createpositivechange

Tag: Richard Branson

  • Legality of Hunt Oil deal “uncertain”

    Hunt Oil’s controversial production-sharing deal with Kurdistan is “legally uncertain” and has “needlessly … Baghdad told The New York Times.

    Dallas-based Hunt Oil is run by Ray Hunt, a close friend and advisor of president Bush.

    Speaking anonymously, the official told The Times that the State Department advised Hunt before the… American and international oil companies.

    On the web
    Official Calls Kurd Oil Deal at Odds With Baghdad – New York Times

    Related stories on Muckety
    Why Ray Hunt is so powerful

  • Burkle’s new pied-a-terre

    Billionaire Ron Burkle has a new crash pad in New York, complete with a heated swimming pool and a panic room.

    Burkle, one of former President Bill Clinton’s best friends, has purchased a swank Manhattan apartment for a whopping $17.5 million, plus nearly $100,000 a year in maintenance fees. Burkle already owns the lavish Green Acres estate in Beverly Hills, where frequent Democratic fundraisers are held.

    The three-level apartment with 5 bedrooms and 5.5 bathrooms doesn’t have a doorman and is situated in a fairly uninteresting part of lower Manhattan.

    But, according to the Real Estalker, the 11,000-square-foot “behemoth has ridiculously high ceilings, 50+ windows, walls of glass, a panic room behind the library bookcases, and a carpet of green grass and a small forest on the eastern terrace. But by far the most remarkable and notable feature of the aerie is the heated swimming pool that hangs over the city with 360 degree views as far as the eye can see.”

    The apartment is said to be exquisitely detailed with massive Danish Tudor wood-burning fireplace, two separate sound systems controlled from every room with speakers throughout. Perfect for more Democratic fundraisers.

    Burkle is best known as Clinton’s pal and as a major donor to the Democratic party. He earned his fortune buying and selling grocery chains; Forbes magazine calculates that he has been involved in 17 major business deals worth $15 billion – 11 of which involved grocery stores. He recently expressed interest in buying the Tribune Company, or the Los Angeles Times, but was beat out by real estate magnate Sam Zell.

    Venture capitalist Jonathan Leitersdorf reportedly purchased the entire building at 700 Broadway for about $2.5 million before gutting it and renovating. Burkle’s new home was first put on the market in 2002 for $27,500,000, but was reduced to its final asking price of $18,750,000. Burkle apparently cut the price even more.

    On the web: Ron Burkle’s Swimming Pool in the Sky – Real Estalker

  • Senate reviews Google-DoubleClick deal

    Execs from Google and Microsoft are scheduled to appear before the Senate today to argue the merits of Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick.

    Google announced the $3.1 billion deal in April, but the plan requires approval of the Federal Trade Commission and regulators abroad.

    As CNet notes today, this will be the first time that Congress has scrutinized the Internet behemoth. Microsoft, with years of experience in arguing antitrust issues, has mobilized a legion of lobbyists to block the deal, saying it would create an online advertising monopoly.

    Consumer privacy groups have also raised concerns. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, is scheduled to testify today as well. His group says the deal would give Google too much information about web users.

    Google is expected to argue that it respects users’ privacy, and that its current business focuses on text-based advertising, while DoubleClick specializes in banners.

    In his prepared testimony, released before the hearing, Google Senior VP David Drummond says Google and DoubleClick offer complementary services. “DoubleClick is to Google what FedEx or UPS is to Amazon.com,” he said.

    Those of us who have been running Google AdSense banners for ages find this argument a bit puzzling.

    On the web:
    Microsoft, Google square off in Washington – CNet

    Related stories on Muckety:
    Advantage Microsoft in flap with Google?

  • Why Ray Hunt is So Powerful

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  • Times concedes error with Moveon.org ad

    The New York Times is backing down – somewhat – on a controversial ad placed by the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org that infuriated conservatives.

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    Under the headline “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?” the full-page ad contended that the American commander in Iraq was “constantly at war with the facts” in giving upbeat assessments of progress and refusing to acknowledge that Iraq is “mired in an unwinnable religious civil war … Today, before Congress and before the American people, General Petraeus is likely to become General Betray Us.”

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    But on Sunday, the New York Times admitted it “made a mistake” by charging MoveOn a discount rate to run the ad. Some conservative groups had criticized the Times for playing favorites with MoveOn by charging the lower price.

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    The lower rate of $64,575 is normally reserved for ads that can be placed at any time – a standby rate – but MoveOn had requested a specific date for the ad to run. The Times said it should have charged $142,083 for running the ad on that specific date, and that it would collect the difference from MoveOn.

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    Did the Times violate its own ethics rules by running the ad in the first place?

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    Yes, according to Clark Hoyt, the newspaper’s public editor. “The ad appears to fly in the face of an internal advertising acceptability policy that says: ‘We do not accept advertising that is gratuitously offensive on a personal nature,’ ” Hoyt wrote in the Times on Sunday.

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    “Steph Jespersen, the executive who approved the ad, said that, while it was ‘rough,’ he regarded it as a comment on a public official’s performance of his official duties,” Hoyt added.

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    The Times public editor wasn’t the only critic of the ad. Conservatives were outraged and flooded the Times with complaints. President Bush called the ad disgusting and Vice President Dick Cheney called it “an outrage,” and even the Democratic-controlled Senate overwhelmingly condemned the ad in a 72-25 vote.

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    But even under this assault, MoveOn.org isn’t backing down. It was still promoting the “General Betray Us” ad on its home page Monday. “We are very happy that the Times has revealed this mistake for the first time, and while we believe that the $142,083 rate is exorbitant, we will pay it,” the group said in statement.

