No Deal More Fashionable Than Guess as Cash Lures LBO By Tara Lachapelle - 2012-05-23T00:23:20Z Enlarge image No Deal More Fashionable Than Guess as Cash Lures LBO A shopper exits a Guess? Inc. retail store in New York, U.S. A shopper exits a Guess? Inc. retail store in New York, U.S. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg Enlarge image No Deal More Fashionable Than Guess as Cash Lures LBO Shoppers browse inside of a Guess? Inc. retail store in New York, U.S. Shoppers browse inside of a Guess? Inc. retail store in New York, U.S. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg Enlarge image No Deal More Fashionable Than Guess as Cash Lures LBO An employee packs a shopping bag with items for a customer inside of a Guess? Inc. retail store ... Continue reading →

You need to enable Javascript to play media on Bloomberg.com Play Diller's IAC Top Internet Stock Over Google, Baidu Enlarge image IAC Chairman Barry Diller IAC/InterActiveCorp. Chairman Barry Diller. IAC/InterActiveCorp. Chairman Barry Diller. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Tom Forte, an Internet analyst for Telsey Advisory Group, talks about the stock performance of Facebook Inc. in comparison to Google Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. Forte speaks with Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television's "Surveillance Midday." (Source: Bloomberg) Billionaire Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp (IACI), the owner of dating website Match.com and search tool Ask.com, delivered the best returns of any Internet media company worldwide, trumping Google Inc. and Baidu Inc. Diller’s collection of more than 50 online businesses outperformed its 12 publicly traded peers in the past ... Continue reading →

Oil Drops to $90 a Barrel in New York First Time Since November CVC Said to Seek Up to $13.5 Billion for European Fund By Sabrina Willmer - 2012-05-23T15:00:04Z CVC Capital Partners Ltd., the private-equity firm whose investments include Formula One racing and Samsonite luggage, is planning what may become the largest buyout fund on the market, said two people briefed on the matter. The firm, based in London, may seek as much as 10.75 billion euros ($13.5 billion) for its next European fund, said the people, who asked not to be named because the plans are private. That would be the same amount raised for CVC’s previous fund focused on European buyouts. CVC, which may formally begin marketing the fund in the second half ... Continue reading →

The Randy Johnson-Ampad video has landed, and that could be bad news for Mitt Romney. Back in February, we profiled Johnson and gave Bloomberg Businessweek readers a heads-up that he would star in an Obama campaign assault on Romney’s past as a private equity mogul and the Republican’s claims that his years at Bain Capital were devoted to job creation. Well, the assault began last week with an ad about a former Bain-owned steel company called GST, and today the Obama team sent Johnson into the fray with a video about another ex-Bain property, office-supply manufacturer Ampad, a name that’ll be rocketing around YouTube and the political blogs. The theme of this attack is familiar: Romney has claimed that during the time he ran Bain ... Continue reading →

CHICAGO, May 22, 2012—Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, is hosting its 24th annual investment conference for financial advisors Wednesday, June 20 through Friday, June 22, at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago.This year’s keynote speakers are Michael Hasenstab, senior vice president of Franklin Templeton’s Fixed Income Group, who will open the conference on June 20; George Gatch, CEO of Investment Management, Americas for J.P. Morgan Asset Management, who will address attendees on June 21; Jeremy Grantham, chief investment strategist for GMO; and William James Adams, Arthur F. Thurnau professor of economics at the University of Michigan and an internationally renowned expert on European economies, both scheduled to speak on June 22. “With record low interest rates, continued high equity ... Continue reading →

In the coming decade, emerging technologies will thoroughly transform higher education. Although distance learning and computer-assisted education have been around since the 1960s, financial pressures are forcing institutions to develop aggressive online programs. When education goes online, how professors teach, what students learn and how institutions are structured will change significantly. Some changes are well under way. In 2009, about 29 percent of college students took at least one course online; by 2014, that number is projected to increase to 50 percent. Much of this growth has been driven by for-profit schools, but in the past couple of years, traditional colleges and universities have designed their own programs in an effort to increase tuition income without expanding the physical plant. It remains to be seen ... Continue reading →

You need to enable Javascript to play media on Bloomberg.com Play Trucker Shares Ready to Rally on Housing Rebound Enlarge image Trucker Shares Seen Ready to Rally in U.S. Truckload carriers including Celadon Group Inc., which transport goods to retailers such as Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Cos., are likely to benefit from a better housing market, says said Todd Fowler, an analyst in Cleveland at KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. Truckload carriers including Celadon Group Inc., which transport goods to retailers such as Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Cos., are likely to benefit from a better housing market, says said Todd Fowler, an analyst in Cleveland at KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. Photographer: Alan Petersime/Bloomberg Enlarge image Trucker Shares Seen Ready to Rally in U.S. A ... Continue reading →

Accor to Sell Motel 6 Chain to Blackstone Fund for $1.9 Billion By Simon Packard - 2012-05-22T06:54:49Z Enlarge image Accor to Sell Motel 6 Chain to Blackstone Fund A construction worker helps build a new Accor North America Inc. Motel 6. A construction worker helps build a new Accor North America Inc. Motel 6. Photographer: Matthew Staver/Bloomberg Accor SA (AC), Europe’s largest hotel operator, agreed to sell its U.S. budget hotel chain Motel 6 to a fund managed by Blackstone Group LP (BX) for $1.9 billion, enabling the French company to cut its debt and focus on more profitable businesses. Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII will acquire Motel 6 as well as the Studio 6 chain of extended-stay economy hotels, Paris-based Accor said in a ... Continue reading →

Enlarge image Wells Fargo Doubles Down on Mutual Funds as Rivals Wither Wells Fargo & Co. signage is displayed at a bank branch in New York. Wells Fargo & Co. signage is displayed at a bank branch in New York. Photographer: Jin Lee/Bloomberg Enlarge image Wells Fargo & Co CEO John Stumpf David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf, 58, is plowing resources into businesses such as asset management as new global bank regulations and record-low interest rates crimp profit. Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf, 58, is plowing resources into businesses such as asset management as new global bank regulations and record-low interest rates crimp profit. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) will double its $444 billion asset-management unit within seven ... Continue reading →