MetaFilter posts tagged with money and business

Nails Goes to Wall Street

reenum — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:54:21 -0800

Lenny Dykstra was lauded for his heroics with the Mets and Philles. After his career, Dykstra became well-known as a post-career athlete success story. Then the truth started coming out... Dykstra's post career exploits included making stock picks and starting a high end magazine targeted towards athletes. Then, in April of this year, it all came crashing down. In separate articles from GQ and ESPN, Dykstra's financial empire was revealed to be a house of cards. Dykstra subsequently filed bankruptcy in July. For a copy of Lenny's petition, you can go here (Warning: This link is a PDF). Lenny only sees these events as a minor speedbump, and promises to be back on top in no time.

Meeting Ticker

nthdegx — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:34:12 -0800

Meeting Ticker -- if this helps shorten even one meeting by one minute, it'll have been worth it.

Sir Allen Stanford, the Ponzi artist

Gyan — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:27:14 -0800

The Dark Knight - On Sir Allen Stanford

Give Your Kid A Tattoo For Their Own Good

ThePinkSuperhero — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 13:52:18 -0800

SafetyTat- Temporary tattoos designed designed to be used as identification devices for children. Includes several designs for non-verbal and autistic children. Via That's Fit.

Ups and downs in the world of high art

psmealey — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:07:16 -0800

Is the high end Art market finally tanking? A week or so ago, it sure looked like it. An important van Gogh piece did not sell, Sotheby's stock price went into shock. However, all is well this week as both Christie's and Sotheby's kicked it into high gear and set some new records. Some more chatter on the events of the past week can be found here: The Wall Street Journal's art blog: focused on the business of art. Art news Artopia - John Perrault's art diary Modern Art notes Artforum, and CultureGrrl

Polo? Gucci? Google? I'm going to be a millionaire!

Stynxno — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 10:01:33 -0800

Do you know a young 20 something hipster who is too busy spending their parents money on beer, poorly fitting clothes and blogging about the newest band reinventing music from 20 years ago? Is their waiter/bartending existence causing you to worry about their long term investment habits? Do they need some fisical responsbility in their young lives? Well you're in luck my friend! Thrasher Funds now offers the first mutual fund targeted to hipsters. With holdings in Apple, Gucci, H&M, and Louis Vuitton, this fund not only has it's pulse on your young hipster's generation, it also dresses the way they want! Get in on it today! via

A million dollars ain't what it used to be...

ThePinkSuperhero — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 09:22:09 -0800

In Silicon Valley, Millionaires Who Don't Feel Rich [NYTimes Link] Mr. Kremen estimated his net worth at $10 million. That puts him firmly in the top half of 1 percent among Americans, according to wealth data from the Federal Reserve, but barely in the top echelons in affluent towns like Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton. So he logs 60- to 80-hour workweeks because, he said, he does not think he has nearly enough money to ease up.

Honey I've Got Rhymthms I Haven't Sued Yet: Ninja Tune's Matt Black on, among other things, doing business with iTunes

nthdegx — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 10:07:18 -0800

"The iPod’s a great product. However our experience in dealing with them, as regards licensing music for iTunes, has been quite depressing." Coldcut member and indie label Ninja Tune co-founder Matt Black in a pixelsurgeon interview about the new album, the relative relaxation on sample licensing, and iTunes. For another independent perspective on iTunes see The 99c Question - addressing the pressures on iTunes from major labels to raise prices.

Gas station debit card OVERcharge

spock — Sun, 19 Jun 2005 22:19:06 -0800

Never use a debit card to pay at the pump: "Each day millions of Americans use their debit card at gas stations to "pay at the pump." What you probably do not know is gas stations have the right to overcharge you a certain amount to ensure they get their money. Each gas station decides how much to overcharge and hold on your account. Some put a $75 or $100 hold on the account while others only hold $5 or $10. But, these stations also decide how long to hold that money. Some hold the money for up to three days. . ." How is this even legal? Am I the last schmuck in the U.S. to find out about this? I just found out that Sam's Club (for example) charges $50 and deposits your change three days later.

