Easy Money Investing

January 1, 2008 — Underwriting

Citigroup and Merrill Lynch were the world’s top underwriters of stocks and bonds in 2007, mea sured by volume and re ported fees. While Citi re mained the top underwriter by volume for an eighth-straight year, it ceded its fee crown to Merrill, according to data released by Thomson Fin ancial. Citigroup arranged $617.6 billion of offerings, with an 8.2 percent share. JPMorgan Chase was sec ond with $554.1 billion of offerings and a 7.4 percent share. Merrill, fourth in underwriting volume, dis placed Citigroup in fee rankings, with a 9.7 per cent market share. Citi group commanded 9.3 percent, and JPMorgan followed with 8.6 percent.

Nasdaq-OMX

Nasdaq Stock Market obtained clearance from the Committee on For eign Investment in the US for Borse Dubai to take a stake in the com pany, paving the way for its acquisition of OMX AB. Once Borse Dubai owns at least 67 percent of OMX, it will transfer all the shares to Nasdaq. Borse Dubai will simulta neously make a minority investment in Nasdaq, and Nasdaq will make a minority investment in Dubai International Fin ancial Exchange.

Kirk buys

Kirk Kerkorian’s Tra cinda agreed to buy a 35 percent stake in Delta Petroleum for $684 mil lion. Delta agreed to sell Tracinda 36 million shares at $19 each, a 23 percent premium to its Dec. 28 closing price.

Home sales

US sales of existing homes unexpectedly rose in November to a level that still suggests the housing slump will be a drag on economic growth. Purchases rose 0.4 percent to an an nual rate of 5 million from a 4.98 million pace in October, the National Association of Realtors said. Sales were down 20 percent from November 2006.

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April 12, 2008 — CBS pay

CBS CEO Les Moon ves was paid $36.8 mil lion for 2007, a 28 per cent increase from the previous year. His sal ary and bonus rose 16 percent to $23.8 mil lion, according to a fil ing. Chairman Sumner Redstone’s compensa tion totaled $9.71 mil lion, down from $12.2 million in 2006.

Revlon split

Revlon, controlled by financier Ronald Perel man, plans a reverse 1-for-10 stock split. First- quarter net loss nar rowed to about $5 mil lion from $35 million a year earlier.

BlackRock

BlackRock, the largest publicly traded US asset manager, lost “buy” ratings from analysts at Goldman Sachs Group and Wa chovia after the stock price rose 39 percent in the past year. The stock fell 5.9 percent, or $12.89 to $207.50.

Confidence

US consumer confi dence fell to a 26-year low. The Reuters/ Uni versity of Michigan pre liminary index of con sumer sentiment fell to 63.2 this month, the weakest level since 1982. The Labor Department said the cost of imported goods climbed 14.8 per cent in March from a year ago, led by oil.

Bear falls

Bear Stearns disclosed in an SEC filing that its stock and bond sales and trading activity fell by more than 50 percent in the weeks after its sale to JPMorgan Chase.

Deutsche

Deutsche Bank AG appointed Henrik As laksen and Brett Olsher as global co-heads of mergers and acquisi tions. Jim Stynes, who currently shares that role with Tony Bur gess, will become global chairman of M&A, Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank said. Source: AP, Bloomberg, Reuters, N.Y. Post

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April 12, 2008 — CBS pay

CBS CEO Les Moon ves was paid $36.8 mil lion for 2007, a 28 per cent increase from the previous year. His sal ary and bonus rose 16 percent to $23.8 mil lion, according to a fil ing. Chairman Sumner Redstone’s compensa tion totaled $9.71 mil lion, down from $12.2 million in 2006.

Revlon split

Revlon, controlled by financier Ronald Perel man, plans a reverse 1-for-10 stock split. First- quarter net loss nar rowed to about $5 mil lion from $35 million a year earlier.

BlackRock

BlackRock, the largest publicly traded US asset manager, lost “buy” ratings from analysts at Goldman Sachs Group and Wa chovia after the stock price rose 39 percent in the past year. The stock fell 5.9 percent, or $12.89 to $207.50.

Confidence

US consumer confi dence fell to a 26-year low. The Reuters/ Uni versity of Michigan pre liminary index of con sumer sentiment fell to 63.2 this month, the weakest level since 1982. The Labor Department said the cost of imported goods climbed 14.8 per cent in March from a year ago, led by oil.

Bear falls

Bear Stearns disclosed in an SEC filing that its stock and bond sales and trading activity fell by more than 50 percent in the weeks after its sale to JPMorgan Chase.

Deutsche

Deutsche Bank AG appointed Henrik As laksen and Brett Olsher as global co-heads of mergers and acquisi tions. Jim Stynes, who currently shares that role with Tony Bur gess, will become global chairman of M&A, Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank said. Source: AP, Bloomberg, Reuters, N.Y. Post

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October 5, 2007 — Fewer orders
Orders placed with U.S. factories fell by the most in seven months in August as the tur moil in credit markets eroded business confi dence. Orders were down 3.3 percent from July, the Commerce Department said.
Protection
The House approved a measure to protect mort gage borrowers from getting a surprise tax bill from the IRS after a lender has foreclosed on their home. The bill, which still must pass in the Senate and be signed by President Bush to be come law, would be ret roactive to Jan. 1.
Merrill
Merrill Lynch won’t invest in the hedge fund started by former co-head of trading and investment banking Dow Kim, three people with knowledge of the matter said. The deci sion follows trading losses at Merrill that led to the ouster of Kim’s protege, Osman Semerci, as head of the fixed-income division.
Lights out
General Electric, founded by Thomas Edison, inventor of the incandescent light- bulb, plans to cut about 1,400 jobs at its lighting division as the com pany closes plants amid a consumer shift to more energy-efficient fluorescent lamps.
Bond defaults
Subprime mortgage bonds created in the first half contain loans that are defaulting at the fastest rate ever, data in a Moody’s In vestors Service report shows.
Sirius-XM
Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio Holdings shareholders will vote Nov. 13 on the $4.8 billion combina tion of the two compa nies. The transaction also needs FCC ap proval.

