the buzz log
The Best in Business List: Fortune’s 40 under 40
If there's a bright spot in the economy, it may be this: It has a future. Fortune magazine has come out with its latest hotshot list of 40 under 40 rising stars in business. Searches on the must-list immediately soared.
The list of under-the-age-of-40 superstars is top-heavy with leaders from Internet biggies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. But there are also sports prodigies like Tiger Woods, "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane, and media mogul-in-training James Murdoch (mini-me son of Rupert). Jay-Z represents with his many ventures, including Translation Advertising, which helps businesses connect to urban markets.
The list helpfully summarizes why each person was chosen, and also notes education, and marital status.
The blurbs are pretty fascinating. For example, you've probably never heard of Meredith Whitney, but she was the one who noticed that Citigroup had no money — and has made lots of other smart market calls. As anchor of "Street Signs," and pundit for "Meet the Press," Erin Burnett explains Wall Street to finance wizards and laypeople alike. And Cesar Conde, the president of Univision — the country's fifth most popular network — is only 35. (Sorry, ladies, he's engaged.)
You can see the entire list here.
Filed under: Business
Buzz Multiplex: Informing on "The Informant!"
Corporate satire is a slim but juicy genre. Director Steven Soderbergh has dipped into the wild true story of Mark Whitacre, the highest-ranking whistleblower in FBI history. The convoluted, crazy tale behind "The Informant!" involves bipolar conditions, Nigerian scams, food additives, and the you-can't-touch-me executive hubris that never seems to go away.
How odd? Soderbergh cast Mr. Likeable Matt Damon, who pulled a De Niro by gaining a paunch for the role, as Whitacre.
So what's the scoop behind "The Informant!" If knowing what happened 20 years ago will spoil the movie for you, stop reading. But if you want to know the story-behind-the-story, come on and wade in:
The bipolar whistleblower
In 1992 Whitacre, an Archer Daniels Midland vice president, tells his wife that his company—a massive family-run agricultural conglomerate that calls itself the Supermarket of the World—is fixing prices. His wife makes him tell the FBI. The investigation reveals that Whitacre's at some level a greedy crackpot. Whitacre wires up and helps reveal transgressions, but also gets himself an eight-year jail sentence for stealing $9 million from ADM. Oops. Part of the reason why he embezzled: He fell for one of those Nigerian scams...sent by fax in those early days.
Cruel irony
or poetic justice
Besides him, two others get sentenced, including the chairman's son and "heir apparent." On top of the fraud charges, the informant gets another prison term tacked on for managing the conspiracy he helped uncover, a ruling that leaves legal experts puzzled. Insult to injury: His prison term's six months longer than the other two.
How faithful is the movie to real life?
Based on the 600-page book "Informant: A True Story," the movie necessarily has to leave out details. Also, director Soderbergh is more interested in the message about corporate greed. While one reviewer likes his work, she feels Whitacre's moral turnabout was underplayed.
What's the informant doing now?
He went through a life change while in prison...at least, according to his press release and an extensive Q&A with a Christian site. Whitacre, who walked the red carpet for the movie premiere, is using his biochemistry know-how to figure out selenium's health benefits especially in cancer prevention. (His boss helped get Whitacre a federal pardon for one conviction.) He's also the subject of a biography, Discovery Channel documentary, and owes his moral compass to wife Ginger, who made him tell in the first place.
Food Fight: Boycott Moves the Web
The stereotypical Whole Foods shopper is not a gun-toting protester. Instead, the natural-food consumers carry reusable totes. But some shoppers of the organic market are up in arms over a Wall Street Journal editorial by John Mackey, the store's CEO, decrying Obama's push for health care reform.
The head of the company warned that the president's plan would move the country "much closer to a complete governmental takeover of our health care system." Hold on. The head of Whole Foods, the market that serves high-end hippies with bleeding hearts and large wallets, publicly criticized Obama? Does the guy know who shops at his store?
Just in case not, some shoppers are putting down their locally sourced zucchini and signing on to a boycott. The Boycott Whole Foods Facebook group already has over 27,000 members. In the last seven days alone, searches on "whole foods boycott" have surged 300%. Other queries on the controversy include "john mackey whole foods," "whole foods wall street journal," and "whole foods health care."
The movement has moved from the Web to the street, with picketers at stores in places like West Hollywood, Austin, and New York City.
