Success Stories

20 Million Windows 8 Tablets May be Produced in 2013

Louis Bedigian — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:26:38 +0000

Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT) latest operating system is expected to pop up in five to eight percent of all tablets produced this year, providing Windows 8 with another notable boost.

According to DigiTimes, roughly 10 million to 20 million new tablets are likely to use Windows 8 in 2013.

Many investors will point out that 20 million units would be far less than the number of iOS tablets that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is expected to produce and sell this year.

While iOS has had several years to build its customer base, Windows 8 is still relatively new. Microsoft may have sold 100 million licenses, but most of them are for laptops and desktop PCs -- not tablets.

Believe it or not, it actually took Apple 28 days to sell the first million iPads. Nearly 60 days passed before two ...

Fox's New Reality Show Helps Everyday People Fire Their Co-Workers

Louis Bedigian — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:10:42 +0000

If you have ever worked with someone who was lazy, ineffective or just plain wrong for your company, Fox's new reality show could be right up your alley.

The News Corp.-owned (NASDAQ: NWS) network is launching a new series, Does Someone Have to Go?, this Thursday at 9:00 p.m.

"The concept and the creation of Does Someone Have to Go? is basically us trying to get into the work space," Executive Producer Cris Abrego told Benzinga. "With a lot of shows out there having some success in work, we wondered how we could take a fresh approach to that space. For us, we looked at one of the things that was probably the most relatable idea when you think of all the companies across the country, [which is that] most employees in a company think they know better than the boss. Really, that became the jumping off point for this project -- giving employees the opportunity to run the company."

The teaser trailers indicate that at least one person will be fired from his/her real job. Abrego confirmed that assumption.

"You absolutely will [see that happen]," he said. "The idea is basically, in some cases where the owners are the actual boss, they come to the company -- and this has nothing to do with the performance, the companies we're working with do very well, and they're all very successful companies in their own right. But the idea is that some of the options are toxic, some of ...

Here Are 14 Yearbook Photos of Business Big Shots

Alex Biles — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:19:13 +0000

When we think of the business titans of our age, we often associate their likeness with private jets, cash flows in the millions, intense board room meetings and bold leadership.

Yet, the humble beginnings of the CEOs, co-founders and chairmen of some of America's top companies are often overlooked.

Benzinga compiled a collection of high school yearbook photos from some of the biggest names in the business and finance sectors today.

Which high school version of a current business big shot would you hang out with if you could? Let us know in the comments.

Brian Moynihan is the CEO of Bank of America.

Moynihan was the youngest boy in a family of nine, and would wear his older siblings' hand-me-downs. "I had the smallest [sweater] and then I grew into the next and the next and the next. I had to wear them all," Moynihan told Brown Alumni Magazine. (Photo: Brown Daily Herald).

David Tepper is the head of Appaloosa Management, a hedge fund that grossed $2.2 billion last year -- the most of anyone in 2012.

When Tepper was 4 or 5 years old, his older sister brought him to school as the topic of her show-and-tell project. David showed up off his advanced multiplication and addition skills to the class. (Photo: Bloomberg TV).

Donald Trump is the Chairman and President of the Trump Organization

Born in Queens, Trump was sent to the New York Military Academy by his parents, beginning at age thirteen. (Photo: Yearbook Library).

Rex Tillerson is the Chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil. ...

Skillz Invites Skilled Players to Compete for Cash

Louis Bedigian — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:28:42 +0000

Serial entrepreneur Andrew Paradise is taking a stab at mobile game tournaments with his new company, Skillz. Described as a multiplayer network for Android games (and eventually iOS games), Skillz allows users to gamble with their gaming skills. Players can enter various game tournaments and compete for cash prizes for as low as $0.25.

The Skillz game lineup includes 3D Cave Runner, Apache Strike: Multiplayer Fun, Big Sport Fishing 3D, Bubble Explode, Bubble Shooter, GnarBike Trials, IBC Boxing, King of Defense, Mini Golf Stars 3D: Putt and Sushi Chop. Many more are on the way.

