This is a biggest windfall for a company that began eight years ago with no way to make money. The social networking service has priced its IPO at $38 a share on Thursday at the high-end of expectations.
This IPO values Facebook higher than Amazon.com and other well known companies like Kraft, Mc Donalds and Disney.
The stock of Facebook is anticipated to begin trading on the Nasdaq stock market sometime Friday morning under the ticker symbol FB. This is the time when the retail investors can try to purchase the stock.
The offering by Facebook is the end of a year’s worth of Internet IPOs that commenced last May with leader LinkedIn Corp. Since then, many companies focused on the social side of the web have gone public with varying degrees of success.
Facebook is the third-highest valued company to ever go public as per data from the financial data provider Dealogic. The $16 billion is the size of the IPO which is the third largest for a U.S. based company.
Another company Visa is the largest U.S. IPO which raised $17.86 billion in the year 2008. Then comes, the number 2 power company Enel and the fourth is General Motors according to Renaissance Capital.
Facebook is set to trade more than 100 times its earnings for the last 12 months. The stock sale for Facebook means more money to build features and services it offers to its 900 million global users.
Facebook is a social networking service and website introduced in February 2004 which is operated and privately owned by Facebook Inc. As of May 2012, the company has more than 900 million active users and more than half of them use mobile devices.
]]>The Swiss Bank Julius Baer is also looking to bid for part of the Bank of America wealth business on sale, said the sources. Last month, BofA had put its non-U.S. wealth division up for sale, a deal that includes units in Asia excluding Japan, Europe, and the West Asia and Latin America.
The auction is another case of consolidation in the wealth management industry and comes as Bank of America is trying to re-focus the bank after its fall in value post the financial crisis, the news reports said.
Bank of America has received non-binding bids for the units and is selling the wealth division as it is very small and has failed to produce great profits.
The non-US business manages about $90 billion of the targeted $2 trillion that the Bank of America wealth division overseas globally.
The BofA auction is the biggest deal in the wealth management industry since ING Group sold off its private banking assets in Asia and Europe in 2010 for about $1.9 billion.
Earlier estimates had put the BofA deal worth as much as $3 billion though sources said this week that a $1.5 billion-$2 billion price tag will be more realistic.
The first round of bids closed earlier this month and Bank of America is in the process of notifying the shortlisted bidders. The sources did not wish to be identified as the process of bidding is not public.
Royal Bank of Canada is North America’s diversified financial services companies providing banking, wealth management, insurance and capital market services on a global basis. Credit Suisse is a Swiss multinational financial services company based in Zurich having more than 250 branches in Switzerland has operations in more than 50 countries.
]]>What is EPF?
EPF is a retirement benefit scheme that is available to the salaried employees. Under this scheme, a fixed amount is deducted from the salary of an employee and contributed towards the fund. This amount is decided by the government. The employer also contributes an equal amount to the fund. If the scheme allows, an employee can also contribute more than the stipulated amount.
Benefits of the employee providend fund scheme
Employee Providend Fund scheme benefits the employees in the needs including retirement, medical care, housing, family obligation, education of children and financing of the insurance policies.
Function of the EPF
The main function of the EPF is to provide the retirement benefit to the employees of the corporate and private sector that do not belong to any of the pension or providend fund in order for them to secure a better standard of living at retirement. Under the EPF scheme, both the employees and the employer contribute equally to the Employee Provident fund at the rate of 12% of the basic wages, dearness allowance and retaining allowance if any, payable to employees per month.
The rate is fixed at 10% in the case of following establishments:
To carry out the main objective of EPF, the Labor Department is involved in registering the employers and employees, enforcing on the delinquent employees and processing housing loan guarantee applications and refund applications. While the Central Bank is involved in collecting monthly contributions from the employers, investing the funds and also maintaining the members accounts as also making the payments of refund on application.
How to withdraw money for EPF?
If one has to withdraw money from the EPF account, then one has apply in advance for some admissible purposes or resign or retire from the company for settlement of PF in Form-19.
Eligibility for Employee Providend Fund
For new entrants
The employee is eligible for membership from the day he joins the company who has enrolled for EPF scheme. If an employer has more than 20 employees then it is compulsory for him to join the EPF scheme. But if the employee’s emoluments exceed Rs 6,500 a month than he has the option to join the scheme with consent of the employer.
