Posts
July 27, 2010
A Somewhat Late Call to ‘Go East’
As some of the world’s prominent fund managers have turned increasingly bearish about investment prospects in China, Guy Hands at Terra Firma, during his latest trip to Beijing, calls for the world’s young people to “Go East.”
Who is Guy Hands? His story brings a tear to my eye.
Guy Hands
In mid-November 2009, Terra Firma announced it would be writing down its investment in EMI by 90% (approximately €1.5 billion) after the record label’s creditors Citigroup turned down a deal to restructure its debt. Hands acknowledged that the EMI deal had been a mistake when he said, “If we hadn’t done that, we’d have 90% of our funds still to invest and we’d look like complete geniuses. Instead, having written off well over a billion, we look like chumps.”
July 4, 2010
Terra Firma's Guy Hands takes on more debt at wife's Hand Picked Hotels chain
The accounts, which have just been filed at Companies House, show that the couple have risked millions of pounds of their own money in loans to shore up the company.
February 17, 2010
Tax Exile Guy Hands Finds Lonely Guernsey Haven Is No Heaven
In Guernsey, an island of 66,000 people, Hands doesn’t pay any capital-gains levy and only a 20 percent income tax; most businesses pay a maximum of 20 percent.
Imagine that your income and capital-gains are so high that you are forced into tax exile. That is just so sad.
“Because two of my children are still school age, my wife and they remain at our former family home in Kent when school terms are in session,” he said in his declaration. “I have never visited them there since April 1, 2009. They and my other two adult children visit me at our home in Guernsey.”
I'm really starting to tear up here. That love of money just breaks my heart. Where could he have learned such a thing?
...was a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bond trader...
May he find all he deserves and more in China.
Ten Economic Questions for 2025
-
Here is a review of the Ten Economic Questions for 2024.
Below are my ten questions for 2025 (I've been doing this online every year
for 20 years!). These...
2 hours ago
7 comments:
What possesses a bond trader to suppose that he can run a business?
dearieme,
Similarly, what possesses a business to suppose that it should trade bonds?
May 22, 2010
Google Is Hiring Bond Traders
A source who interviewed for one of the positions said that this was a means for Google (GOOG) to make use of its large cash reserves.
Dear God! Unless Google intends to put its pension fund into bonds: but does it even have a pension fund?
Actually, I would suggest young people go east. there are big opportunities for westerners to run small and medium business in Asia.
In Taiwan, foreigners open up restaurants (juts like Taiwanese do in the states), language schools, outdoor adventure companies, trading companies, design companies, etc. and compete very well with the locals. There are also less crazy regulations - you can just try something and see what happens. The one of the largest language schools in Taiwan was opened by an American woman. Now they have bookstores and computer training school as well.
I know an American who opened a snow board factory in China. I guarantee he knows more about the product than any local company could, and I doubt he would do as well in the USA making it there.
These are entrepreneurial societies that infect you, and the lack of "safe" government jobs for foreigners leads them to interesting things.
but I will also remind you of a term used to describe certain foreigners in Hong Kong:
FILTH
Failed in London, Try Hongkong.
dearieme,
Perhaps Google needs the bond trading revenues so that it can fund its space exploration program. There's nothing Google can't do!
Google and Space
Red A,
FILTH
Failed in London, Try Hongkong.
Nice!
Post a Comment