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March 1, 2008 — Vista cut

Microsoft will cut the retail price of its Win dows Vista operating system by as much as 48 percent to encourage customers to upgrade and to cut piracy in countries such as China.

Ambac

Ambac Financial Group was given more time to raise capital by Moody’s Investors Serv ice because the bond in surer may get enough money to justify an Aaa rating, the ratings com pany said. Moody’s said it is continuing its six- week review of Ambac pending an agreement.

On ICE

ICE Futures US, for merly the New York Board of Trade, ended floor trading of com modities including cot ton and cocoa after 128 years, switching to all- electronic buying and selling.

Air talks

Delta Air Lines dis banded a group of out side advisers hired to help craft a merger with Northwest Air lines after the carriers’ pilots failed to reach an agreement on meshing seniority lists, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Icahn buy

A partnership led by billionaire investor Carl Icahn exercised an op tion to buy 50.1 million shares of Federal- Mogul, boosting its stake in the auto parts supplier to 75 percent, according to a regulatory filing.

Vivendi

Vivendi SA said fourth-quarter earnings rose 16 percent to 585 million euros ($888 mil lion) from 505 million euros a year earlier.

XM-Sirius

XM Satellite Radio Holdings and Sirius Satellite Radio ex tended their merger deadline to May 1 as they await approval by federal regulators.

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October 20, 2007 — Overstock up
Overstock.com rose the most in more than two weeks after saying its third-quarter loss nar rowed to $4.7 million, or 20 cents a share, com pared with $24.5 million, or $1.19, a year earlier.

WPP falls
WPP Group Plc, the world’s second-biggest advertising company, fell the most in 3 years in London trading after re porting third-quarter sales that missed anal ysts’ estimates and fore casting a slowing ad market in 2009.

Tribune down
Tribune Co. fell the most in five years - $1.43 or 5.1 percent, to $26.49 - after the Los Angeles Times reported that Sam Zell’s proposed $8.2 billion buyout may be in trouble. Zell’s $34-a-share bid is 28 per cent higher than yester day’s closing price.

News Corp.
News Corp., ending the first week of broad casts from its new Fox Business Network, an nounced plans to invest as much as $200 million in the channel over the next few years. Chair man Rupert Murdoch, speaking after the annual shareholders meeting in New York, said the com pany will spend about $70 million in the fiscal year ending June 30. News Corp. also said 22.9 percent of share holders voted in favor of eliminating its dual class share structure. News Corp. owns The Post.

Nasdaq bid
Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. and brokerages in cluding Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are weighing bids for the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, four people familiar with the matter said. AT&T sues AT&T sued Vonage Holdings Corp. for pat ent infringement, the fourth such lawsuit filed against Vonage in two years.

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February 23, 2008 — Time to go

Time Warner said in its annual regulatory fil ing that it expects to cut more jobs in its maga zine publishing division in the first quarter, re sulting in $10 million to $20 million in expenses.

NYT down

New York Times Co. fell for a second day on the New York Stock Ex change after a Goldman Sachs analyst said that asset sales advocated by hedge funds may not be financially practical. New York Times lost 66 cents, or 3.4 percent, to $19.03 after declining 6.6 percent Thursday.

M&M

Marsh & McLennan., which fired CEO Mi chael Cherkasky for fail ing to restore profit after a bid-rigging scandal, gave him a $7.15 million separation payment and vested his shares and stock options.

Vanguard

Vanguard Group named F. William McNabb III president and said he will take over as CEO from Jack Brennan within a year. McNabb, 50, currently runs the Vanguard’s in stitutional and interna tional units, which over see about $700 billion in assets. Brennan, 53, who has been president since 1989 and CEO since 1996, will remain chairman.

Liberty OK

Liberty Media’s $12 bil lion purchase of a con trolling stake in DirecTV Group from News Corp. was approved by the Re publican majority on the FCC. News Corp. owns The Post.

No Hanks

AIG said court docu ments that Maurice “Hank” Greenberg won the right to view don’t include anything about a transaction at the heart of two legal cases. AIG is seeking to overturn a court ruling stating that Greenberg is entitled to memoranda of legal ad vice given when he was the company’s CEO.

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December 3, 2007 — Online sales

Online sales last week rose 18 percent as con sumers hunted for bar gains on electronics, toys and computers. In ternet retail purchases jumped to $4.06 billion in the week ended Nov. 30, Reston, Va.-based comScore Inc. said yes terday.

OPEC meeting

OPEC will weigh a modest boost to oil supply at a meeting on Wednesday, but a $10 retreat last week in crude prices from a re cord high near $100 a barrel could tip the bal ance away from pump ing more, OPEC offi cials said.

Jobs report

Economists predicted that unemployment in November rose to a 16-month high as compa nies cut costs, according to a survey ahead of a Labor Department re port Friday. The survey projected that the econ omy created 75,000 jobs, less than half October’s 166,000 gain, and the job less rate rose from 4.7 percent to 4.8 percent.

