Simons Says.

Posted by Sean Doyle, January 31, 2010.



Jim Simons, one of the most successful hedge fund managers ever, also happens to be a math wizard of some note. (He won the Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry) Speaking before his fellow eggheads at his alma mater MIT, Simons touches on a number of interesting subjects. By the way, the Financial Times named Simons the "world's smartest billionaire." Take that, Zuckerberg!

Really?

Posted by Sean Doyle, January 20, 2010.

Filmmaking Icon George Lucas (#316 on Forbes 400 with a net worth of $3 Billion) apparently believes the world will be coming to an end in 2012.  This according to actor Seth Rogen who met with the legend and his equally famous friend Steven Speilberg.  According to Rogen, Lucas went on for 25 minutes about the dire prediction. "George is going on about tectonic plates and all the time Speilberg is, like, rolling his eyes, like, 'My nerdy friend won't shut up, I'm sorry.'  Perhaps Lucas was playing an elaborate prank on Rogen?  However, Seth seemed to rule that out.  "I thought at first George was joking...then I totally realized that he was serious and then I started thinking 'If you're George Lucas and you actually think the world is gonna end in a year, there's no way you haven't built a spaceship for yourself...So I asked him...'Can I have a seat on it?'

Really? I don't buy this.

UPDATE!

Wired: "George Lucas Dispels Wild 2012 Apocalypse Rumor."

A Billion Dollars Isn't Cool...

Posted by Sean Doyle, January 12, 2011.Image Courtesy of Fast Company.

You know what's cool? A trillion dollars.

I always kind of figured this is where they were heading. 500 million subscribers and still growing, it is just a matter of time before 2 or 3 trillion (as in TRILLION) people are facebooking. So much for Apple Hearts Facebook, the more likely scenario will be Zuckerberg buying Jobs. I do hope though that $1 trillion dollars will be enough for Mark to finally win the heart of the girl played by Rooney Mara in the The Social Network. Otherwise she's just playing hard to get.

Fun fact: According to the World Bank there are only 12 countries with nominal GDPs greater than a trillion dollars. This out of 190 countries worldwide.

Here's the linkage:

Business Insider: "$50 Billion? Hah! Insiders Say Facebook's Goal Is To Be The First TRILLION Dollar Company."

Barry Ritholtz: "5 Questions For Facebook Investors."

Lloyd To Mankind: "Fuck Off!"

Posted by Sean Doyle, January 3, 2011.
Image by Colin & Sean Doyle

Call him what you will. Pretty Boy Lloyd. B-Fine. The Squid. It doesn't really matter what slick appellation you hang by his name dawg 'cause Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein don't play y'all. After a somewhat choppy 2010 that saw B-Fine (my preferred monicker) and the G-Sachs Unit own da street yet again, the top executives at Goldman will split up a $111.3 million dollar stock based bonus pool in deferred compensation.

Fo shizzle?

Never one to trip-out on false modesty, B-Fine was recently heard to brag about the uber expensive art collection that is housed in the new $ 1.8 billion dollar GS company headquarters. "Guess how much?" CNBC reported Blankfein saying. "Three? No. Four? No." B-Fine then flashed 5 fingers, smiled big pimpin' style, and proclaimed, "Five...Five!" Upon hearing this the Daily News responded with the line "Blank you, Blankfein!" No, it's blank us...

Linkage:

Business Insider: "Lloyd Blankfein Was Heard Bragging About His Expensive, Fine Art Collection."