Free Republic

Axel Springer’s business is divided into three segments: paid models, marketing models, and classified ad models. Since 2020, it is majority-owned by the US private equity firm KKR. KKR names former CIA head Petraeus as chairman of new institute. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-kkr-petraeus-idUSBRE94T0D820130530 Private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co KKR.N said it appointed former CIA Director David Petraeus as chairman of the newly created KKR Global Institute, which will study the investment implications of global macroeconomic, social and geopolitical issues. Petraeus was credited with helping pull Iraq from the brink of an all-out civil war as commander there and President Barack...

The Times sued after STATE allegedly slow-walked a records request. A NYT lawyer said the State Department will start handing over records in April. "The parties are still negotiating the number of pages to be processed in and the frequency of each production," McGraw wrote, "and propose to provide a status report to the Court March 25, 2022, of the results of this negotiation." In a court filing Friday, David McCraw, wrote that the State Dept had begun identifying records the Times requested and agreed to give them to the Times starting in April. "The State Department has started identifying...

Wall Street wants Michael Bloomberg to run for president, but the billionaire isn't budging. At the Yale CEO Summit this week, the talk was of "drafting Bloomberg" however possible. The former New York City mayor seems like the perfect solution for Wall Street's problems with the current field of presidential candidates. The Street sees him as a centrist technocrat who adeptly managed one of the most complex cities in the world. They think he understands the global business community. Rumblings about a Bloomberg run are especially strong at several bulge bracket banks, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Merrill once...

An MSNBC guest told Craig Melvin this morning that evangelical Christian supporters of President Donald Trump are often more faithful to the president than to religious teaching. Business Insider columnist Linette Lopez was speaking with Melvin on MSNBC Live on Monday morning, where they were discussing a Christianity Today editorial that called for the removal of Trump from office and the backlash it received from Trump supporters. “It’s taken three years for an evangelical magazine to distance itself from a president who has said some things that do not align with the teachings of Jesus Christ, who has done some...

If, after the days-long backtracking by the NBA over Houston Rocket GM Daryl Morey's deleted tweet supporting protesters in Hong Kong, you feel like American companies are looking pathetic in China, it's because you're right. They are. American companies have been allowing China to pull their strings for years, and as the country becomes more bellicose, this private matter is starting to spill into public view. (Please see full article at the link)

Linette Lopez November 28, 2014In a passionate speech on Thursday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro vowed that he would not rest until oil prices were back to "where they should be," reports Venezuelan paper, El Universal. For Maduro's purposes, that's at about $100 a barrel. "We will maintain the depth and rhythm of our investments into society," Maduro said speaking at a military celebration. "The best response in the face of obstacles is to come together in work, in struggle — it is to have discipline. On Thursday OPEC leaders agreed not to reduce global oil output, thereby increasing the price...

President Of Argentina Takes Convoluted Way To Rome So Her Plane Won't Be Impounded By Hedge Fund Managers Linette LopezMar. 20, 2013, 1:35 PM Newly minted Pope Francis is Argentine, and though he and the country's socially liberal President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner have had their differences, she went to see him in Rome on his first days. That sounds pretty standard, but it's the way she got to their visit that's strange. Instead of flying the state plane to Rome, Fernandez de Kirchner stopped off in Morocco, dropped off her jet, and then boarded a commercial flight to Italy,...

We wish that we could call this list, "The Happiest Cities In America." But right now every city in America is suffering. The least miserable cities might surprise you, including Pittsburgh and Buffalo. These cities experienced less of a boom during the bubble, so they're finding it easier to recover. Conversely the most miserable cities are mostly housing bubble capitals. Our list is based on an index from Brookings including unemployment rate and change in employment, home prices and gross metro product since before the recession. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ #20 McAllen, Texas Unemployment rate of 12.2% Employment up 2.0% from peak Gross...

When Sidney Powell spoke to conservative radio host Howie Carr on Nov. 20, she included Serbia among four countries she accused of interfering with the Nov. 3 Presidential election. Four days earlier, a former member of Serbia's parliament published stunning evidence to support Powell's assertion. Srjdan Nogo not only showed how Serbia manipulated vote totals. He exposed the connections between the highest officials in the Serbian government, Serbian leaders in technology and telecommunications, George Soros, former Vice President Joe Biden, the CIA and other government agencies in the United States. Among the figures Nogo mentions in his articles for the...

Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials (AMAT) on Monday terminated its planned acquisition of Japanese peer Kokusai Electric from global investment firm KKR. AMAT stock fell on Monday. [3/21]Santa Clara, Calif.-based Applied Materials had announced its intent to buy Kokusai for $2.2 billion in cash in July 2019. The purchase price later rose to $3.5 billion after Applied Materials negotiated a deadline extension. But the parties ultimately were unable to secure approval for the transaction from Chinese regulators. Applied Materials has agreed to pay KKR a deal termination fee of $154 million in cash.

KKR favourite in bid for Lehman Bros Private equity firm KKR is frontrunner in the bidding for investment banker Lehman Brothers' assets AccountancyAge.com, Accountancy Age 27 Aug 2008 The private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), has emerged as favourite in the bidding for investment banker Lehman Brothers’ asset management business. Other private equity groups understood to be considering the purchase of Neuberger Berman, the successful fund management business acquired by Lehman four years ago, include Blackstone and TPG, The Times reports. Dick Fuld, Lehman Brothers chairman and chief executive, is considering a range of options for Lehman’s future, including...

Excerpt - In what will be the largest leveraged buyout of all time, the private equity firm of KKR is close to announcing its purchase of TXU, the giant Texas utility that is the largest producer of power in that state, CNBC's David Faber has learned. TXU's board is expected to vote on the deal this weekend and an announcement is likely on Monday morning, people familiar with the situation told Faber. TXU officials and KKR declined comment. The exact price KKR will pay is unclear, Faber said. TXU's current market cap is $27.5 billion. It also has $12.3 billion...

Excerpt - SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Hospital operator HCA Inc. is in advanced talks to sell itself to an investor group in a transaction that would rank among the largest buyouts ever, according to a media report Sunday. The proposed deal, valued at $21 billion, not including the value of HCA's debt, could be announced as early as Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition citing unnamed people familiar with the talks. See Wall Street Journal story (subscription required). Factoring in HCA's debt load of $10.6 billion, the deal would narrowly top the record-setting leveraged buyout of...