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Russ Henke
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Author: |
Russ Henke |
Created: |
3/2/2007 6:15 AM |
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Thoughts of interest to COFES and COFES attendees |
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Post Script to June 24 Blog Entry |
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By Russ Henke on
6/25/2007 4:14 AM
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Some readers of yesterday's blog entry may be wondering if they might have missed the chance to ride the first day's price appreciation (over 13% in 8 hours) -- if only they had acted on Thursday June 22, the day before the Blackstone Group's IPO. Not to worry. It would have been difficult, since most Blackstone shares were already snapped up by money managers and big financial institutions.
But, hey, the stock is now publicly traded -- you can take your chances on future Blackstone appreciation -- call your broker! And remember, having watched what the Blackstone Group just did, other "alternative investment funds" may now choose to go public, such as KKR, The Carlyle Group, and more.
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Are the Rich getting Richer? |
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By Russ Henke on
6/24/2007 5:33 PM
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Among all the factors plaguing the vast majority of US citizens, very little space in these blog entries to date has been devoted to the unremitting and enervating trend over the last six-and-a-half years, of the rich-getting-richer, and the poor-getting-poorer in the United States.
With the US government (a) providing unwarranted tax cuts favoring the rich, (b) encouraging rising energy prices by condoning the lack of new oil refineries, (c) stoking international fear, anxiety and doubt, and (d) implementing countless other such policies, the resulting economic conditions have allowed the US wealthy to thrive while US workers’ wages have not even kept up with inflation, despite massive worker productivity gains during the period.
In the last few days, we have witnessed a quintessential example of the “rich-getting-richer” syndrome. Run by billionaires, the private-equity giant Blackstone Group popped up again in the news June 21, 2007 when Re ...
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Cadence in the News June 4 |
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By Russ Henke on
6/5/2007 11:01 AM
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In the June 3 blog entry in this space, Cadence was mentioned as one of the Big 3 EDA vendors. The New York Times reported on June 4, 2007 that Cadence is in talks with at least two buyout firms about a possible sale of the company. Cadence is said to have held talks with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Blackstone Group. But they warned that a deal may not happen because of the “complicated risks in the company's business”. Other private equity firms apparently have looked at Cadence, but passed.
Like the private equity purchase of MCAD vendor UGS several years ago, (prior to its acquisition by Siemens this year), a deal for Cadence would be one of the biggest moves by private equity firms into technology, a sector they are said to avoid because of its volatility and capital needs. Though both Kohlberg Kravis and Blackstone have invested in technology firms before — most recently, Kohlberg bought the First Data Corporation and Blackstone purc ...
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MCAD & EDA in Q1 2007 |
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By Russ Henke on
6/3/2007 5:32 PM
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On May 27, 2007, I had planned to use this space to
report the financial results of the top three MCAD
vendors and the top three EDA vendors for Q1 2007.
However, comments on Memorial Day remembrances took
precedence.
For the record, in nominal Q1 2007, Autodesk broke
into the rarified atmosphere of eclipsing $500 million
in total revenue for Q1 (at $509,000,000). Dassault
Systemes posted $381,000,000 in revenue, and
Siemens UGS came in at $302,000,000.
An earnings' comparision will have to wait, as neither
Autodesk nor UGS reported earnings this quarter, each
for different reasons.
EDA vendor Cadence reported $385,000,000 in revenue in
Q1, followed by Synopsys at $293,000,000, and Mentor
Graphics at $190,000,000.
& ...
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Dates, Days and Deaths |
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By Russ Henke on
5/27/2007 6:12 AM
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The latest Q1 2007 financial results from the
leading MCAD and EDA vendors are finally out,
and I wanted to discuss them in today's blog
entry.
But Memorial Day 2007 is upon us, just about
1487 days since the infamous declaration of
"Mission Accomplished" in IRAQ. And the
situation there is getting worse, not better.