For the existing members:
The existing members are entitled to benefits and facilities like withdrawals, advances, pension and death insurance.
]]>This social network is also likely to raise $16 billion (10 billion pounds) as strong investor demand for the share of the well-known social network trumps the debate about the company’s long-term potential to make money.
The worries over the revenue growth were emphasized earlier on Tuesday when General Motors said it planned to pull out advertising on Facebook.
The famous social networking company led-by Mark Zuckerberg will also add about 85 million shares to its IPO, floating about 422 million shares in an offering expected on Friday.
Post Visa Inc and General Motors, the expanded size will make Facebook the third-largest initial share sale in the U.S. history. The social networking company is drumming up massive demand for the offering .
The social networking service said in its latest filing that it has arrived at the higher IPO price range after one week of marketing the offering, part of the cross-country roadshow in which CEO Zuckerberg has taken the stage to lay out his vision for the company’s money-making potential and its top priorities.
The strong results from the social media players and from Internet and the price range hike contributed to a dotcom rally on Wall Street.
The shares of Pandora Media surged 10.3%, Zynga Inc was up 7.7%, Groupon climbed 3.7% and Renren gained 6.4%.
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004. The social networking service has more than 900 million active users as of May 2012.
]]>IDF or the International Diabetes Foundation reported that over 90 million people in China, 9.3% of the population had type 2 diabetes in 2011.
Meanwhile, the figure is expected to grow to 129.7 million or 12.1% of the population by 2030. In India 61.26 million people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. It also ranks second to China in total cases and third behind the United States and China in terms of prevalence.
IDF also says, by 2030, India will have 101.2 million people with type 2 Diabetes.
Lamberto Andreotti, CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb said, “In keeping with a long legacy of addressing global health issues through innovative and sustainable philanthropic programs, Bristol-Myers Squibb and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation are pleased to expand our philanthrophic work in type 2 Diabetes to India and China, where the disease has become a significant public health concern.”
It is a model developed in the United States which aims to improve health outcomes of people living with type 2 diabetes by strengthening patient self-management, education, community-based supportive services and broad-based community mobilization It targets populations disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes.
Post successful launch in the United States, Bristol-Myers Squibb and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation extended Together on Diabetes to India and China to address the increasing public health issue and focus on the increased incidence of cardiovascular and metabolic disease in India and China through community based care and support.
]]>The fall in net profit was due to a tax related exceptional item of more than Rs 103 crore.
In the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2012, the company’s net profit was Rs 293.56 crore, the company said in a filing to Bombay Stock Exchange.
Aditya Birla Group company has also made provisions for entry tax till March 31st 2012 aggregating to Rs 103.88 crore and the same is considered as an exceptional item.
Meanwhile, the company’s consolidated net sales for the quarter under review surged 14.84% to Rs 5,922 crore compared with Rs 5,156.73 crore in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal.
The company’s board of directors have also approved the proposed acquisition of a controlling stake in Future Group’s Pantaloon format.
As per the deal, Pantaloon Retail will be issuing debentures worth Rs 800 crore to a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Nuvo. The transaction is expected to be completed within next 8-10 months subjected to the due diligience and other approvals.
The board of the company has also declared a dividend of Rs 6 per equity share and Rs 6 per preference share of Rs 100 each for the financial year ended on March 31, 2012.
Aditya Birla Nuvo is a US $4 billion conglomerate by revenue size. The company is involved in the telecom, financial services, lifestyle and fashion, IT-Ites and manufacturing businesses.
]]>Mercedes Benz India MD & CEO, Peter Honegg said, “We are going to change the rules of the game in the next three years with our CKD lines.”
Meanwhile, the German premium carmaker also introduced its third generation ML Class at 56.90 lakh on Tuesday. The company has already assembled its C, E and S class cars at its Chakan plant.
While the imported cars attract 110% duty, those assembled in India are levied a lower import duty of up to 30%. In the next few years, Mercedes-Benz has also lined up a slew of cars that it will assemble in India such as GL class, followed by B Class, A Class and GLC Class.
The luxury car maker is also investing Rs 350 crore to set up paint shop and assembly lines. Mercedes-Benz aims to sell 500 ML class this year and has already got more than 100 bookings.
Meanwhile, in the year 2011, BMW was the number one player in the luxury car segment in India with sales of more than 9,400 units, followed by Mercedes-Benz at 7,430 and Audi at 5,511 units.