"We have some fairly large studios that are going to be launching with us in the next 30 days," said Paradise, who co-founded Skillz with Casey Chafkin and serves as the company's CEO. "The reason I think the major studios sign with us because even EA (NASDAQ: EA) and Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) would have trouble with either one of them owning the tournament system.

Both of them want to ...

Whitney Tilson's New Book Will Still Be Relevant '10 or 20 Years From Now'

Louis Bedigian — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:29:28 +0000

Kase Capital founder and Managing Partner Whitney Tilson recently co-authored a new book, The Art of Value Investing: How the World's Best Investors Beat the Market, with media executive John Heins.

Based on eight years of interviews from Value Investor Insight, a monthly newsletter created by Tilson and Heins, The Art of Value Investing aims to answer all of an equity money manager's most important questions. "We've interviewed 200 of the greatest value investors in the world -- Bill Ackman, David Einhorn, Seth Klarman, Leon Cooperman -- you name it, both in the hedge fund and mutual fund industry," Tilson told Benzinga.

"There's such an enormous accumulated wisdom from all of these interviews that we've done -- these are in-depth, eight-page interviews -- so what we've done for this book is go through and compile the most insightful things any of these managers have said and organized them by topic."

There are chapters regarding circle of competence, when to buy, when to sell, how to develop an investment strategy, tips on short-selling -- to name a few.

"Critically, one of the most important things I'm reminded of every day is how to control your emotions -- the mental side of investing," said Tilson. "We're really proud of it and we think it's a good book for novice investors, but even the savviest pros can take some lessons from this as well."

Building an Empire

Tilson and Heins started by asking money managers how they built their firms, as well as their track records.

"What's your edge?" they'd ask. "How do you differentiate yourself from everybody else out there?"

"The second part of the interview is, 'Tell us about four or five of your ...

Microsoft's Third Xbox to be Unveiled in 24 Hours

Louis Bedigian — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:44:05 +0000

In roughly 24 hours, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will hold a press conference to unveil the first tease of the company's third game console. Commonly referred to as "Xbox 720" or "Xbox Next," the new console is rumored to be called "Xbox Fusion" or "Xbox Infinity."

Microsoft will introduce the console live on television via Spike TV at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET tomorrow. The event will also be streamed through Xbox Live and a number of websites, including Xbox.com.

Xbox was not the first game console to debut this year -- nor was it the first to get its own TV special. In February, Sony (NYSE: SNE) unveiled the fourth PlayStation to more than eight million viewers. The debut trailer received more than 26 million views on YouTube -- more than any other ad in February.

On March 11 (roughly two and a half weeks after PS4 debuted), GameStop (NYSE: GME) announced that more than 600,000 ...

The 5 Can't-Miss Apple Stories from the Past Week

Louis Bedigian — Sun, 19 May 2013 15:28:02 +0000

A lot can happen in a week.

Movies can make a billion dollars. Tech giants can inch closer to a buyout. Some companies simply stop working with partners that no longer serve their needs.

In looking back on this week, it is clear that a lot has happened to everyone's favorite tech giant -- Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL). No new products were announced, but there were several developments that could shape the company's future and impact its upcoming product releases.

Louis Bedigian is the Senior Tech Analyst and Features Writer of Benzinga. You can reach him at 248-636-1322 or louis(at)benzingapro(dot)com. Follow him @LouisBedigianBZ

Apple is losing $6 - $7 billion annually to its competitors (in just one nation!)

Apple could be so much more popular…in India.

Global Equities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry estimated that Apple stands to lose as much as $7 billion this year because of its current Indian strategy.

Chowdhry was quite harsh in his assessment of Apple's plans.

"I think it is the lack of focus of Apple and the existence of competition," he told Benzinga. "Basically, BlackBerry and Samsung are very aggressive in creating a brand and having an association with whoever uses BlackBerry or Samsung are considered elite customers. When you talk to consumers in India, they literally find that when they buy Samsung ...

Can You Think of 9 Companies with Stellar Customer Service?

