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Slim squeezes past Gates... and then some

Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim is now worth almost $68 billion, knocking Microsoft's Bill Gates, who can claim "just" $59 billion, out of the top spot for the title of world's richest man. The latest ranking is according to Eduardo Garcia, a respected analyst of Mexican financial wealth. A few months ago, Forbes had Slim as the No. 2 man to Gates.

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Speaking of hedge fund managers...

Jim Cramer had a heckuva career in hedge funds. Now, he's jumping up and down and screaming on CNBC's "Mad Money," but today's issue of Barron's says viewers could do a lot better than heed Cramer's stock picks. Sure, they're up 12 percent over the past two years, but they haven't beaten the market. The Dow was up 22 percent, and the S&P 500 is 16 percent higher. Still, the article does note that Cramer's advice is generally smart.

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E-Trade tightening up

E-Trade Financial will be going through some big changes thanks to the tightening in global credit markets. The discount brokerage has announced it's getting out of businesses that don't deal directly with retail investors. E-Trade's wholesale mortgage operations and direct mortgage lending unit will be among those affected. The restructuring will mean a significant profit cut, according to the Wall Street Journal -- as much as 31 percent short of the most recent forecasts.

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Citigroup's got the SIVs

Citigroup plans on taking over seven structured-investment vehicles, or SIVs, assuming about 50 billion in debt. SIVs take short-term debt, sell it off and then put the proceeds in higher-yielding securities. The funds have been shaken by the credit crisis and Citi decided to take them on rather than be forced to sell assets. The move comes as Moody's Investors Service lowered the bank's credit rating because of billions of dollars of other assets with declining market value.

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Warren Buffet's done his holiday shopping

Warren Buffet's company, Berkshire Hathaway, is spending $4.5 billion to buy the majority of Marmon Holdings. Marmon is an industrial conglomerate with businesses in wire and cable, railroad tank cars and water treatment systems. It's controled Chicago's Pritzker family. This deal is Buffet's largest-ever acquisition outside of the insurance industry. Berkshire will purchase the rest of Marmon in stages by 2014.

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Art is making money

The financial markets might be struggling, but the art market is doing quite all right. The fall auction season in New York broke records: $71 million for an Andy Warhol, $33 million for a Matisse.
One November sale took in almost $400 million.

The weak dollar is partially responsible for this. In the last years, more wealthy buyers from Russia, China, India and the Middle East have decided to spend their millions in art.

One thing to be cautious about: Generally, the art market trails the financial markets by about six months. So the party might be over soon.

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Magellan reopens, seeks younger investors

Investors have the option of buying Magellan for the first time in more than a decade. Fidelity is reopening its $45 billion Magellan Fund today. Magellan beat more than 80 percent of rival funds last year, but it's getting lean as many baby boomer investors are starting to tap into retirement cash. To help Magellan grow again, reports say Fidelity will go after younger investors. The fund helped drive Fidelity's rapid growth in the 80s and 90s. It was closed to new accounts in September 19-97.

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It's OK to mix your beer

British brewer Scottish and Newcastle has a reason to pour a pint and make a toast today. The company's just accepted a more than $15 billion takeover offer. The new owners will be Heineken and Carlsberg. Scottish and Newcastle traces its roots to 1749, with a brewery that opened in Edinburgh.

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You dirty Year of the Rat...

Feng shui masters are being called on to do more than rearrange furniture -- investors in Asia are turning to the experts of good flow for some market guidance in this Year of the Rat. One master in Hong Kong says the rat is a symbol of money to the earth industry. He says property, mining and gold are the things to invest in. Another feng shui master in Singapore says "the rat will become aggressive at the tail end of the year..." There are no predictions, however, for who will be the next U.S. president.

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Credit Suisse not bucking to subprime

The headline of yet another bank writing down billions of additional dollars has become all too familiar. This morning, one bank is bucking that trend. Credit Suisse reduced its full-year writedowns today to just under $2 billion. It's one of the few banks to avoid heavy subprime losses.
It's rival, UBS, has taken charges of more than $18 billion. Credit Suisse isn't perfect though -- the bank also reported a 49 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit.

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A sale that's very hush-hush

The world's largest collection of silent movies is up for sale. The Rohauer Collection has 700 silent and classic films put together over three decades. Some of the films feature stars such as Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. The collection was bought in 1995. Now the company that owes it, Douris U.K., needs to raise cash for its creditors. It already signed a distribution deal for 21 of the films with a French company for $500,000.

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The deal is no longer so Clear

There was a time, not so long ago, when we heard of a multibillion-dollar deal every other day. These days, we hear more about buyouts falling apart. The latest deal to be in jeopardy is the sale of Clear Channel, the nation's number one owner of radio stations.
This time, it's not the buyers that are pulling the plug, it's the banks lending the money to the two private equity firms. Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse want to renegotiate the terms of the financing -- as in they want to set stricter terms (You see, it happens to the rich people, too). Clear Channel shares fell 5 point 6 percent before the markets closed and 21 percent in after-hours trading.

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They hung out, but nothing happened

Senior execs at Microsoft and Yahoo got together again this week to talk about their proposed merger but there was no spark. The Wall Street Journal says Yahoo didn't show much passion since Microsoft is unwilling to raise its bid for the web company. Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo at the end of January for about $42 billion but Yahoo turned it down.

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Candy maker wants a piece of gum

Candy giant Mars, Inc., might be about to gobble up the nation's largest chewing gum maker. Mars, the maker of Snickers, Starburst and M&Ms, is near a deal to buy the William Wrigley Junior Company. Wrigley's makes Altoids mints, and Orbit and Juicy Fruit gum. The price is about $22 billion. According to press reports, billionaire investor Warren Buffett will help foot the bill. In return, he'll likely take a stake in Wrigleys.

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Guess they couldn't afford UBS after all

A couple of weeks ago, we told you about a deal between Swiss mega-bank UBS and American investment firm Black Rock. The bank was planning to sell the U.S. firm about $15 billion worth of shaky mortgage-based securities. These assets would be deposited in a new Black Rock investment fund.

Now, it appears that the Americans were a little short on cash to finish the deal. So UBS kindly loaned them $11 billion. They REALLY wanted to get rid of that stuff.

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Wanna buy a jail?

Somerset County in the state of Maine has a deal for you. The county is selling its jail. It's a bargain at an asking price of $200,000. The jail was built in 1897 and comes complete with a security system and razor-wire fence. County officials are hoping the jail will be converted into a restaurant, art gallery or a bus station.

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A deal is a deal . . . unless it's not

When is a deal not really a deal? You might want to ask Citigroup. For about a year, the company has had an ad slogan for its credit cardholders: A deal is a deal. The subtext: The bank promises not to raise interest rates on cards at any time, for any reason.

Well, that deal might just be off. The New York Times reports the bank is "quietly reconsidering" the slogan. Citibank has faced major struggles over the last year. In the last two quarters alone it lost 1$5 billion. This week, it announced it will cut 10 percent of its investment banking jobs -- thousands of positions.

According to the Times, credit card customers could see a rate hike if they're late by more than 30 days on new debts. Citigroup says most customers didn't consider the old deal to be all that exciting -- or they didn't recognize a good deal when they saw one.

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