posted a $2.3 billion loss for the quarter as the mortgage and housing bust keeps chipping away at the liquidity of the mortgage giant. At this rate, I can’t imagine it being too much longer before the treasury pumps its first infusion of capital in to the company.

At least the company cut the dividend to a nickel for investors (from 35 cents).  In my opinion as long as the government is explicitly guaranteeing the debt of this company, and using taxpayer funds to prop them up all dividends should be eliminated and corporate pay packages should be brought in line with other public officials.  How pissed are you that your tax dollars are going to pad the salary of Fannie’s CEO?

From Market Watch:

Fannie Mae reported Friday a wider-than-expected loss for the second quarter and cut its dividend as the biggest U.S. buyer of home mortgages said the struggling housing market and credit expenses again hurt its performance, sending the company’s shares lower.

Fannie Mae lost $2.3 billion, or $2.54 a share, a reversal from the $1.9 billion, or $1.86 a share, earned in the year-ago second quarter.
Daniel Mudd, Fannie’s chief executive, said that credit conditions are getting worse and that the company expects to have to resort to further increases in its loss reserves.

Source [blownmortgage]

Filed under: Trump Entertainment Resorts (TRMP), Housing

Donald Trump, the Clown Prince of Capitalism and Chairman of Trump Entertainment Resorts (NASDAQ: TRMP), is back in the news. The Associated Press reports that he’ll be bailing out Ed McMahon, the former Johnny Carson sidekick who defaulted on $4.8 million in loans on his Beverly Hills home.

Trump told The Los Angeles Times that he didn’t know McMahon personally and is motivated by “compassion. . . When I was at the Wharton School of Business I’d watch him every night. How could this happen?”

Holy cow! When I read this story, I thought “Finally! I’ll have a chance to do a nice piece on Donald Trump.” Wrong. I am actually going to make history here and bash someone for helping an old man keep his house. First, why Ed McMahon? There are hundreds of thousands of people facing problems with their homes and, rather than quietly helping average Joe’s with mortgage payments, Trump goes and spends millions of dollars to help one old rich guy keep his palace — and then calls The Los Angeles Times to brag about it. Oh, and he had to remind everyone that he went to Wharton.

This act of charity, like everything Donald does, seems to be motivated by narcissism, grandiosity, and a thirst for publicity.

I’m caving into his desire to have his name all over the place, but I’m also calling BS on this billionaire bailout.

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Via [bloggingstocks]

Fannie Mae posted a $2.3 billion loss for the quarter as the mortgage and housing bust keeps chipping away at the liquidity of the mortgage giant. At this rate, I can’t imagine it being too much longer before the treasury pumps its first infusion of capital in to the company.

At least the company cut the dividend to a nickel for investors (from 35 cents).  In my opinion as long as the government is explicitly guaranteeing the debt of this company, and using taxpayer funds to prop them up all dividends should be eliminated and corporate pay packages should be brought in line with other public officials.  How pissed are you that your tax dollars are going to pad the salary of Fannie’s CEO?

From Market Watch:

Fannie Mae reported Friday a wider-than-expected loss for the second quarter and cut its dividend as the biggest U.S. buyer of home mortgages said the struggling housing market and credit expenses again hurt its performance, sending the company’s shares lower.

Fannie Mae lost $2.3 billion, or $2.54 a share, a reversal from the $1.9 billion, or $1.86 a share, earned in the year-ago second quarter.
Daniel Mudd, Fannie’s chief executive, said that credit conditions are getting worse and that the company expects to have to resort to further increases in its loss reserves.

Source [blownmortgage]

Filed under: Bear Stearns Cos (BSC), Recession

jslanderBloomberg News reports that Wall Street layoffs are putting blood on the streets. But those Wall Street vets have turned those layoffs into new careers — one Harvard economics grad who formerly worked for Bear Stearns has started a business making cupcakes. That’s because, as Bloomberg reports, Michael Maloney, who recruits finance professionals for Maloney Inc. in New York, said, “The job market is in the worst, most chaotic state I’ve ever seen it in fixed income. I’ve been doing this for over 30 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

The statistics Bloomberg cites are stunning. 76,670 investment jobs “in the Americas” have gone up in smoke “following the global credit crunch that started a year ago.” And 33,300 finance jobs in New York City, or “7.1% of the 2007 peak, will be cut by June 2009.” And those who lose their jobs will be giving up big money. Wall Street workers averaged $399,360 in 2007 — six times the $62,390 for New York City jobs outside the securities industry.

