Takeshi Fujimaki, former advisor of the renowned speculator George Soros, told Bloomberg that the Japanese economy will experience a market crash and that the economic policy of Japanese government and Central Bank is “a double suicide”. “The volatility in the Japanese government bonds market as well as the fact that there is large selling represent fear among investors,” Fujimaki said. “They are early signs of a larger sell off and we should continue to monitor the moves in the long-term bonds.” The former advisor of George Soros has made large bearish bets on Japanese government bonds of various maturities but he declined to offer more specific details regarding his trades. Fujimaki accuses Bank of Japan of recklessness in its attempt to jumpstart the economy with monetary stimulus. Bank of Japan’s “QE announcement is declaring double suicide with the government. The BOJ will have to share the country’s fate and default together,” he told the press.
What are the limits to shareholder rights? (SCMP)
As if life wasn’t tough enough for Pacific Basin Shipping – the dry cargo shipowner saw the Baltic Dry Index slump to its lowest quarterly average since 1986 earlier this year, and now has to put up with greedy shareholders. In a scene reminiscent of early MTR Corp annual general meetings, one shareholder at Pacific Basin’s AGM opened their bag and swiped all the small capsules of coffee being readied for thirsty participants. …Multibillionaire George Soros has had the unusual opportunity of reading his obituary. This came courtesy of a slip by Reuters, which accidentally published a pre-written obituary. He may not have been too pleased to read, on his first morning in paradise, “George Soros, who died XXX at age XXX, was a predatory and hugely successful financier and investor, who argued paradoxically for years against the same sort of free-wheeling capitalism that made him billions.” It would be an understatement to say that the 1,122-word piece was not especially kind to Soros.
With Fight Club, top Long Island business executives wrestle over books (NewsDay)
They call it Fight Club. Two Long Island businessmen — the CEO of a real estate company and a venture capitalist — lead a meeting every six weeks of what is arguably the most high-powered book club in Nassau and Suffolk counties. In the living room of a Gold Coast mansion, the pair and about 10 friends dissect and debate, sometimes passionately, books by authors ranging from Marcus Aurelius and Iris Murdoch to Leo Tolstoy and Tom Wolfe. George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund manager, attended a meeting three years ago where his book about the 2008 financial crisis was discussed.Ultimately, Fight Club members said they hope to become more well-rounded people — and to nourish the creativity that underlies innovation in their fields. They worry that their minds are becoming one-dimensional, flattened by leadership responsibilities and the weight of financial reports, market analyses and other numbingly repetitive reading.
George Soros’s small cap picks (MarketWatch)
Soros owned slightly less than 4 million shares of Acacia Research ACTG -27.32% , which acquires and licenses intellectual property portfolios including patents. Wall Street analysts are very optimistic about the company’s future earnings growth rate: the stock carries trailing and forward P/E multiples of 24 and 11, respectively, with a five-year PEG ratio of 0.6. Note that the market likes the company, as shown by the high trailing earnings multiple but is much less bullish than the sell-side. Malcolm Fairbairn’s Ascend Capital reported a position of 1.2 million shares as of the end of December. According to the 13F, Soros had a little over 3 million shares of Shutterfly SFLY +1.19% in his portfolio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2012. The digital photo website and app developer, like many social media companies, has been seeing high revenue growth. However, earnings were also up 50% in the fourth quarter of 2012 versus a year earlier. Earnings are certainly low- the forward P/E is 53- but its growth potential may make it worth watching. Alydar Capital, managed by John Murphy, had Shutterfly as its largest holding according to that fund’s own 13F. Corsair Capital, Legg Mason Capital Management, and Renaissance Technologies are also among SFLY shareholders.
George Soros is alive and well, but he probably didn’t like his obit (FinancialPost)
George Soros is alive and well, though some might wonder after Thomson Reuters accidentally published a templated version of his obituary Thursday evening. “We did publish an obituary of George Soros in error,” Barb Burg, head of communications at Reuters, told the Wall Street Journal. Someone at the news wire “pressed publish” by accident. It was a desk error,” Ms. Burg said. A spokesperson for Soros’s firm, Soros Fund Management told The Journal that “George Soros is alive and well.”
