Ever doubt that soccer is king in the sporting world? Here’s a simple way to prove it: follow the money. In this the second annual Forbes list of the 10 highest-paying sporting events in the world, four of the top ten spots are occupied by soccer tournaments. No other sport comes close to its dominance. To construct this list, we focused on the prize money paid out to the winner of either a single event or a tournament. We did not include an event’s total prize money, or any season-long competitions that do not end in a playoff tournament, like the Barclays Premier League. The list: 1. UEFA Champions League Soccer $77 million The most prestigious club soccer tournament in the world pays like it. ... Continue reading →
English: Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO, during his European Tour. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) For all the huffing and puffing and blown around houses associated with Facebook’s ugly IPO, there’s a looming problem associated with the company that’s getting lost in the mix. That’s a pity, because over the next few years it promises to have a more profound influence over the fortunes of Facebook investors than anything else. I’m not talking about mobile, or advertising or regulation. I’m talking about the company’s dual-class share structure. As you likely know, founder Mark Zuckerberg set up the company so that Class-B shares (which he controls) carry ten times the voting power of the A-shares. That means he owns about 18% of the company, but controls more ... Continue reading →
"How many votes?" Karl Rove at the Baytowne Conference Center, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 in Sandestin, Fla (AP Photo/Northwest Florida Daily) The Millennials can’t get down with Mitt Romney. Not yet, anyway. A recent national poll of 18- to 29- year-olds by Harvard’s Institute of Politics shows President Obama with a 17 point lead over his presumptive opponent: 43% to 26%, up from an 11 point lead in November. Despite these lackluster numbers, the pollster behind the survey thinks Romney has a chance to take the Millennial vote — or at least, a crucial chunk of it. He has a powerful albeit unexpected new ally in his quest to gain ground with young people: Karl Rove, age 61. Harvard Institute of Politics’ polling director John ... Continue reading →
BY DAVID BENOIT Three Facebook Inc. investors filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, alleging the company and its underwriters failed to properly disclose changes to analysts' forecasts made at the underwriting banks. The suit follows reports that analysts at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut their revenue ...BY DAVID BENOIT Three Facebook Inc. investors filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday in Manhattan federal court, alleging the company and its underwriters failed to properly disclose changes to analysts' forecasts made at the underwriting banks. The suit follows reports that analysts at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. cut their revenue ... Continue reading →
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 22: Henry Blodget attends TechCrunch Disrupt NYC 2012 at Pier 94 on May 22, 2012 in New York City. (Image credit: Getty Images for TechCrunch/AOL via @daylife) It has been nine years since the Securities & Exchange Commission brought an epic enforcement action against Wall Street to deal with conflicts of interest that raged during the first Internet bubble between investment banking and analyst departments at the big investment banks. But days after the Facebook IPO, there was Henry Blodget on CNBC, urging the SEC to investigate Morgan Stanley and possibly other banks that underwrote the Facebook offering for cutting Facebook forecasts during the roadshow. Blodget was referring to a blockbuster article written by Reuters’ Alistair Barr describing how Morgan ... Continue reading →
In this photo taken May 4, 2012, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney smiles at a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, Pa. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) It’s no secret that the super-rich have been more inclined to write checks to right-wing candidates so far this election cycle. What is a bit of a surprise is just how many members of the Forbes 400 have donated to one group in the last few months. As of Sunday, at least 30 billionaires — 7.5% of the Forbes 400 — had donated money to Restore Our Future, a Mitt Romney-backing super PAC, either personally, through their companies or both. Restore Our Future’s monthly report included four new billionaire names — that is, wealthy donors who hadn’t given ... Continue reading →
Facebook CEo Mark Zuckerberg Mark Zuckerberg and other elite Facebook insiders are cashing in on their shares while demand for the social network is at a frenzy. This week we discovered that bankers will unleash Facebook shares at a higher price ($34 to $38 a share) than previously planned and that smart money insiders intend to sell more shares. Yesterday Facebook announces in a S1 that it upped the amount of equity it could sell on its Friday IPO to a possible total of 484,418,657 shares. Executive offers and directors (which includes Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Marc Andreessen, Jim Breyer, Peter Thiel and others ) could sell a total of 189,369,144 (or $7.2 billion if it goes off at the top of the price range). Who’s ... Continue reading →
Pinterest is raising $120 million in a funding round expected to be announced Thursday or Friday morning, according to multiple sources. The investment, Pinterest’s third, places the two-year-old social bookmarking site’s valuation in the range of $1 billion to $1.5 billion. AllThingsD reports that Japanese commerce giant Raukten is leading the round with a $50 million investment. Ben Silvermann, Pinterest’s CEO and cofounder, is reportedly still deciding what other financing offers to accept. Partnering with Raukten could open doors for Pinterest in Asia. The startup, which is still in invite-only beta, has enjoyed increasing mainstream recognition in the U.S., but has made little headway abroad. Meanwhile, clones are popping up like weeds. One sign that Pinterest’s focus is growing increasingly international: a recent post to ... Continue reading →