Tiffany’s time

Swatch Group AG will create a new company to make watches under the name of Tiffany & Co., which is allowing wider distribution for its branded luxury time pieces. Swatch Group will build a new com pany in Switzerland - The Watch Co. - which will be authorized to use Tiffany’s trademarks and operate under the Tif fany name, the compa nies said yesterday.

NBC takes bite

NBC Universal is pulling the remainder of the shows it owns from Apple Inc.’s iTunes amid a fight over download prices. The network’s contact with iTunes recently expired and popular shows like “Heroes” and “The Office” are getting yanked from the site in favor of NBC.com, Amazon and Hulu.

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December 11, 2007 — Bear suit

Bear Stearns and its EMC Mortgage unit were accused of preda tory loan servicing that particularly harmed His panic and black borrow ers, in a complaint filed in federal court in Con necticut.

Peltz stake

Cadbury Schweppes Plc, the British chocolate maker spinning off its US drinks unit, said bil lionaire Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management LP increased its stake in the company to about 4.5 percent. Trian previously held 3.47 percent, Lon don-based Cadbury said.

Freddie limits

Freddie Mac said it will limit purchases of delinquent loans from pools underlying the mortgage-backed secu rities it guarantees to help preserve capital. Freddie Mac will buy loans that are 120 days or more delinquent only when they’ve been modified, a foreclosure sale occurs, or borrow ers don’t catch up within 24 months.

Eddie sells

Eddie Bauer Holdings, which tried unsuccess fully to sell itself this year, sold some private- label assets for $113.9 mil lion. Eddie Bauer’s Spie gel Acceptance unit sold private-label charge ac counts to RAC Trust, Midland Funding LLC and ECast Settlement Corp. on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5, it said in a regulatory filing.

M’sft v. Google

Microsoft, competing with Google for online advertising sales, struck an exclusive agreement with busi ness news channel CNBC to provide ads for its Web site.

Bad rap

Rapper Luther Camp bell’s recently-listed Luke Entertainment Group is traded on the Pink Sheets, not Nasdaq as The Post incorrectly reported on Dec. 9.

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February 16, 2008 — Refco plea

Refco’s former chair man, Phillip Bennett, pleaded guilty to fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in a scheme that cost investors at least $2.4 billion, a month before he was scheduled to go on trial.

Countrywide

Countrywide Financial said late loans were at their highest level in at least six years during Jan uary, adding to evidence that the housing slump is getting deeper. Overdue loans rose to 7.47 percent of unpaid principal bal ances from 7.2 percent in December and 4.32 per cent in January 2007.

Sun Times

Sun-Times Media Group hired Lazard Ltd. to assist in evaluat ing a possible sale.

Sherman sheds

Bruce Sherman, whose Private Capital Manage ment investment firm nearly single-handedly forced the sale of Knight Ridder, said in SEC fil ings that it no longer owned any stock in The New York Times Co., Lee Enterprises or Belo, and that it was effectively done as an investor in The McClatchy Co.

Mack pay

Morgan Stanley Chair man and CEO John Mack was paid $800,000 in sal ary and received no bonus last year, an SEC filing showed.

Universal

Vivendi’s Universal Music Group was sued for $6.1 million plus interest and unspecified punitive damages by the estates of musicians including Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan for withholding royalties for the past decade.

Blackstone

Blackstone Group LP co-founder Peter G. Pe terson said he’s creating a foundation to address the US’ most critical en vironmental, economic and social problems.

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July 6, 2007 — Block loss

H&R Block’s mortgage unit Option One lost a $1.5 billion credit line, falling “dangerously close” to the minimum amount demanded by hedge fund Cerberus Capital Management LP, which demanded Option One maintain warehouse lines of at least $8 billion when it agreed to buy it in April.

New Century

New Century Financial Corp., a collapsed sub prime lender that is now liquidating, said the SEC has elevated its investi gation of the company to formal status.

UBS exit

UBS AG said it’s re placing CEO Peter Wuffli with Marcel Rohner, the deputy CEO, effective immediately. UBS’ board rejected a proposal by Chairman Marcel Ospel that Wuffli should suc ceed him, it said.

Cablevision

Cablevision shares rose to their highest point in more than five years after an analyst said they may be worth twice the $36.26 the founding Dolan family agreed to pay to take the company private. Shares climbed $1.30 to $37.73.

Xbox warranty

Microsoft said it would expand its warranty cov erage on its Xbox con sole, a change that will result in expenses that may hit $1.15 billion.

Eye bid

Advanced Medical Op tics. has offered to buy Bausch & Lomb for $4.23 billion, topping a rival offer of $3.67 billion from private equity firm War burg Pincus.

BoNY suit

A Moscow court post poned until Tuesday a hearing into a $22.5 bil lion lawsuit by Russia’s federal customs service against Bank of New York Mellon Corp. after the bank submitted new documents in its de fense, a lawyer for the plaintiff said.

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February 11, 2008 — Oil ‘war’

President Hugo Cha vez of Venezuela threat ened to cut off oil sales to the US in an “eco nomic war” if Exxon Mobil wins court judgments to seize bil lions of dollars of the na tion’s assets. “The out laws of Exxon Mobil will never again rob us,” Cha vez said, accusing the oil giant of acting in concert with Washington.

Data hit

A survey ahead of crit ical data this week pre dicted sales at US retail ers fell in January for a second month, signaling the biggest part of the economy may be starting to stumble. Purchases will drop 0.3 percent after decreasing 0.4 per cent in December, according to a survey ahead of a government report Wednesday.