Mercedes Benz is a multinational division of the German manufacturer Diamler AG. The automobile company is headquartered in Germany. The name first appeared in 1926 under Diamler-Benz but its traces its origins to Diamler’s 1901 Mercedes and to Karl Benz’s 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen which is regarded as the first automobile.
]]>The new range above the previous range of $28 to $35 a share will be announced in a regulatory filing.
The social networking website which is already planning the largest-ever Internet company IPO will raise as much as $12.8 billion. It also seeks a valuation of as high as $104.2 billion based on the high-end of the new range.
The company was already in a position to surpass United Parcel Service Inc as the most valuable company in the history to go public in the United States based on the market capitalization.
Facebook also plans to discontinue taking orders from today for its IPO, 2 days before schedule .
The offer of 337.4 million shares was oversubscribed as sources did not wish to say by how much orders exceeded the amount of stock on offer.
The social networking service had initially planned to finish taking orders on May 17. Its shares would list on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol FB.
The lead managers for the sale are Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Facebook is an American multinational Internet company that runs the social networking website Facebook. As of April 2012, Facebook has more than 900 million active users.
]]>The reason for downgrading the ratings for these banks are their vulnerability to Italy’s recession and more trouble in the eurozone.
“The ratings for Italian banks are now amongst the lowest within advanced European countries, which reflects these banks’ susceptibility to adverse operating environment in the Europe and Italy, the credit rating agency stated.
Moodys also said, “Banks are vulnerable to the renewed recession in Italy, given their already elevated levels of problem loans and weakened profitability. These risks are exacerbated by investor concerns over the sustainability of the Italian government’s debt burden, which has contributed to the difficult wholesale funding conditions faced by Italian banks.”
The credit rating for UniCredit was slashed to A3 from A2 and for Intersa Sanpaolo the credit rating was cut to A3 from A2. By assets, the two account for nearly one-third of the Italian markets.
Other banks including Banco Monte dei Paschi, the third largest bank was cut down to two levels to Baa3, Banco Popolare Societa Cooperative, the fourth largest bank, fell to Baa3 from Baa2 and Unione di Banche Italiance, the fifth-largest bank was cut two levels to Baa2 from A3.
The ten banks saw their ratings newly cut from the investment grade to junk-grade, including the two that received four-notch cuts which includes Banco Popolare di Spoleto, which were both cut from Baa1 to Ba2.
Most of the banks were also put on the negative credit watch. This was a warning that a further downgrade is possible.
Moody’s also said, “The potential for new rate cuts is heightened by the possibility of rapid increases in the problem loans, which has been evident following the supervisory inspections of some Italian banks."
Moody’s is the bond credit rating business of Moody’s Corporation. It provides international financial research on bonds issued by commercial and government entities.
]]>Steve Wozniak has built the first Apple Computer along with Steve Jobs and also co-founded a company with him in 1976 and also said he would buy Facebook’s stock regardless of the valuation.
The social networking company also plans to raise around $11.8 billion in an IPO scheduled for May 17, which would be the largest in the history for an Internet company.
The company is offering 337.4 million shares to the public at $28 to $35, giving it a market value at the top range of $96 billion. According to Zuckerberg, the decision to hold out as long as possible before selling shares to the public was the right strategy for a social networking company.
Last January, Facebook said it would start filing public financial reports this year as it is expected to breach a regulatory threshold on the number of its shareholders.
After the IPO, the shares of Facebook will trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol FB.
Facebook Inc is an American multinational Internet company that runs the social networking website Facebook. As of April 2012, the company has over 900 million active users.
]]>This move is a victory for the hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb of Third Point LLC who is Yahoo’s largest outside shareholder and created obstacles in Thompson’s educational background to light. Yahoo’s global media head Ross Levinsohn will replace Thompson with immediate effect on a temporary basis.
The news of Mr. Thompson stepping down is another blow to a company that has been struggling to kickstart growth despite competition from Google Inc, Facebook Inc and other Internet companies.
Internet search giant Yahoo acknowledged last week that Thompson does not have a degree in Computer Science despite what was stated in his official company biography and also in the regulatory filings with U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
In the first quarter 10-Q filing with SEC last Wednesday, Yahoo acknowledged that uncertainties about Thompson and questions regarding the company’s future direction can hurt business opportunities and makes it difficult to attract business partners and the employees, the company said in a statement.