Louis Bedigian — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:59:24 +0000

Everyone has read about the customer service horror stories that plague every industry in existence. From automobiles and technology to food service and healthcare, no industry is safe from the dangers of disappointed customers.

Some companies are smart, however. They know how to treat customers with more than a smile -- they provide real, reliable service that cannot be re-created with an automated phone system.

JPMorgan Chase

Chase Bank, the consumer arm of JPMorgan Chase, earned high marks from not one but two separate surveys last fall.

The first, conducted by Harris Interactive, and Google, found that 59 percent of Chase Bank customers were either "satisfied" or "extremely satisfied." This compares favorably to Citibank (55 percent), Bank of America (48 percent) and Wells Fargo Bank (47 percent).

Chase also topped Bank of America in a survey conducted by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Sony

Sony tied for fifth place in MSN Money's 2012 Customer Service Hall of Fame, and for good reason. The Japanese tech giant provides some of the best customer service in the world.

When PlayStation 3 units broke down prematurely in 2007, Sony not only fixed the consoles for free (per the terms of the one-year warranty, of course), but the company went the extra mile by sending customers a special padded box to exchange the defective units. The box's postage was pre-paid, so customers were able to send the system to Sony -- free of charge.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

...

Disney's 'Iron Man 3' Earns $1 Billion, Will Top 'The Dark Knight'

Louis Bedigian — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:39:24 +0000

Disney's (NYSE: DIS) Iron Man 3 was expected to have earned a total of $1 billion this week. As of today -- the start of another big weekend for movies -- the film has officially reached that milestone.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, more than $300 million of the film's revenue has come from domestic ticket sales.

Iron Man 3 is performing so well that Box Office Mojo has updated its homepage to show where the film stands in the all-time worldwide rankings. It currently comes in at number 16 with just a few million less than Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) The Dark Knight.

If the movie ended its run this weekend, it would still be able to top The Dark ...

Nordic American Tanker CEO Says Market Turnaround Will Bring 'Loads of Money'

Luke Jacobi — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:38:18 +0000

Nordic American Tanker (NYSE: NAT) CEO Herbjorn Hansson gave an exclusive interview Thursday morning to Benzinga.

Hansson opened the interview by mentioning his upcoming visit with oil giant Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), commenting Nordic American Tanker has “done a lot of business with them”, along with Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) and BP (NYSE: BP).

Shares spiked six percent Wednesday after it was rumored Hansson would be on Jim Cramer's show Mad Money, a rumor that was first confirmed by Benzinga. Cramer went on to comment that Nordic American Tanker is the “best run company in the industry” and that Hansson is “the most disciplined guy in the industry.”

Despite operating in ...

Time Warner Cable Looking to Buy Hulu Before Yahoo

Louis Bedigian — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:27:45 +0000

Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) is interested in acquiring the Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) of television -- AKA Hulu. According to Bloomberg, discussions are "at an early stage and a transaction isn't certain." Another, unidentified pay-TV company is also interested in acquiring Hulu.

Interestingly, only a portion of Hulu is expected to be sold. It is unclear if this is due to the company's existing owners -- Disney (NYSE: DIS), News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS) and Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) -- which may wish to maintain some ownership of the firm they helped create and popularize. However, it is highly unlikely that Time Warner Cable would turn down the chance to buy the entire company, provided that it was up for sale.

Time Warner and its mysterious rival are just two of the many companies and individuals who are interested in buying Hulu.

Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) ...

Groupon's Eric Lefkofsky: 'I Don't Think it Was a Mistake to Go Public'

Louis Bedigian — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:12:50 +0000

During an interview with CNBC, Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) co-founder and co-CEO Eric Lefkofsky said that he does not regret his company's decision to go public.

"I don't think it was a mistake to go public," Lefkofsky told the network, adding that the company had a shareholder base that was about to exceed the limit of what a company could have at the time. As a result, Groupon more or less had to go public under the SEC's then-current guidelines.