G-7 worry

Group of Seven policy makers said the US economy may slow fur ther, eroding global growth, and officials forecast more financial- market turmoil. The G- 7 is trying to limit the damage from a housing slump that has pushed the US toward recession.

Cuts on hold

Chrysler, which said in November it planned 11,000 layoffs, said it would hold the line on additional job cuts as it retools to fewer models.

‘R’ word

Sixty-one percent of the public believes the economy is now suffer ing through its first re cession since 2001, according to an AP- Ipsos poll. Some experts, like the majority of peo ple questioned in the poll, say the economy actually may be shrink ing now.

First call

Microsoft Corp. said Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications will begin using the Win dows operating system for the first time on some of its handsets.

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February 9, 2008 — Dre pay

Rapper and music producer Dr. Dre wants to investigate Death Row Records to de termine how much the record company owes him for unpaid royal ties from sales of his re cords that accrued after the record label’s bank ruptcy filing.

Toll toll

Robert Toll, the CEO of homebuilder Toll Brothers, had his com pensation cut by more than half last fiscal year and received no bonus after the company’s shares fell 21 percent. Toll was paid $8.4 mil lion in the year ended Oct. 31, according to a regulatory filing yester day. In 2006, he got $19.2 million, including a $17.5 million bonus.

Out of film

Polaroid, the com pany that pioneered in stant photography, is exiting the film busi ness and closing plants in Massachusetts, Mex ico and the Netherlands and cutting 150 jobs by the end of the quarter, as it focuses on digital photography and flat- panel televisions.

Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo Bank sued Cleveland over claims that the city threatens to interfere with its residential mortgage business. Cleveland sued 21 banks and mortgage companies, including Wells Fargo, in January claiming they created a public nuisance by funding and securitiz ing subprime mortgage loans for borrowers with weak credit.

Liberty-DirecTV

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin asked the agency to approve Lib erty Media’s purchase of a stake in DirecTV Group, with some con ditions. The FCC may vote on the transaction on or before Feb. 26, the date of its next scheduled meeting, Martin told reporters.

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October 19, 2007 — Pfizer falls

Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drugmaker, said third-quarter profit fell 77 percent on a $2.8 bil lion write-off for discon tinuing its inhaled insu lin treatment Exubera, which didn’t catch on be cause of its price and cumbersome delivery.

Milberg plea

A man prosecutors say was paid about $2.6 mil lion to be a professional plaintiff who helped Mil berg Weiss get lucrative class-action lawsuits pleaded guilty in Los An geles yesterday to ob struction of justice and two other charges. Sey mour Lazar, 80, of Palm Springs, Calif., was the latest person to plead guilty in a seven-year in vestigation that accuses the firm of paying $11.3 million in kickbacks to get people to take part in more than 225 class-ac tion and shareholder lawsuits.

No grudges

Viacom Inc. Chief Ex ecutive Philippe Dauman yesterday told the Web 2.0 Summit in San Fran cisco the entertainment company could work with Google Inc. down the road, despite a pend ing $1 billion lawsuit it has filed against the Web search leader.

M’soft future

Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said yesterday at the Web. 2.0 Summit the company aims to pursue an independent path, focusing on up to 20 smaller acquisitions of $50 million to $1 billion each annually rather than mega-deals. Microsoft has been ru mored to be targeting ac quisitions like Yahoo! or Facebook.

FCC rules

Two U.S. senators asked FCC boss Kevin Martin to “slow down” efforts to ease limits on local ownership of tele vision stations after learning he wants a Dec. 18 vote on possible rule changes.

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January 25, 2008 — Ambac bid

Billionaire vulture- fund investor Wilbur Ross is holding talks with troubled bond in surer Ambac about a takeover, according to a report in The Evening Standard. Ross is said to be eager to buy a bond insurer to take ad vantage of a coming wave of consolidation.

FCC auction

The US Federal Com munications Commis sion took second-round bids totaling $2.78 bil lion in an auction of airwaves that would let carriers offer faster In ternet access on mobile phones. The FCC did not identify any of the bidders. The govern ment expects the auc tion to raise as much as $15 billion in total.

Loan drop

US mortgage lending in 2008 will tumble to $1.96 trillion, an eight- year low, as home prices continue to drop, the Mortgage Bankers Association said.

Good call

Nokia, the world’s top cellphone maker, re ported fourth-quarter earnings per share rose 57 percent to 0.47 euros. Nokia sold 133.5 million phones in the quarter.

Sales dip

Sales of existing homes in the US fell a worse- than-expected 2.2 per cent in December to an annual rate of 4.89 million. That was the big gest annual slump in 25 years, and the first decline in prices since the Great Depression. Prices fell 1.8 percent for all of 2007.

Not sweet

Candy maker Hershey Co. said fourth-quarter profit plunged 65 per cent to $54.3 million, or 24 cents a share, from $153.6 million, or 65 cents, a year earlier. Hershey also forecast lower 2008 earnings of $1.85 to $1.90 a share.

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June 14, 2007 — Tribune sale

Tribune Co.’s pro posed $8.2 billion sale should be blocked unless the company sells off ei ther a newspaper or a television station in five markets where it owns both, Media Access Proj ect, a Washington-based public interest law firm that opposes media con centration, told the FCC.

CA CEO

CA Inc. said William McCracken will replace Lewis Ranieri as chair man. McCracken, 64, worked at IBM for 36 years, retiring in 2001.

Naked rule

The SEC increased restrictions on naked short selling after com panies accused traders of using the tactic to manipulate share prices. The SEC voted 5-0 to limit the ability of investors to short sell shares they haven’t borrowed, removing an exemption that allowed traders to place sell or ders but never deliver the shares to buyers.