Over 100 American GI's have been killed in May,
with 5 more days to go. Some 104 soldiers were
killed in April. The last six months have been
the most deadly six months of the war. And
thousands more GI's have been injured, many
incapacitated for life. To say nothing about
the tens of thousands of Iraqis killed and
injured. And further, there is still no end
to the IRAQ war in sight. Millions of Iraqis
have fled the country, more by the day.
And don't forget, the war in Af ...
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Still Looking for Some Good News... |
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By Russ Henke on
5/20/2007 12:32 PM
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Here are some more headlines from May 16 - 20:
Because the US Army is so over-stretched today, more
than 25,000 US National Guard troops are now serving
in Iraq. Nearly 5,000 are also in Afghanistan and 6,000
more are stationed along the Mexican border. Because
of equipment left behind in Iraq and Afghanistan,
domestically-based Guard units have only 40% of
the equipment they need for disaster response.
Nearly 90% of stateside Guard units are rated
less than fully ready (for domestic duty)
because of equipment and training shortfalls.
Scientists working with the US Defense Department
have found evidence that a low-level exposure to
sarin nerve gas — the kind experienced by more
than 100,000 American troops in the Persian Gulf
war of 1991 — could have caused lasting brain
deficits in former service members.
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The Week in Review |
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By Russ Henke on
5/13/2007 7:20 AM
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Again this past week, the economic news contained
some ominous signs for the businesses and people
of the United States.
Here are just a few items:
- The US Trade Deficit surged in March '07,
up 10.4% from the February level. So far
this year, the US trade deficit is running
at an annual rate of $723 billion, just
a tad below the $765 billion deficit set
in 2006, the fifth consecutive year of
record trade deficits.
- And this was reported as good news: "In
a reversal of recent trade trends, the trade
deficit with China improved in March 2007,
growing by (only) $17.2 billion compared with
an increase of $18.4 billion in February."
- Growth of the US economy, as measured by the
GDP, slowed ...
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Happy Cinco de Mayo |
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By Russ Henke on
5/5/2007 10:13 AM
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On April 7, 2007, the blog entry in this space began as follows:
Yesterday, April 6, 2007, the US Labor Department reported that
180,000 new jobs were added to non-farm US payrolls in March.
This figure elevated the average number of new jobs added per
month in Q1 2007 to 151,000. While 151,00 per month may
seem large, and it is compared to the dismal record over the
last six years, 151,000 per month does not even keep pace
with the need for new jobs generated by normal US population
growth.
Yesterday, May 4, 2007, the Labor department revised these numbers, having
overstated the February and March job gains by some 26,000. This correction
lowers the Q1 average per month to an even weaker 142,000.
But the cha ...
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Looking for Some Good News – The Saga Continues… |
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By Russ Henke on
4/28/2007 6:08 AM
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Recent blog entries in this space have dealt with
headlines in the news that affect the daily lives
of Americans in particular, and many more people
everywhere. The latest news has not been encouraging.
Here are several more recent news items for readers’
consideration:
- The worst economic growth in four years is raising
concern that troubles in the US housing market will
spread and throw the country into a recession before
the year is out. The economy practically crawled at
a 1.3% pace in the opening quarter of 2007, the US
Commerce Department reported on April 27. The
reading on gross domestic product in Q1 2007 was
the weakest since the 1.2% pace in Q1 2003, right
before the US-led invasion of IRAQ. The 1.3% GDP
growth in Q1 2007 was far weaker than the already-
sluggish 2.5% rate in Q4 2006. The country’s
bloated trade deficit al ...
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Looking for Some Good News – A Brief Update |
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By Russ Henke on
4/17/2007 9:27 AM
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In the blog entry here on April 14, the following
paragraph was included:
On April 13, the Labor Department's Producer Price
Index came in flat for March 2007, an encouraging
result if one does not eat food or buy gasoline or
use electricity. However, including the real world
impacts of energy and food, wholesale prices rose
another full percent in March, following an even
larger 1.3% rise in February.
Readers may be interested in these additional facts:
Yesterday, April 16, the Consumer Price Index results
for March were announced. Consumer prices shot up
by the largest amount in nearly a year, driven by huge
increases in the cost of gasoline ...
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