The board of Yahoo is closing on the settlement with Loeb that will give Third Point three board seats. Mr. Fred Amoroso, the recently added director by Yahoo will be appointed as Chairman of the board.
Meanwhile, Levinsohn, the current executive Vice President and the head of global media for Yahoo was earlier the head of the company’s America business. Before he joined Yahoo, Mr. Levinsohn was the president of News Corp’s Fox digital division.
According to the official website of Yahoo, Levinsohn holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the American University.
Yahoo Inc is an American multinational internet company based in United States.The company is well-known for its web portal, search engines, online mapping, video sharing and social media website and services.
]]>Accel Partners said it has made an investment of around $2 million (Rs 10.8 crore) in the Bangalore-based engineering education startup company Limberlink Technologies, the news reports said. Both companies were not ready to disclose the investment details.
Limberlink was established in 2008 by two former IISC professors turned entrepreneurs namely Swami Manohar and Winay. It has created the JED-I programme that provides engineering students an out-of-classroom, beyond-curriculum training in core engineering.
Vinay and Manohar has earlier founded PicoPeta Simputers in 2000, when they were teaching at IISC. Both the entrepreneurs sold PicoPeta to Geodesic Information Systems in 2006 and continued in Geodesic till 2009.
The company has designed 2 programmes. The first programme will start in the first year of engineering which runs for six semesters and a 15-day boot camp for third engineering students. The classes are delivered through 10 minute videos delivered online. When the student access the video, he can see the text as it being written and hear the audio along side. The students can learn the concepts at their own pace and attend class room sessions.
Accel Partners is a global venture and growth equity firm. The company manages over $8.8 billion from offices in Palo Alto, California, New York City, London, India and China.
]]>Let’s learn some tips on how to become an expert investor:
Read more: Read a lot. There are many books on investing available on the subject. Also, keep on updating your knowledge and make sure to follow thoughts and opinions given by investors like Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and Warren Buffet. It will also help in expanding your knowledge and help you deal with any market situations nicely.
Get a job with a bank: Start working at a bank and start as a teller while you are in college. The work experience that you will gain will show that you have been committed to this career for a very long time. This experience will look good for both future employees and also to the institutes reviewing your applications for admissions to a certification programme.
Choose stocks as per your risk profile: Make sure to select the stocks as per your risk instead of returns they generate. If you are not comfortable with high volatility of small and mid-caps then don’t simply invest as they offer high returns.
Gain years of practical experience: To become an investment expert, gain several years of practical experience. Also, build a client base and be able to demonstrate your professional success.
Learn when you suffer loss: Learn whenever you suffer a failure. People lose money in the market due to their mistakes. Also find out where you went wrong and ensure that you don’t repeat it.
Do not use many investment strategies: Avoid using different types of investment strategies. If you are comfortable with buy and hold strategy then use the same one for all your stocks. Otherwise you will be confused with the strategy that actually helps you make money.
Avoid greed: It is easy to put money in stock not doing well because it is going up. Make sure to avail of the benefits you need to stay invested in a good stock for a long time.
Avoid reacting to when the markets will move: If you are not sure which way the stock markets will move then do not react in a negative manner. In such an instance, it’s best to be a passive onlooker rather than participating in the market action.
Thus, follow these simple steps and you will surely become an expert investor.
]]>After accounting for other gains, the losses at its chief investment office (CIO) are estimated to come in at $800 million in the second quarter.
According to the global bank’s chief executive, James Dimon, the loss could be as big as $1 billion. The shares of JP Morgan slipped 6% after hours, with stocks of other bank stocks following.
Post market close, other international investment banks like Citigroup, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs also suffered heavy losses in the electronic trading.
Mr. Dimon said, the strategy taken at its CIO had been riskier, more volatile and less effective, then believed previously. The trading loss is likely to hurt JP Morgan’s overall earnings in the quarter.
It will also come as an embarrassment to the bank. The trading loss ruins the status of the bank which came through the financial crisis better than most peers. It comes at a time when large banks are fighting efforts by regulators to rule in the risky trading.
The losses will expose bank staff to so-called claw back policies that permit the recovery of compensation in the event of a financial restatement, the bank said.
JP Morgan Chase & Co is an American multinational banking corporation of securities, investments and retail. The company provides financial services and is the largest bank in the United States by assets and market capitalization.
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