Bail denied

BetonSports PLC founder Gary Kaplan, in dicted with the company for violating U.S. laws barring Internet betting across state lines, was denied bail.

Hank loss

AIG’s former CEO Maurice “Hank” Green berg lost a bid to file claims against past and present company offi cials as part of a lawsuit originally filed against him, a judge ruled.

Ihop bid

Ihop Corp. offered to buy Applebee’s Interna tional Inc. for more than $2 billion, people famil iar with the matter said.

Usana sale A story in yesterday’s Post misstated the amount of stock that Usana Corp. CEO Myron Wentz sold on Feb. 12, as well as the proceeds. He sold 85,000 shares, netting about $5.18 million.

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January 19, 2008 — Online boom

China’s online popula tion has soared to 210 million people and could surpass the US this year to become the world’s biggest, the Chi nese government said yesterday. The US Cen sus Bureau said last year that about 218 million of this country’s 310 mil lion people used the In ternet.

Retreat

UBS AG, Europe’s big gest bank, will shut its principal finance unit, the US group that makes bets on fixed-income in vestments, as it scales back risk-taking after writing down the value of subprime mortgage investments by $14.7 bil lion last year.

Ambac cut

Ambac Financial Group Inc. became the first bond insurer to lose its AAA rating after Fitch Ratings down graded the company. Ambac’s rating was cut to AA after abandoning its plan to raise $1 billion in capital. Without its AAA rating Ambac may be unable to write bond insurance and may have to sell itself. Moody’s and S&P are also review ing Ambac’s rating.

On board

William Ackman’s Per shing Square Capital Management hedge fund agreed not to buy more than 20 percent of book seller Borders Group. Pershing partner Richard McGuire will remain on Borders board. Jeweler Zale Corp. appointed Richard Breeden to its board after he raised his stake in the company to more than 18 percent.

LBO deal

Leveraged-buyout firms Blackstone Group and Wellspring Capital Management, turning to smaller takeovers after funding costs dou bled, agreed to buy US food distributor Per formance Food Group Co. for $1.2 billion and combine it with a rival acquired last year.

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January 12, 2008 — Collapse

Friedman, Billings Ramsey Group Inc., the Arlington, Virginia- based investment bank, filed for bankruptcy on behalf of its First NLC Financial Services LLC because of the “contin ued deterioration of the non-prime market.”

Iger pay

Walt Disney Co. paid CEO Robert Iger $27.7 million in salary and other compensation last year and Thomas Staggs, Disney’s CFO, was paid $9.05 million, according to an SEC filing.

Interest-ing

Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Plosser said he’ll “certainly” consider more interest-rate cuts after a report said con sumer spending slowed unexpectedly. On Thurs day, Fed chief Ben Ber nanke said more rate cuts “may well be neces sary.” The Fed’s next meeting is on Jan 29-30.

Hedge pledge

Investors poured $21.8 billion into US hedge funds in November even though returns were the worst since early 2006, according to data from TrimTabs Investment Research and Barclay Hedge. In October, in vestors put $16 billion in hedge funds and $18.6 billion in September.

Prez folds

John O’Brien, the presi dent of Connecticut’s Foxwoods Resort Ca sino, which is run by The Mashantucket Pe quot Tribal Nation, will resign Jan. 18. Barry J. Cregan, senior vice pres ident of operations will serve as interim presi dent.

Dura matter

Dura Automotive Sys tems Inc., which scrapped its bankruptcy- reorganization plan last month because it could not raise $425 million in financing, has sought a three-month extension of its exclusive right to file a Chapter 11 plan.

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May 4, 2007 — EMI bid J.P. Morgan-affiliated private equity group One Equity has approached EMI about a takeover which could value the British music group at more than $6 billion, the Financial Times reported on its Web site. Diller earns Barry Diller’s IAC/ In terActiveCorp., owner of Citysearch and Ticket master, said its first- quarter profit rose 31.6 percent to $62 million, or 20 cents per share, from $47.2 million, or 14 cents per share, a year ago. GM crash GM reported a 90 per cent drop in first-quarter earnings to $62 million, or 11 cents a share, from $602 million, or $1.06 per share, a year earlier, missing Wall Street esti mates by a wide margin, as mortgage-related losses at its GMAC affili ate swamped gains in its main business. Shares fell more than 3 percent. Clear Channel Clear Channel Commu nications rejected a new offer of $39.20 a share from Bain Capital Part ners and Thomas H. Lee Partners, 20 cents higher than the previous bid. Trump down Trump Entertainment Resorts said its first- quarter loss narrowed to $8.13 million, or 26 cents a share, from $9.72 mil lion, or 32 cents, a year earlier. Shares fell 84 cents, or 5.1 percent, to $15.61 on the Nasdaq - the most since Decem ber. Blackstone Blackstone Group LP, the private-equity firm run by Stephen Schwarz man, plans to raise $2 billion for two new hedge funds as it ex pands its money-man agement division. The Blackstone Strategic Alli ance Fund LP and the Blackstone Strategic Alli ance Offshore Fund Ltd. may gather as much as $1 billion each, the com pany said in SEC filings.

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January 5, 2008 — Merrill probe

Merrill Lynch & Co. was subpoenaed by Massachusetts regula tors Thursday after the value of collateralized debt obligations the brokerage firm sold to the city of Springfield plunged 91 percent be cause of losses tied to subprime mortgages.

Mortgages

A bankruptcy judge thwarted a bid by some of Wall Street’s biggest banks to force American Home Mortgage Invest ment Corp. to surrender its right to service $1.2 billion in mortgages owned by the banks.

