Thursday, February 14, 2013

Warren Buys Heinz -- Happy Valentine's Day -- From Hallmark! Thursday Links

Active rigs: 182 (steady).

Wells coming off the confidential list have been posted.

What a treat! Another vacation spot we enjoy close to home, pretty much a stay-vacation is Corpus Christi. Several years ago it looked a bit "recession-hit" but it sounds like it should be booming now. RBN Energy has a great update on Corpus Christi.
Total crude oil shipped out from the South Texas Port of Corpus Christi increased 19 fold between November 2011 and November 2012 from 2.1 MMBbl to 36 MMBbl. All of that crude is coming from the Eagle Ford shale oil basin 70 miles north of Corpus in the form of light crude or condensate via pipeline. Six marine terminals have been built or expanded at Corpus but can they handle the traffic jam? Today we review how the Port is coping.
RBN Energy certainly does provide nice updates. I am really impressed. And the "subscription" is still free. 

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Warren Buffett buys Heinz.  Stock surges. I wonder if this has anything to do with John Kerry's plans?  Just coincidental, I assume. Warren says he's been looking at Heinz since 1980. Warren will partner with 3G Capital on this deal, 50/50. Perfect fit for 3G Capital: owns Burger King. Warren/3G will pay a 20% premium: this is one of the nice things about buyouts. One sees the premium folks are willing to pay. I have always assumed similar numbers in the oil patch: a 20% premium. 3G Capital: "3G = three guys." The three richest guys in Brazil; perhaps the three richest guys in the world.

American Airlines -- US Airways; Berkshire Hathaway -- Heinz; NYSE; Comcast -- NBC; and so it goes. I'm waiting for huge energy deal. 

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WSJ Links

Section D (Personal Journal):
Rise of the Rent-a-Porshe

Section C (Money & Investing):
Was GM deal to buy back shares money well spent?
Comcast is content to diversity

Section B: Marketplace
This may end up being a stand-alone post, just a warning: paid by a federal grant, workers played board games. I had mixed feelings about posting the "Solyndra" story yesterday, but now that I see this WSJ story, I feel a bit more comfortable. I am still amazed that I get an occasional comment from folks praising the government's Solyndra deal. Wow. I assume those comments are coming out of North Korea, Iran, or Russia. China, not.

Time explores magazine sale

Comcast: all in for NBC; also, GE to splash new cash on buybacks, payouts, purchases

Random thought: a common them -- the gulf between the "haves" and the "have-nots" continues to widen.

Boeing looking at interim 787 fixes

Apple may lose iPhone naming rights in Brazil (starting here, links may require subscription)

Cisco hints of upturn as profits rise

Aha, a more realistic survey compared to an earlier survey that put Tesla on the top ten list of cars "loved" by their owners; this survey of cars for top quality does not include Tesla (in the article)

Section A:
Page 3 and we've talked about page 3 often: big story on "farm boom sows jobs bounty." Companies mentioned: Monsanto, Deere, Dupont Pioneer, Cargill, JBS SA. University grads in agricultural courses will do very, very well; the front page of the WSJ has a story that China is converting farm land to housing developments;

Random comment: GE's Welch says the same thing I posted some days ago -- the sequester is political theater; doesn't amount to a hill of beans; it's all about jobs in Washington; maybe 0.5% GDP;  this is similar to a write-off in a corporation; $85 billion in a 3.5-trillion-dollar spending economy

Mexico moves on energy in economic reset

Kerry says he has plan for Syria power shift

Op-Ed: the four faces of Mount Rushmore have been replaced with one face (you can get which face is now on Mount Rushmore)

Op-ed: learning to love the sequester, a valentine

Op-ed: from SEAL Team Six to retiring without health insurance. I must be missing something: the editorial says "a retired 16-year veteran of the US military" -- retirement is at 20 years. But as long as someone wants to increase / extend military benefits, that's fine with me. All gave some; some gave all; if you have problems with that, visit the US Army hospital at Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, and talk to some of the quadruple amputees

Op-ed: the $9 minimum wage that already exists

Op-ed: a warning from the asteroid hunters

2 comments:

  1. I really like the artist rendition of the Obama Mt. Rushmore, big ears and all and singular too. Since his appearing forget about history and everything else. It is all about him. Our emperor!

    South Dakota would have to use 10th amendment states rights to stop it. I'm sure their attitude is, a cold day in hell that is going to happen.

    Oh that is right we no longer care about the Constitution, the heck with it.

    Instead put him on the granite wall of Yosemite, California would love it.

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    1. It's funny you mention Yosemite. I recall dreaming about Yosemite sometime in the past week or so, and I don't dream very much. Maybe it was a nightmare.

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