Interview Highlights

Lefkofsky said that he was unsure of any plans that Jana Partners (which recently invested in Groupon) may have for the daily deals giant, but he encourages anyone to become a shareholder.
Lefkofsky added that in terms of local, Groupon is strong internationally.
Groupon co-founder Ted Leonsis said that Groupon is focused on developing great products/services and is more concerned with Main Street than Wall Street.
Leonsis added that Groupon is focused on growth to the top line.

Lefkofsky said that Groupon is in the process of transforming from a "push email experience to a marketplace where people can come" for deals.

"More and more we're trying to change consumer behavior and have them come when they have [a] demand" for something, he said, whether it's food, entertainment or something else.

"We've seen Groupon's main customers shift over time," ...

Apple Finally Sells its 50 Billionth App

Louis Bedigian — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:07:18 +0000

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) has updated its website, Apple.com, to announce that the 50 billionth app has finally been downloaded.

The Cupertino, California-based tech giant unveiled its new app countdown -- and a $10,000 App Store giveaway -- on May 3. At the time, 49.2 billion apps had been downloaded. That means that Apple sold 800 million apps in just 13 days.

At least one app maker tried to capitalize on the achievement by announcing that it would award $100,000 in Apple merchandise and accessories to the person who downloaded the 50 billionth app if that app was Hike.

Hike was not the 50 billionth app downloaded, however -- it was Say the ...

Whitney Tilson: Car Rental Prices Will Continue to Rise

Louis Bedigian — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:40:11 +0000

Expect big changes from Hertz (NYSE: HTZ), Avis (NASDAQ: CAR), Enterprise and the entire industry over the next 10 years. Whitney Tilson, the founder and Managing Partner of Kase Capital, believes that the U.S. car rental segment will begin to resemble the railroad industry's transformation over the last 10 years.

"Meaning very capital-intensive businesses characterized by cutthroat competition, very low returns on capital, poor balance sheets, etc.," Tilson told Benzinga. "And then the railroad industry consolidated into a few big players and they all got smart and started behaving like an oligopoly and just started raising prices. They started operating a lot smarter as an oligopoly and the railroads -- just go look at the major railroad stocks, including Burlington Northern, which is now obviously owned by Berkshire (NYSE: BRK-A), and these stocks have just had incredible runs over the last 10 years."

Tilson, who recently invested in Hertz and Avis, said that the same thing is already happening to the auto rental business.

"More than 90 percent of the auto rental business [and] more than 98 percent of the airport auto rental business in this country is now controlled by three companies -- Hertz, Avis and Enterprise," he said. "They're already taking prices up. Last quarter Hertz and Avis took pricing up about four to five percent year-over-year. When you're talking about fairly low-margin businesses, when you can jack prices up by that amount, it has very leveraged benefits to the bottom line."

Tilson said that he does not expect the price increase to be a one-time deal.

"I don't expect them to raise their prices five percent a year for many years in a row," he added. "But I think there is a lot of room for them to take pricing up over time. That's sort of the core of the investment thesis for both of ...

Five Tips to Solve the Fixed-Income Crisis

Louis Bedigian — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:49:29 +0000

Bayard Closser, President of Vertical Capital Markets Group, shares his five tips for solving the fixed-income crisis. 5. Be Diverse

"Make sure that your portfolio is well-diversified," said Closser, an industry veteran with more than 30 years working on the distribution and design of investment products. "What we're doing is, we're creating just one more unit of diversification by putting an asset class out there that people haven't had exposure to before. I always get quite concerned when people put too much money into one particular asset class. So make sure that you're well-diversified."

4. Look For Growth

"Does [your investment] offer any type of growth potential that goes along with it or total return capabilities?" Closser asked. "You look at fixed incomes today, you know, we started doing some research and you go back to 2010 and you have a lot of experts warning about the bond bubble.

"Do you have an investment vehicle that has -- or [offers] a combination -- that gives you the diversification that helps protect against a rising interest rate environment?"

3. Pessimism Never Hurt Anyone

"Make sure that you're not betting too much on good things to happen," Closser warned. "Understand what the economic outlook is.

"Real estate is a great example. A lot of times when people buy real estate they're buying commercial properties. They're looking for compression of cap rates. They're looking at improving economies. ...