On Monday, Banco Santander SAN announced that Alfredo Saenz has resigned as CEO ahead of a decision by Spanish regulators that would have effectively decided whether his criminal conviction should disallow him from working in banking. Until recently, Spain’s rules had prevented anyone with a criminal conviction from holding a senior position in banking. Saenz…
Media reports over the weekend suggested Valeant Pharmaceuticals VRX held merger discussions with Actavis ACT , which may now have stalled on financial considerations. Valeant had been signaling that it was seeking to pursue a large acquisition or a merger of equals, so the magnitude of the deal was not surprising, but we were a…
A benign catastrophe season and continued improvement in underwriting margins at majority-owned OneBeacon OB led to a 3% sequential increase in adjusted book value to $606 per share at White Mountains Insurance Group WTM . In comparison with last year’s first quarter, the combined ratio (expense divided by earned premiums) fell to 81% from 84%…
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ FB) is testing a new ‘Satire’ tag to help users clearly tell the difference between a genuine news headline and the fake or satirical news stories in their News Feed. Many satirical publications such as The Onion usually come up with almost believable headlines. The headline “Tips for Being an Unarmed Black…
Wynn Resorts WYNN reported weak first-quarter results, as the company continued to perform poorly in Macau due to intensifying competition from new casinos on the Cotai Strip. Revenue and EBITDA were above consensus estimates, but only because the company had an unusually high hold rate for VIP table games in Macau and table games in…
The US Patent Office and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency of the US Department of Commerce that exists to grant patents for the protection of inventions and to register trademarks. Given the importance of intellectual property protection for all businesses, but especially those in the technology sector, keeping abreast of these past and future…
