AIG Execs Salaries Frozen

This puts a smile on my face… From Reuters - “This is to confirm that AIG has agreed to freeze any payments pursuant to the employment package of its former Chief Executive Officer Martin Sullivan in light of the attorney general’s ongoing review,” After they do that, I think the Gov’t should throw a lien on Sullivan’s [...]

Ticketmaster Thins Out

My alma mater, Ticketmaster, has axed 5% of its staff today. Amongst the deadpool is apparently the US Controller of the Company, a position I previously reported into. TM is coming under incredible shareholder pressure as the stock price has plummeted since its August IPO and lost more than half its market [...]

Big 4 To The “Rescue”

Like superheros called upon to save Earth, both E&Y and PWC have been deputized to provide accounting and internal control support services to Treasury’s bailout of the financial sector. At least Treasury is finally admitting that they are in over their head on these issues….

Yahoo Woes Continue…Layoffs Certain

It seems that Jerry Yang is committing financial suicide with Yahoo’s stock price, having forced the stock price to its lowest level since 2003 (just when the stock price was rising from the internet bubble of 2000). Today, rumors abound that Yahoo is going to layoff at least 1,000 of their over 14,000 employees. Apparently, [...]

CFOs Asked to Combat Cyberfraud

Interesting article here about how CFOs are getting tasked to combat cyberfraud due to the financial impact. This article from PC World asks CFOs to consider: – Has the company analyzed our cyberliabilities? – What’s the potential for us to be named in class-action lawsuits after a breach? – Are there valid reasons we’re collecting personal information? – What is [...]

Fair Value Accounting Being Challenged Overseas

Japan’s Finance Minister is announcing a review of mark to market rules to determine if a better valuation standard can be applied. If indeed another standard were created it would have to be partly based on speculation and that would entail, as one UBS analyst put it, creating a “black box” pricing methodology [...]

Help Nail Fraudsters - Join The FBI Citizens Academy

Calculated Risk (one of the finance blogs I read regularly) just posted an article from the NY Times which discusses how the FBI’s resources are stretched too thin and as a result, they don’t have the manpower to handle the glut of financial and whitecollar fraud cases plaguing our financial markets. In response to this shameful [...]

Trillion Dollar Debt - Oh $*(%

Feds Probe Lehman’s Dick

Ouch…that’s gotta hurt. United States attorneys are scrambling to build a case against Richard “Dick” Fuld and the Lehman giant that he sunk. I think this is just the start of a series of investigations and hopefully charges that will be brought against these a-holes that took us to the edge of an economic black [...]

Another Enron Exec Is A Crook

What a phukin’ surprise, another Enron Exec is found guilty of fraud. This time, it’s Joseph Hirko, the former co-CEO of Enron Broadband services. Here’s a tasty bologna sandwich for you, Mr. Hirko. Mmmmm….