Sallie falls

SLM Corp., also known as Sallie Mae, fell the most in more than two weeks - $2.49, or 13 percent, to $16.67 - after disclos ing it will be more se lective in pursuing loan originations and will cut services to borrow ers. The company has declined 66 percent in 12 months, largely be cause of the collapse of a proposed $25.3 billion takeover by investors including buyout firm J.C. Flowers & Co.

Wendy’s down

Wendy’s Interna tional, which has been seeking a buyer since April, said sales fell for the first time in seven quarters at company- owned restaurants. Shares fell $1.52, or 6.1 percent, to $23.34 on the NYSE, the largest decline since Novem ber 2006.

Fire sale

Foreign investors ex ploited the declining US dollar during the past three months to snap up American companies, taking the biggest share of US deals in at least a decade. Buyers from Dubai to the Netherlands accounted for 46 percent of the $230.5 billion of US mergers and acquisi tions announced in the fourth quarter, the larg est portion since 1998, when Bloomberg started compiling the data.

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January 1, 2008 — Underwriting

Citigroup and Merrill Lynch were the world’s top underwriters of stocks and bonds in 2007, mea sured by volume and re ported fees. While Citi re mained the top underwriter by volume for an eighth-straight year, it ceded its fee crown to Merrill, according to data released by Thomson Fin ancial. Citigroup arranged $617.6 billion of offerings, with an 8.2 percent share. JPMorgan Chase was sec ond with $554.1 billion of offerings and a 7.4 percent share. Merrill, fourth in underwriting volume, dis placed Citigroup in fee rankings, with a 9.7 per cent market share. Citi group commanded 9.3 percent, and JPMorgan followed with 8.6 percent.

Nasdaq-OMX

Nasdaq Stock Market obtained clearance from the Committee on For eign Investment in the US for Borse Dubai to take a stake in the com pany, paving the way for its acquisition of OMX AB. Once Borse Dubai owns at least 67 percent of OMX, it will transfer all the shares to Nasdaq. Borse Dubai will simulta neously make a minority investment in Nasdaq, and Nasdaq will make a minority investment in Dubai International Fin ancial Exchange.

Kirk buys

Kirk Kerkorian’s Tra cinda agreed to buy a 35 percent stake in Delta Petroleum for $684 mil lion. Delta agreed to sell Tracinda 36 million shares at $19 each, a 23 percent premium to its Dec. 28 closing price.

Home sales

US sales of existing homes unexpectedly rose in November to a level that still suggests the housing slump will be a drag on economic growth. Purchases rose 0.4 percent to an an nual rate of 5 million from a 4.98 million pace in October, the National Association of Realtors said. Sales were down 20 percent from November 2006.

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December 31, 2007 — Merrill talks

Merrill Lynch & Co. is in talks with Chinese and Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds to raise capital by sell ing another “big” stake in the company, Brit ain’s Observer reported yesterday. The $4.4 bil lion raised by the sale of stock to Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte. last Monday was not enough, the paper cited a US person as saying. Chief Executive Officer John Thain canceled New Year leave for his top executives, sources close to the bank were reported as saying.

Jobs report

Economists forecast that US employers hired fewer workers in December and the un employment rate rose to 4.8 percent, the high est in more than a year, according to a survey ahead of a Labor De partment report Friday. Payrolls are predicted to have risen by 70,000 after increasing 94,000 in November.

‘Net sales

Online spending from Nov. 1 through Dec. 27 increased $28 billion, a 19 percent rise that was the slowest pace on record, Reston, Va.-based com Score Inc. said yester day. Sales grew $24 bil lion a year earlier, a 26 percent rise.

Chinese food

China, the world’s biggest grain producer, will tax exports of wheat, corn and rice to increase domestic sup ply and control rising food prices. Food prices in the world’s fastest-growing major economy rose 18.2 per cent in November.

Exec dies

Shawn Wang, the chief financial officer of China’s dominant In ternet search engine, Baidu.com, has died after an accident while on va cation in China, the com pany said yesterday. Wang helped Baidu.com list on the Nasdaq in 2005.

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June 4, 2007 — Insuring Alliant Insurance Services, one of the na tion’s largest brokerage firms, yesterday an nounced that Black stone Group, in partner ship with Alliant’s management and em ployees, has reached an agreement to buy the company from its cur rent owners comprised of the investment firm Lindsay Goldberg and Alliant’s management and employees. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to close within the next 75 days.

Toyota up Toyota, Japan’s biggest carmaker, increased U.S. sales by 14 percent last month on demand for fuel-efficient models, helping the automaker boost its market share after faltering in April the company reported yesterday. Dollar up The dollar rose to a four-month high against the yen as accelerating job growth and stronger manufacturing added to signs that the economy is gaining momentum. The currency closed last week near a seven-week high versus the euro as reports encouraged trad ers to reduce bets on a cut in borrowing costs by the Federal Reserve. The central bank said in minutes of last month’s meeting released last week that it still expects a pickup in the economy this year and views infla tion as its main concern. Let’s deal Casino dealers at Bal ly’s Atlantic City voted emphatically in favor of forming a union yester day in what both sides considered a pivotal vote in the unionization effort at the resort city’s 11 casi nos. The vote was 628-255 in favor of be coming part of the United Auto Workers union. The Bally’s vote followed unsuccessful drives to unionize at Trump Marina and the Atlantic City Hilton.