So the tough are turning to making cupcakes. Jessica Walter, who studied economics at Harvard, was vice president in credit strategy at Bear Stearns. Bloomberg quotes Walter as saying, “I want to teach kids to cook. The goal is to have this be my full-time job and make enough to live.” To that end, she founded Cupcake Kids! in New York to provide birthday parties and cooking classes for children.

Continue reading When Wall Street gets bloody, the tough make cupcakes

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Back in June of this year, we talked about the financial difficulties facing Ed McMahon. At that time, Ed McMahon was in arrears on his Beverly Hills home by a stunning $644,000 on his $4.8 million dollar home. As we worked out the math on the place, we approximated that the […]
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Back in June of this year, we talked about the financial difficulties facing Ed McMahon. At that time, Ed McMahon was in arrears on his Beverly Hills home by a stunning $644,000 on his $4.8 million dollar home. As we worked out the math on the place, we approximated that the carrying cost alone on the home was $30,000 to $35,000 given the size of the mortgage. The home has been on the market for 537 days.

In what has to be the largest one day decrease in price, the home on August 7 was reduced from $6,500,000 to $4,600,000. A $1,900,000 price reduction in one day:

ed mcmahon home

ed mcmahon home price

*Source: ZipRealty

Clearly even prime area zip codes such as the 90210 are having their difficulties in this housing market. What is stunning about the price action is during the financial turmoil, the price of the home was lifted by $500,000. I’m not sure if they thought given the media coverage of Ed’s financial difficulties that someone would be feeling bad enough to dish out $6.25 million.

The problem of course was that as it turns out and as time went by, living beyond your means doesn’t only apply to middle class workers. It is possible to be a “millionaire” and live beyond your means. This home had a second mortgage and was maxed out.

Let us do some quick math on the home:

First mortgage: $4,800,000 at 5.25% principal and interest = $26,505 per month

Taxes and Insurance = $5,200

Total monthly nut = $31,705

Yearly housing cost = $380,460

The yearly carrying cost of the first mortgage on this place is higher than the price of a median priced home in California! The Wall Street Journal reported that Ed was $644,000 in arrears back in June. Mr. McMahon unfortunately was injured 20 months ago and has been unable to work. So if we are to break the math down:

$644,000 / 20 = $32,200 per month

Too bad the Zestimate on the place has it much lower even after the nearly $2 million price reduction:

zestimate.jpg

So we are close in estimating the monthly payment. Here are the details from the Wall Street Journal Article:

“(Wall Street Journal) ReconTrust, a unit of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, on Feb. 28 filed a notice of default on a $4.8 million Countrywide loan backed by Mr. McMahon’s home. The notice was filed with the Los Angeles County Recorder’s Office but hasn’t previously come to light. According to the filing, Mr. McMahon was then about $644,000 in arrears on the loan. It isn’t clear whether Countrywide still owns the loan or is acting on behalf of investors who acquired it. Public records also show that Mr. McMahon had a separate home-equity line of credit from Countrywide of up to $300,000 secured by the same house.

Mr. McMahon’s home has been on the market for about two years, his real-estate agent Alex Davis said. Mr. Davis said the price had been reduced, but he couldn’t immediately provide details. The Christie’s Great Estates Web site, which includes homes listed by Mr. Davis, lists the asking price at $5.75 million and says it has a canyon view and a master-bedroom suite with his and her bathrooms.”

So as you already know, Countrywide is now owned by Bank of America so what was once Countrywide’s problem is now Bank of America’s problem. So let us do a quick recap:

1st mortgage: $4,800,000

2nd mortgage: $300,000

Total mortgages: $5,100,000

Current price as of August 7th 2008, $4,600,000. You can kiss that second mortgage goodbye. This is the problem that in order to get the home to sell, they need to make drastic measures. Since this home has been on the market for such a long time it looks like Bank of America is going through the junk on Countrywide’s books and is simply cleaning house. Dropping the price by nearly $2 million in one move will get anyone’s attention. This may be the move that was needed to move Ed McMahon’s home.

Today we salute you Bank of America with our Real Homes of Genius Award.

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Post from: Dr. Housing Bubble Blog

Real Homes of Genius: Ed McMahon Decides to Lower Price on Beverly Hills Home by $1,900,000 This Week.

Related Posts:
Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Beverly Hills. When the 90210 Simply Isn’t Enough.
Real Homes of Genius: Today we Salute you Beverly Hills 90210. Making $1 Million in Home Equity Disappear.
Housing Perception Foreclosing on Reality: The Fundamental Housing Attribution Error.
Real Homes of Genius Special Edition: Today we Salute you Southern California. 6 Counties and 6 Homes.
Real Homes of Genius: Today We Salute you Huntington Park. Tweedledum and Tweedledee of housing. $500,000 Homes in Wonderland.

Via [DrHousingBubble]

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