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    On the web
    \nBetraying Its Own Best Interests – New York Times
    \nMoveon.org press release – PR Newswire

  • Send All Lawyer Jokes to Marc Andreessen

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  • Blackwater’s protective web

    Blackwater USA, the State Department’s largest private security contractor, is under siege on several fronts.

    Iraq’s state minister for national security affairs announced today that the firm would face criminal charges for the fatal shootings of Iraqi citizens. Blackwater, based in Moyock, N.C., is also under investigation on the home front.

    But a tight web of political and business connections helps shield the company from the most formidable of attacks.

    Erik Prince, the former Navy SEAL who founded Blackwater in 1996, is a major contributor to the GOP. Federal Election Commission records show that he has given more than $200,000 to Republican committees and candidates in the last decade.

    His sister, Betsy DeVos, is the former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and wife of Amway co-founder Dick DeVos, unsuccessful candidate for governor.

    Prince is also on the board of Christian Freedom International, a nonprofit whose aim is to help persecuted Christians around the world. Fellow board members include former Sen. Don Nickles and former Swiss ambassador Faith Whittlesey.

    The group’s president, Jim Jacobson, was a policy analyst with the Reagan White House. Its vice chairman, Paul Behrends, was a partner in the once-powerful lobbyist firm, Alexander Strategy Group, which represented Blackwater. The group closed shop in January 2006, citing unfavorable publicity from its ties to Jack Abramoff.

    Blackwater’s vice chairman, Cofer Black, is former director of counterterrorism for the CIA and also a top adviser to the Mitt Romney presidential campaign.

    Officers of Blackwater’s parent company, Prince Group, include Joseph Schmitz, former inspector general of the Defense Department and the son of a congressman. (An irrelevant but interesting connection here: Schmitz’s sister is Mary Kay LeTourneau, the former school teacher who was prosecuted and imprisoned for having sex with an underaged student. The two were married after her release in 2004.)

    Blackwater resumed guarding American diplomatic convoys in Iraq on Friday, after Iraqi officials backed away from plans to expel the company. The Iraq ministry said Blackwater guards had fired on a Baghdad square without provocation, killing 11 people.

    Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has ordered a review of security practices in the wake of the shootings. Federal prosecutors also are investigating whether company employees illegally smuggled weapons into Iraq.

    On the web:
    Iraq Probe of U.S. Security Firm Grows – Washington Post

  • Dreamworks and Paramount Headed for Splitsville

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  • Buffett Connection Leads to Major Gift

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  • Judge Says Par Ridder Must Step Down

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  • Uc Irvine Rehires Liberal Dean

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  • At Brinker, directors eat free

    Brinker International, the Dallas restaurant company with $4.3 billion in annual revenue, pays members of its board of directors well, more than $200,000 a year in cash and stock, according to the company’s proxy statement.

    And it gives them a complimentary dining card for use in company restaurants, which currently number about 1,800 in 49 states, Washington, D.C., and two dozen foreign countries. Brinker’s outlets include Chili’s, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, On the Border and Maggiano’s Little Italy.

    The dining card is a great perk for motivating directors to learn first hand about the company’s business and its products. Wonder how many of Countrywide Financial’s directors and their families hold some of the exotic mortgages that are now causing chaos in the credit markets? Or, how many Mattel directors and their families have toys with lead paint in their homes?

    A few of Brinker’s directors did not make use of their dining card, as first reported by footnoted.org. Among them was Robert Gates, who left the board late last year when he became Secretary of Defense.

    George Mrkonic, the retired president of Borders Group, and John Mims, co-founder of Cypress Ridge Partners, also did not use their cards.

    The remaining outside directors did make use of their cards, some of them, apparently, liberally. In its proxy, the company listed only the tax gross up amount paid to each director, related to use of the dining card. That amount would be much less than the value of the meals received.

    Ron Kirk, former mayor of Dallas and a partner in the law firm of Vinson & Elkins, received a gross up of $1,022. Rosendo Parra, a retired Dell executive, received $528. Erle Nye, chairman emeritus of TXU, the giant utility company being acquired by private equity firms, received $415. And James Oesterreicher, the retired chairman of J.C. Penney, received $250.

    Keep in mind that the average meal (food and drinks) at Chili’s, Romano’s and On the Border generates less than $15.50 in revenue, according to Brinker’s 10-K. The average meal revenue at Maggianos is $25.80.

  • Bush Nominates Former Judge As Ag

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  • The People Behind the X Prize

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  • Global Network Searches for Fossett

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  • Mark Warner Running for Senate

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  • Ellison in court over America’s Cup

    The battle for the America’s Cup is being fought not on the high seas but in New York State Supreme…

    Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, whose team lost the race this year, has accused winner Ernesto Bertarelli of manipulating the rules governing the next cup.

    The court case, filed by the Golden Gate Yacht Club, charges that Bertarelli’s team has accepted a challenge from a team with no standing, and has refused to disclose design specifications for boats sailing in the race. Bertarelli’s group, Societe Nautique de Geneve, has turned the competition into a “Defender’s Cup,” the suit charges.

    Justice Herman Kahn has scheduled a hearing for Oct. 22.

    Ellison is known not only for his love of sailing, but for his fierce competitiveness. He owns the world’s second-largest private yacht, the 454-foot Rising Sun, which was designed to be longer than Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen’s yacht, Octopus.

    However, as Robert Frank has noted in the Wall Street Journal Wealth Report, Ellison is building a new boat. The Rising Sun, it turns out, is too big to park at most of the world’s marinas.

    On the web
    New York Supreme Court sets October hearing date on America’s Cup lawsuit – International Herald Tribune
    Billionaire Boat Battle – Forbes
    Ellison’s New Yacht – Wall Street Journal

  • A Change of Course for Indymac

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  • New School Touched by Hsu Scandal

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  • Murdoch Gets Taste of His Own Medicine

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