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December 29, 2007 — Sallie sale

SLM Corp., known as Sallie Mae, raised at least $3 billion after in creasing the size of stock sales, allowing the company to pay off share-buyback con tracts and shore up its finances. SLM obtained at least $1 billion from selling preferred shares and $2 billion from common stock, accord ing to regulatory fil ings. It will use $2 bil lion of proceeds to settle a contract to buy back 44 million com mon shares, at $45.25 each.

AOL-Netscape

AOL will end its sup port for the pioneering Netscape Web browser, Netscape director Tom Drapeau wrote on his blog. Netscape is being shut down because it hasn’t won market share from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Dra peau said. AOL bought Netscape for $9.8 bil lion in 1999.

NYSE listings

NYSE Euronext, the first trans-Atlantic stock exchange, listed $78 billion in initial public offerings this year in the US and Eu rope, the most of any exchange group. The number includes share sales of closed-end funds, the New York- based market said in a statement. Excluding those offerings compa nies raised $48 billion on the group’s ex changes.

Warnaco

Warnaco Group, the maker of Calvin Klein underwear and Speedo swimsuits, sold the Anne Cole, Cole of Cal ifornia and Catalina swimwear units to In Mocean Group LLC for $26 million.

Oops

Nasdaq said it erred in releasing a statement yesterday that said the US government cleared a deal giving Dubai’s state-owned stock ex change a minority stake in Nasdaq.

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December 13, 2007 — Oil rise

Oil jumped nearly 5 percent, $4.37, to $94.39 a barrel. US crude stocks fell to the lowest point since early 2005.

AMT OK

Hedge fund executives won’t be allowed to defer taxes on unlimited funds in offshore ac counts under a bill ap proved by the House of Representatives that also shields millions of tax payers from the alterna tive minimum tax.

Bankruptcy

The House Judiciary Committee approved legislation to help keep bankrupt borrowers from losing their homes, letting bankruptcy courts change mortgage terms to protect borrowers. It amend Congress’s 2005 overhaul of the nation’s bankruptcy code, which made it tougher for con sumers to wipe out debts through the courts.

Google glitch

Two consumer groups filed a complaint with the FTC, urging that its chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, be removed from the review of the Google- DoubleClick merger because her hus band is a top antitrust at torney at the law firm advising DoubleClick on the deal. The groups said Majoras is also a former partner in the same firm.

Classmates IPO

Classmates Media Corp. scrapped plans for an IPO due to current market conditions.

Correction

In an article published yesterday, Marc Kaso witz, an attorney with the law firm of Kaso witz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP, was in correctly described as “fighting accusations in federal court that he mishandled evidence.” In fact, the proceeding to which we referred was dismissed with re spect to the Kaso witz firm in September 2007. The Post regrets the error.

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December 22, 2007 — Blank-fine

Goldman Sachs Group, the world’s biggest secu rities firm, awarded CEO Lloyd Blankfein $67.9 million in cash, re stricted stock and op tions for 2007, topping last year’s record-setting $53.4 million and putting him in the top tier of Wall Street pay pack ages. As reported last week, Blankfein, 53, was expected to receive about $70 million. He will get $26.8 million in cash, 112,675 restricted stock units and 322,104 options, the firm said in an SEC filing. His $600,000 salary remains unchanged this year. Goldman, which shat tered Wall Street profit records for the fourth- consecutive year, set aside $20.2 billion to pay employee salaries, bene fits and bonuses, 23 per cent more than last year.

Morgan pay

Morgan Stanley awarded Co-President Walid Chammah an $8.9 million stock bonus for 2007, the highest among the firm’s executives after CEO John Mack ab stained from a year-end award.

Redstone

Midway Games named Shari Redstone chairman, succeeding Kenneth D. Cron, who resigned. The company is controlled by her fa ther, billionaire Sumner Redstone.

Above the RIM

Research In Motion Ltd’s shares shot up more than 10 percent, up $11.64, to $118.63, on the Nasdaq, as analysts upgraded ratings and raised estimates to re flect big growth expec tations for RIM’s Black Berry devices.

Visa loss

Visa had an $861 mil lion loss this year on $2.65 billion in litigation costs, most from settling an antitrust suit brought by rival American Ex press. The loss compares with profit of $453 mil lion in 2006.

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December 15, 2007 — Bad week

Stocks fell, completing the steepest weekly drop in a month. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 178.11 to 13,339.85. The Nasdaq composite index lost 32.75 to 2,635.74. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index de clined 20.46 to 1,467.95.

DJ debt

Dow Jones & Co.’s debt rating was raised one level to BBB+ by Standard & Poor’s fol lowing the sale of The Wall Street Journal publisher to News Corp. The change af fects Dow Jones’ $225 million 3.875 percent senior notes due Febru ary 2008. The action follows shareholder ap proval of the sale and the assumption of the notes by News Corp., owner of The Post, S&P said.

Morgan trades

Two Morgan Stanley advisers concealed $4.8 billion in market-timed trades by two of their hedge fund customers in 2002 and 2003, the SEC said in a lawsuit.

Sallie moves

Student lender Sallie Mae said that its execu tive chairman Albert Lord will take on the extra role of CEO. C.E. Andrews, the previous CEO, will assume the role of president.

Not a-loan

The Senate passed leg islation, 93-1, to allow the Federal Housing Admin istration to back refin anced loans for borrow ers who are delinquent on payments because their mortgages are re setting to sharply higher rates from low initial “teaser” levels.

Sun-Times

Sun-Times Media Group plans to cut op erating costs by $50 million next year. The plan will include $10 million of savings pre viously announced as part of a distribution agreement with Trib une Co.

