FT Alphaville » WSJ

Murdoch to do the splits? Really?

Paul Murphy — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 08:42:34 +0000

At the age of 81, we’d rather Rupert not attempt this in public. But what should we make of the WSJ’s story on Tuesday that News Corporation, the Murdochs’ parent company, is considering splitting in two?

The usual people claiming to be familiar with the situation say a plan is being considered whereby News Corp’s film and television interests would be carved off, leaving its newspapers, book publishing and education businesses as a separate entity. That would leave 20th century Fox, Fox News and the Fox broadcast network separate from newspapers, such as the Sun and the Times of London, as well as the HarperCollins book publishing business.

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WSJ Europe publisher quits over articles

Kate Mackenzie — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 23:32:30 +0000

The publisher of News Corp’s Wall Street Journal Europe newspaper resigned because of what he called a possible perception of impropriety involving two articles that originated with a business partner, reports Bloomberg. Andrew Langhoff wrote in an email to employees that an arrangement between the circulation department and a company called Executive Learning Partnership could be viewed as undermining the news operation’s editorial independence. “Because the agreement could leave the impression that news coverage can be influenced by commercial relationships, as publisher with executive oversight, I believe that my resignation is now the most honorable course,” Mr Langhoff wrote in the email. A note added at the top of the stories on the WSJ website says the article was written in connection with the now-expired partnership between the two companies, but that the there was no input or review prior to publication by either ELP or the circulation department.

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AIG prepares to stop taking US aid

Izabella Kaminska — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:25:29 +0000

American International Group is in talks with government overseers to help accelerate its plan to repay US taxpayers, and speed up its return to full independence, the Wall Street Journal reports. The paper cites sources who say the repayment plan would commence as early as the first half of 2011, and probably involve the conversion of $49bn in AIG preferred shares into common stock. The move would bring the government’s ownership stake in AIG to above 90 per cent, from 79.8 per cent currently. It is believed the common shares would then be gradually sold off to private investors, a move that would reduce US ownership and potentially earn the government a profit if the shares rise in value.

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Top Ten Hedge Fund Wife Must-Hads

Paul Murphy — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:34:33 +0000

It’s come to this. FT Alphaville has been reading Hedge Fund Wives, Tatiana Boncompagni’s sickly novel about, err, hedge fund wives.

The WSJ have the first chapter serialised here, but you can actually get the first six cliché-drenched chapters here on the HarperCollins website.

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Anatomy of a panic? The collapse of Morgan Stanley

Sam Jones — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:52:53 +0000

From the WSJ:

It turns out that some of the biggest names on Wall Street — Merrill Lynch & Co., Citigroup Inc., Deutsche Bank and UBS AG — were placing large bets against Morgan Stanley, the records indicate. They did so using complicated financial instruments called credit-default swaps, a form of insurance against losses on loans and bonds…

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SIVs in the Citi

Sam Jones — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 10:35:12 +0000

So what’s the deal with Citigroup’s SIVs?

On Thursday afternoon, GMT, Citi released its latest figures for the seven SIVs it operates. Together, those seven SIVs corner 25 per cent of the SIV world – with just over $100bn in assets under management.

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