INVESTING IN TURNAROUNDS IS A TOUGH BUSINESS FOR TOUGH PEOPLE
Turnaround guys I think much of the flak about Bain Capital is not deserved. This group and others may be considered predatory or corporate raiders and some may very well be that. I don’t know enough about Bain to comment, but do know a lot about the turnaround business. I have financed many turnarounds, some [...]
IS IT TIME TO DO A GOVERMENT BAILOUT?
I’ve been thinking again. When businesses get into trouble then need to quickly get new financing in order to execute their turnaround plan and stay alive. They approach lenders who may buy their plan and provide the money they can get, or they seek to bring new equity into their business. In the process of [...]
OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY
From my 40 years in business finance I always marvel at how some seem to figure out how to do things on other people’s money. And how they find ways to avoid risking their own. I never worked with the mega deals and don’t claim to know much about them other than it takes a [...]
IN THIS ECONOMY I WILL NEVER GET A JOB! SAY WHAT??
Today I saw a news clip of an Occupy Wall Street protest. I’m not even sure where it was taken, but a sign holder caught my eye. He was holding a sign that said “I will never get a job in this economy”. It is difficult to find jobs today, but in this guys case [...]
IS PROTESTING REALLY A TANTRUM?
A few weeks ago I wrote an article titled “IS BEING A VICTIM ADDICTING? I ran it by some addiction recovery experts on Linkedin and got some interesting responses, most seemed to agree with my point that victimhood can be addicting. Here is a link to that post: http://www.robseverson.com/?p=567 I continue to be alarmed by [...]
COLLEGE VALUE? IS THIS A PROBLEM FOR THE WALL STREET OCCUPIER YOUNG PEOPLE?
About 25 years ago I was interviewing a young woman for a position in auditing for out finance company. We usually hired about 3-5 auditors a year depending upon turnover. This job was our entry level position and we looked for accounting degrees, experience if they had it, and the ability to communicate among other [...]
IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME
Remember “Field of Dreams”? Kevin Costner heard a voice telling him to build a ball park in his field to attract ball players. He believed the voice and eventually the old ballplayers came out of the cornfield to play ball! Great story but life doesn’t seem to work that way for most of us. Even Apple had [...]
DO WE WANT OUR GOVERNMENT IN THE VENTURE CAPITAL BUSINESS? CAN WE AFFORD IT?
ARE VENTURE CAPITALISTS GREEDY? That is what they say, some even call them vulture capitalists! Well, I’m sure some are and some aren’t like in any business. But in he case of VC’s is there good reason to be “greedy”? I was in the venture capital business for four years and learned a lot about [...]
“WORKERS” IS THAT A GOOD TERM?
Whenever I hear the term “workers” I get a little angry. Not really angry, just a little! The reason is that I do not think that word does any good for us. When I hear it, I think of slavery, insignificant duties, and yes, the proletariat. It also seems to demean folks other than themselves, IE [...]
SOME ADVICE FOR COLLEGE BOUND KIDS……. OR THEIR PARENTS WHO PAY THE BILL!
Several years ago my daughter called me from her first year in college with a question: “Dad, they want me to declare a major, what should I do?” I asked her what she was interested in and she replied that she didn’t know! I guess that is understandable looking back, even though I was a [...]