Economic 'Armageddon'

stbalbach — Tue, 23 Nov 2004 20:28:37 -0800

Economic 'Armageddon' predicted by Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking giant Morgan Stanley. He's been right before.

Blogs of the billionaires

dmt — Sat, 02 Oct 2004 18:29:47 -0800

George Soros' blog: hot on the heels of the early-adopter in chief, Bill Gates, George Soros has joined the blogging community. Needless to say, the onetime scourge of British monetary policy is not using LiveJournal but he does have a provocative position over the war in Iraq. Warren Buffet by contrast, despite having signed on as a Kerry economic adviser, appears to concur with the pre-emption doctrine. Does anything about the US election make sense anymore? The capital markets seem to have agreed that the outcome point is moot - can popular opinion (.pdf) be far behind? Some disagree. (.pdf)

Spare Any Loose Change For An Innovator?

Blue Stone — Fri, 07 Nov 2003 12:32:21 -0800

The hugely popular iTunes is a success story. But not for Apple, which makes virtually no revenue from the online download service. "When that 99 cents leaves your wallet, the RIAA monopoly swallows most of it, and the credit card companies swallow the rest. As the supplicant in this relationship, Apple is left holding the can." Steve Jobs - "We would like to break even/make a little bit of money but it's not a money maker,"

Paypal yanks whatreallyhappened.com account

mediareport — Thu, 13 Mar 2003 13:10:58 -0800

Yes to sex, no to dissent? The Register reports that PayPal has suddenly closed the account of the stridently skeptical (some say overly conspiratorial, but let's leave that tired debate aside) WhatReallyHappened.com. Here's WRH's response, along with reader comments and anti-PayPal links. Here's a translated Quebec story. "Can one conclude from it that PayPal has leaning for the sex?"

Radio payola, it just never went away

omidius — Mon, 03 Mar 2003 08:18:44 -0800

Silly listeners. Payola in radio isn't "back", it's just back in the news. Read how more than ever radio airplay is not determined by you, creativity, inspiration, nor musical genius, but by the big green. More reasons to try xm?

win ben stein's criticism

jaden — Sat, 14 Dec 2002 16:46:31 -0800

Benjamin Stein, host of the show Win Ben Stein's Money fears that the United States is squelching what gives it an edge.

MattD — Sun, 07 Jul 2002 21:09:49 -0800

Poverty is Expensive (part 59) The "i-Gen" prepaid MasterCard, available at a Rite-Aid near you, for those who don't have bank accounts (for debit cards) to say the least of credit ratings sufficient to get credit cards. Pay a $10.00 upfront fee, pay another $5 a month plus a "reload" fee of at least $5 every time your card runs down, all for the privilege of letting them hold on to your cash at no interest.

electro — Fri, 22 Feb 2002 22:58:31 -0800

Enron's historical precidents. This L.A. Times article discusses the historical precidents to the Enron debacle. My favorite (among lots of good stuff):

"Like Enron, ITT was a big campaign contributor. But Geneen's idea of how to use political influence made Lay and associates look like choir boys. In 1970, the company offered Republicans $1 million and consulted heavily with the Nixon White House and the CIA when Chile's new socialist president, Salvador Allende, threatened to seize the ITT-owned Chilean Telephone Co. Allende was overthrown with U.S. aid."

m@ — Tue, 08 Jan 2002 15:58:01 -0800

The founders of Webshots.com sold out to Excite@home in '99 for $82.5M, they just bought it back--for $2.4M. $6.7B Excite.com goes for $10M and Blue Mountain Greetings ($780M) goes for $35M. A billion here, a billion there and pretty soon we're talking more than pocket change.

bkdelong — Tue, 03 Oct 2000 16:37:37 -0800

Amazon.com keeps adding to the black hole. Looks like Amazon.com has taken a page from the Government's "running the country" book - they keep throwing money at a black hole instead of restructuring what they already have.