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November 26, 2007 — Hog wild

Shares of motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson Inc. may be cheap, given the company’s strong brand recogni tion with consumers, Barron’s said in today’s issue. The business weekly said that while the next 12 months won’t be easy for the company, the stock could eventually top $60 per share. Harley’s shares closed Friday at $46.53.

Home sales

Economists predicted that US home sales fell in October to the lowest in at least eight years, according to a survey ahead of a National As sociation of Realtors re port Wednesday. Pur chases of new and existing homes are fore cast to have fallen 1 per cent to an annual pace of 5.75 million units..

Gold on rise

Traders forecast that gold will rise for a sec ond straight week on speculation that a weak ening dollar will spur demand for the precious metal as an alternative investment. Gold rose 4.8 percent last week to $824.70 an ounce in New York.

Istithmar

Istithmar PJSC, a Dubai government- owned private equity investor managing $10 billion, will merge its real estate investments with Nakheel PJSC, an other property com pany owned by its par ent. Istithmar owns New York properties including 280 Park Ave. and 450 Lexington Ave.

French toast

French President Nic olas Sarkozy kicked off his first state visit to China yesterday by urging the Communist leadership to let its cur rency rise before Bei jing’s trade imbalances become unmanageable. Sarkozy called for a fair balance between the major currencies - the dollar, the euro, the yen and the yuan.

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November 24, 2007 — Freddie loss

Freddie Mac may re port wider losses than it forecast as the slump in credit markets worsens, Moody’s Investors Serv ice said. Freddie Mac, which reported a record loss of $2.02 billion for the third quarter earlier this week, may have un derestimated when it projected that 0.11 per cent of the debt it guar antees will go bad in the next two years, Moody’s analysts said.

SIVs slammed

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s plan to revive credit markets with help from the na tion’s biggest banks is “an outrage, a fraud and a blatant attempt to mis evaluate hundreds of bil lions of dollars of securi ties,” Punk, Ziegel analyst Richard Bove said. Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase agreed to help form an $80 billion fund designed to revive mar kets for short-term debt.

Qualcomm

Chip maker Broadcom said it would try to stop rival Qualcomm from making, using, selling or developing cellular chips based on contested pat ents. The move came two days after Broadcom chose to accept a re duced damage award of $19.6 million rather than retry its case against Qualcomm.

Bailout

MBIA Inc. and Ambac Financial Group Inc., the two biggest bond insur ers, jumped after the bail out of rival CIFG Guar anty signaled the industry may get the fi nancing it needs to avoid credit-rating downgrades.

Borders

Pershing Square Capi tal Management activist investor William Ack man raised his stake in Borders Group, the sec ond-biggest US book store chain, to 17.1 per cent. Ackman previously held an 11.7 percent in terest in Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders.

November 17, 2007 — Gabelli pay

Mario Gabelli, CEO of asset-management firm Gamco Investors, was paid $57.9 million in 2006, more than the head of Wall Street’s most profitable invest ment bank. Gabelli did not receive a fixed salary or bonus last year, the company said in a regu latory filing. He received $13.2 million in incentive management fees, and $44.6 million in portfolio manager fees.

BofM loss

Bank of Montreal, Can ada’s fourth-largest lender, will take write downs and other costs of C$210 million ($215 mil lion) from trading losses and asset-backed debt in vestments, wiping out more than a third of esti mated earnings.

NRock

Northern Rock Plc CEO Adam Applegarth will step down by the end of January as bid ders circle the U.K. mortgage lender bailed out by the Bank of Eng land two months ago. Derek Wanless, who led the risk-assessment unit, and three other non-ex ecutive directors quit the board immediately.

Out of control

Crude oil rose more than $1 a barrel on spec ulation that OPEC has lost control of prices. “OPEC can’t do anything about the price,” Vene zuela’s oil minister Ra fael Ramirez said in Ri yadh, Saudi Arabia, where OPEC is holding a summit. Oil prices could reach $100 a barrel “soon,” he said. Crude oil for December delivery rose $1.67, or 1.8 percent, to $95.10 a barrel on the Nymex.

Deals in danger

More leveraged- buyout deals will col lapse as investment banks struggle to sell debt to fund transactions amid persistent credit- market turmoil that began in July, Thomas H. Lee Partners LP Co-Pres ident Scott Schoen said.

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November 3, 2007 — Oil up
Oil surged 2.5 per cent, up $2.44 to $95.93 a barrel, close to the re cord $96.24 hit earlier in the week.

Ford cuts
Ford Motor Co. may make additional job and spending cuts because of declining U.S. sales, sources said. The com pany may pare addi tional hourly and sala ried positions on top of 40,000 announced last year, they said. A Ford spokesman declined to comment.

Win for losing
James Dolan, CEO of Cablevision, whose $36.26-a-share buyout was rejected by share holders last week, may be able to pay a special dividend of $19 a share, said Pali Capital analyst Richard Greenfield, who expects the stock to rise 67 percent to $47 in the next 12 months. A 10-fold jump to $300 in five years is possible if Dolan sells assets and borrows to buy back $12.5 billion in stock, said Marathon Asset Management port folio manager Jeremy Hosking.

Buffett earns
Warren Buffett’s Berk shire Hathaway said third-quarter profit surged 64 percent after gains from its invest ment in PetroChina Co. Net income increased to $4.55 billion, or $2,942 a share, from $2.77 billion, or $1,797 a share, a year earlier.

Red-faced
A senior executive at Yahoo! has apologized for failing to give U.S. lawmakers additional information about the company’s alleged role in the i