Buffett: Don’t bank on big returns
Berkshire Hathaway had another excellent year in 2007, posting an 11% gain in net worth, CEO Warren Buffett said in Friday's annual report to shareholders. Berkshire has grown its per-share book value by a remarkable 21% annually since Buffett took the reins 44 years ago.
Warren’s well-paying weapon
Leave it to Warren Buffett to find a way to make millions - perhaps billions - of dollars in profits by selling the instruments he once termed "financial weapons of mass destruction."
Buffett’s Brazilian windfall
A surprising bet on Brazil's currency made Berkshire Hathaway shareholders some real money last year.
Buffett’s biggest bets
Berkshire Hathaway said Friday that its net worth rose by $12.3 billion in 2007, as the company's insurance operations benefited from a year free of major catastrophes, and its 66 non-insurance businesses, as a whole, gained in profits.
Housing relief bill: It ain’t over ’til it’s over
Senate Republicans this week thwarted efforts by their Democratic counterparts to vote on a housing stimulus bill that President Bush said would "bail out lenders and speculators."
Northrop/EADS Upset Boeing
Northrop Grumman and Airbus' parent teamed up to beat out the odds-on favorite for a $40 billion contract to supply refueling tankers to the U.S. Air Force
Northrop/EADS Upsets Boeing
Northrop Grumman and Airbus' parent teamed up to beat out the odds-on favorite for a $40 billion contract to supply refueling tankers to the U.S. Air Force
Microsoft May Buy Email Startup Xobni
Microsoft has been in acquisition discussions with email startup Xobni, we’ve confirmed through multiple sources. The company, which launched at the TechCrunch40 conference last year, currently offers an outlook plugin for Windows users that significantly improves the desktop email experience (particularly search).
Microsoft may have first approached the company months ago and floated an offer of sub $20 million, which was apparently rejected. But the company, which recently hired notable Yahoo’er Jeff Bonforte as CEO, is now back at the table with Microsoft corporate development.
Xobni currently only works with Outlook, although the company has said they will extend to integrate with other email clients, instant messaging applications, and social networks in the future. The current product creates an information profile for each person you interact with, and surfaces historical information that is relevant to what you are working on. Xobni displays contact information, threaded conversations, attachments, related people, email usage statistics, and information from the web. See our post from January with a more detailed overview of the service.
The company was founded in 2006 by Adam Smith and Matt Brezina, with early funding from Y Combinator. Other investors include Khosla Ventures, First Round Capital, Ron Conway and Baseline Ventures, Atomico Investments, Paul Buchheit, Ariel Poler, Saar Gur, and Tom Pinckney.
Xobni has not yet responded to our request for comment.
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Wall Street gets slammed
Stocks tanked Friday after AIG's record loss added to worries about the financial sector and more weak economic news intensified fears about a recession.
Lower your student loan interest rate
Do you have any advice for people with private student loans? My husband faces an interest rate of 10% attached to his private student loans. Is there any hope to reduce it? - Katie, Ga.