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Ben Stein's nightmare multiplies
This post from last week noted how Felix Salmon had become NY Times business columnist Ben Stein's worst nightmare, sort of how Larry Ribstein had been to Steins' fellow columnist, Gretchen Morgenson. Now, Stein's nightmare is multiplying exponentially. On the...
Ben Stein's worst nightmare
First, Larry Ribstein became NY Times business columnist Gretchen Morgenson's worst nightmare by exposing the vacuous nature of her columns. Now, Felix Salmon has become part-time NY Times business columnist Ben Stein's worst nightmare (see also here) in much the...
Why is Ben Stein a business columnist?
Answer: To give bloggers an opportunity to point out that he apparently does not know what he is writing about. Inasmuch as I've taken Stein to task on several earlier columns (see here, here and here), I was getting ready...
We have a winner for EGL
After four months of bidding, CEVA Group PLC -- a UK public limited company owned by affiliates of New York City-based Apollo Management LP -- has emerged as the winner for Houston-based logistics company EGL, Inc. over the management led-private...
How high will the bidding for EGL go?
Just when it looked as if an outside bidder had outbid Jim Crane's management led-private equity group for control of Houston-based EGL, Inc., Crane's group upped its bid to $46.25 a share (prior posts here) this past Friday. Then, yesterday,...
Ben Stein's bad day
NY Times business columnist Ben Stein has penned some real stinkers, but this past Sunday's column may just be his worst yet. First, Brad DeLong explains Stein's basic misunderstanding of fundamental principles of unemployment and economic growth, and then observes...
What was Ben Stein saying again?
Have you checked out what's been going on this week in regard to EGL, Inc chairman and CEO Jim Crane's proposed private equity buyout of EGL?: Jim Crane, chief executive of EGL Inc., has a decision to make. The company's...
Capitalism Rorschach Test
In this clever and insightful post, Warren Meyer provides a handy Rorschach Test for how Americans view capitalism and markets by using the competing views toward the adjustment that has been taking place in subprime mortgage markets over the past...
Crane's bumpy private equity deal for EGL continues
EGL chairman and CEO Jim Crane's proposed private equity-financed buyout of Houston-based EGL, Inc is generating some interesting bidding action. In an unusual move for a private-equity firm, Apollo Management LP sued EGL, Crane and the EGL board on Tuesday...
EGL board approves management-led buyout
amid allegations of a higher bid
Ben Stein won't like it, but the board of directors of global logistics company EGL, Inc. approved a $1.7 billion private equity buyout of the company by a group headed by chief executive officer Jim Crane, who is also the...
Jim Crane's bumpy ride continues
EGL Global Logistics founder and chairman Jim Crane's efforts to take the Houston-based transport company private (see earlier posts here, here and here) continued this week as Crane hooked up with New York City-based private investment firm Centerbridge Partners LP...
Ben Stein's blinders
This earlier post noted that the NY Times financial columnist Ben Stein has some rather odd notions about private equity buyouts. Amidst criticizing rich folks for spending their money in a different way than Stein would if he had their...
EGL deal hits turbulence
Looks as if Jim Crane's proposed private equity-backed buyout of EGL is on the rocks already. That news probably makes Ben Stein happy, but what about EGL shareholders? Crane commented that he will resubmit another bid, but the market certainly...
Regulating private equity buyouts
Matthew Bishop over at The Economist.com makes the salient point that the concern over private equity buyouts is getting a bit hysterical: THE backlash against the private-equity boom is becoming a tad hysterical. Take yesterday's Financial Times (of February 5th),...
Trying to avoid living like a poor student at 70
Ben Stein writes this personal finance op-ed for the NY Sunday Times in which he illuminates the mounting retirement finance problem that is confronting the Baby Boomer generation: This is the bore of the gun pointed right between the eyes...
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