After the overwhelmingly negative reaction from customers, Mackey tried to make nice on his blog. It wasn't Whole Foods talking, he wrote, it was just him. But supporters of health care reform failed to see the difference. While the financial impact to the store has been minimal, the online impact has been notable: Over 17,000 comments to the Whole Foods Web Forum on the topic alone, compared with 250 posts on favorite recipes.
We're guessing Mr. CEO is going to have to make nice to his staff for handling all those comments, too.
A Tale of Two Taxpayer Bailouts: Bonus Round
Once upon a time, in a land called Wall Street, a bunch of firms received a biiiiig bailout from Uncle Sam and his little taxpayers. Of the firms, one was an insurance conglomerate called American International Group, with a very naughty financial products unit. Sad AIG had lots and lots of assets to unload, so it couldn't pay Uncle Sam back so fast.
The other was an investment bank named Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs magically turned into a bank holding company, repaid most of the money, and ended up having its best quarter ever.
But both want to give out nice juicy bonuses, and that made Uncle Sam and his little taxpayers see red. How the numbers stack up in this tale of two bailouts, below:
$180 billion
AIG taxpayer bail-out received.
$165 million
AIG March bonuses, part of a $454 million pool paid out for 2008 work. Out of 73 employees who received $1 million to $6.4 million, 11 left the company, including the top bonus-getter.
$273.5 million
Retention bonuses AIG wants to pay in the upcoming weeks.
$10.4 billion
TARP funds repaid June 17 by Goldman Sachs, which borrowed the money in fall 2008. Returning the funds freed the holding company from government restrictions.
$4.7 billion
First-quarter bonuses and compensation that Goldman Sachs paid, out of what Rolling Stone calls "highly suspicious $1.8 billion profit" that included a $12.9 billion payback from AIG, which received funds from taxpayers.
$770,000
Average amount that each of Goldman Sachs' 29,400 employees could receive this year in bonuses—twice the salary of President Barack Obama.
$1.09 trillion
U.S. budget deficit.
9.5%
U.S. unemployment rate as of June, which represents 4.4 million people unable to find a job in the past six months.
$42,270
Average U.S. salary as of May 2008, the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Too Blooming Bad: Smith & Hawken Goes Out of Business
People may be focusing on their backyard plants during the recession, but they aren't shopping at high-end garden stores. That's the reality faced by the Northern California-based retailer Smith & Hawken, which is dying on the vine after 30 years in business.
The chain is closing its doors. It originally opened as a place for serious gardeners—selling tools with a lifetime guarantee. The basic garden-supply store was bought by a weed-killing manufacturer, then branched out to general outdoor stuff, like fire pits and (really, really expensive) teak furniture. In these tough economic times, what should have been a blooming time for the garden business failed to grow.
The one note of good news (and there isn't much: All 56 stores will close and 700 people will lose their jobs): Going-out-of-business sales start now. But don't bother heading to the website. That's already been shut down. If you want to scoop up a nifty deal on a terrarium or a patio heater, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way: go to the store.
Filed under: Business
top movers
| Rank | Subject | 1-Day Move |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ford 400 | Breakout! |
| 2 | Indonesia Ferry | Breakout! |
| 3 | Jordan Chandler | 3481% |
| 4 | Evan Chandler | 2322% |
| 5 | American Music Awards | 1841% |
| 6 | John F. Kennedy | 1529% |
| 7 | Turkey Stuffing Recipes | 1361% |
| 8 | Liam Hemsworth | 1172% |
| 9 | Lou Dobbs | 1142% |
| 10 | Hendrick Motorsports | 888% |
top leaders
| Rank | Subject | Move | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Black Friday | +340 | 1290 |
| 2 | NFL | +489 | 670 |
| 3 | Jennifer Lopez | +451 | 515 |
| 4 | New Moon | -67 | 250 |
| 5 | American Music Awards | +236 | 249 |
| 6 | UFC | -36 | 239 |
| 7 | Miley Cyrus | +66 | 169 |
| 8 | Hulu | -11 | 154 |
what's the buzz?
A subject's buzz score is the percentage of Yahoo! users searching for that subject on a given day, multiplied by a constant to make the number easier to read. Weekly leaders are the subjects with the greatest average buzz score for a given week.
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