tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-204152702011-11-25T20:23:06.898+05:30Personal BlogYesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.comBlogger461100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-2009824846031947042009-03-28T12:13:00.005+05:302009-04-10T18:12:46.519+05:30

An innocuous SMS prompted me to this post. The SMS pointed to this article & I could not resist this post. Thank you Ravi for the SMSWell. How do you value a troubled company in the midst of a major scam perpetuated by the founders themselves. Adding to the complication is the family members including sons , brother and to top it all the Andra Pradesh politico.Well AgainAs discussed in the

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-53960451826199384232009-03-26T17:12:00.004+05:302009-03-26T17:19:50.399+05:30

While transparency has been the buzzword in the Satyam resale efforts there has been quite some discretion in the past 2 weeks. With the bidding process on and the effervescent Mr Modi engaging the media 27X7 and all others including Tech Mahendra and L & T quietly doing the due diligence what really is happening and why is the board so quiet.There are conflicting media reports about the total

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-56150329064232137962009-03-16T19:43:00.003+05:302009-03-19T20:23:12.721+05:30

All that the present credible board of Satyam is planning about the new is in the right direction.But...What is the junk bond fame twice convicted KKR doing there ?

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-63385805601223554672009-03-14T10:14:00.004+05:302009-03-15T11:11:41.910+05:30

As expected yesterday in NY Madoff pleaded guilty on all the 11 counts and went to jail. Yesterday was his last day in his opulent $ 7 million penthouse apartment in downtown Manhattan over looking the Central Park.He could be convicted for up to 150 years in his new but less opulent home-the prison cell.Well. There was jubilation outside the court house by a large gathering of his investors.

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-48436492923060077062009-03-14T10:04:00.003+05:302009-03-15T11:14:12.453+05:30

This is incredible. More than hundred offers for Satyam and counting.As of Friday 13 Mar there are over a hundred offers for the Mega Fraud Behemoth. Well to be precise its not an offer much less a binding offer but just LoI - Letter of Intent. This is nothing more than a passing interest and 90 % of them will not be in the final raceThe LoI gives the prospective suitors a right to inspect the

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-89470147141549551532009-03-13T22:04:00.004+05:302009-03-13T22:20:14.060+05:30

More throw in the towel.Yes. The list is much longer and more interesting.IBM ,i GateKKR - yes the junk bond fame investment bankers.Texas Pacific Group.Now the plot thickens. These are all just LoIs. So non-binding. And above all none of the bidder is officially confirmed by the Satyam board.Wait. Wait. Don't start counting the chickens yet. There is approval , then due diligence and then proof

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-4793804370565625522009-03-13T09:30:00.003+05:302009-03-13T22:22:00.879+05:30

The list is short.L & TThe noisy dude BK ModiTech MahendraYou know that right. Yes I can hear you. Not this post is not about the list but about who is here for what.L & T : Mr Naik is trying to play the average cost stock game. He had invested in 8 % if the paid up capital of Satyam well before Raju blew the whistle at around Rs 300 a pop. And when Raju let the cat out of the bag the share was

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-74691194220803676492009-03-12T21:24:00.004+05:302009-03-12T21:25:47.930+05:30

Madoff is expected to plead guilty today in NY. Dignity in criminality.

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-75682360751927871052009-03-12T20:36:00.004+05:302009-03-13T21:30:42.840+05:30

Finally somebody put a price to the litigation in US. Said be & $ 440- $ 840 m US"We have received a report from our legal advisers Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and they said the liabilities could range between $440-$840 million. We have to factor this in," Spice Group Chairman B K Modi as saying. Full report here This could be authentic and the actual liability will be anywhere between the

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-38083784663638853092009-03-01T21:11:00.004+05:302009-03-12T21:22:39.298+05:30

Mr SK Modi is in the news lately. Satyam of course. Rs 2000 crores is a lot of money and more so if is sloshing around with no investment in sight. Mr Modi is akin to our homegrown Sivasankaran of the Siva PC later DsihNet and then AirCel. He rode every boom and when the going got too hot to handle he quickly cashed out. He never really built any enterprise to excellence not did anything

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-25944490681242811812009-02-22T20:44:00.002+05:302009-03-12T20:54:42.724+05:30

The response to SEBI new watered down take over code for troubled company seems lukewarm. Yes. I am talking Satyam. Partically SEBI is removed the biggest stumbling block and a potentialdisaster for prospectiv suitors.But SEBI was smart. The riders are simple & cannot be cited as precedent for future hostile attempts. The exemption for open public offer applies only for listed companies which

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-8728626551346465832009-02-04T20:28:00.003+05:302009-02-04T20:42:10.863+05:30

Some things often are beyond my comprehension.The AP police are making a mess of the Satyam investigation ( see my post Satyam Insider Trading dated 31 Jan 09 )Its not clear to me if the cops are not fully aware of what Insider Trading is or are they just pretending to mislead the press and the public.What is even more confounding is what the courts are not allowing SEBI the market regulator to

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-35693370282647544102009-02-02T19:37:00.006+05:302009-02-04T20:27:41.822+05:30

Bernard Madoff is accused of running a $ 50 billion ponzi scheme which failed like a ponzi scheme is expected to fail. Duly arrested and prosecuted. Well house arrested to be precise. ( He still lives in the comforts of his million dollar apartment in mid town Manhattan over looking the Central Part. Lucky you.)He conned financially savvy milliners and no middle class guy is allowed anywhere near

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-19528995216473206552009-02-02T07:56:00.010+05:302009-02-04T19:37:19.215+05:30

Ms Shaw has written a great essay on the fiasco. Well thought out and itemized. The essay is available here But nothing new there.She has very thoughtfully listed the systems required and the procedure to be followed by the corporates for great governance. But then Satyam had that and more. I has consistently met or exceeded all compliance requirements. It was awarded the World Council of

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-74936834605937849612009-01-31T10:42:00.002+05:302009-01-31T16:32:49.358+05:30

There seems to be something seriously wrong with the Andra Pradesh police. They not just blatantly ignorant of corporate crimes but also just being puppets for the powers-that-be commandeering from the background.Its evident from fumbling they perform at every press meet. To start with they just refused to act. While there was some public outcry for Raju's arrest they were standing on some

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-37045011140700243512009-01-27T09:35:00.003+05:302009-01-27T11:51:59.939+05:30

Yesterday I posted saying PwC much be banned in India. Today ICAI has said if Satyam failures are proved and the two arrested directors are found guilty then PwC will be banned in India.

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-51316546695599504212009-01-27T09:32:00.002+05:302009-01-27T09:35:35.369+05:30

Sorry. I had earlier by oversight mentioned that Maytas is privately held. No its a listed company and they went public recently. Which only adds more woes to Teja Raju and his brother.Error is regretted

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-65679961679034750372009-01-25T09:47:00.000+05:302009-01-25T09:47:00.831+05:30

The saga unfurls. No thriller is more twist ridden than the Satyam saga. Today's reports suggest that there is large scale diversion of funds into real estate for Maytas projects. So this implies that their there is no over reporting of profits. Or in other words Satyam did make profits and these profits where correctly reported but illegally diverted. This also implies that the cash was

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-86689154974043143422009-01-25T09:15:00.005+05:302009-01-29T10:35:49.719+05:30

S-M-A-R-T.But how ? Read on.There is going to be bottom fishing. A lot of it. Barring BIFS most of the other industries the world over have a mountain of cash. Unlike the earlier recessions wherein most corporates were caught on the wrong foot this one perpetrated by the sub prime meltdown was in the making for at least 3 years. If it looks like a bubble, squeaks like bubble, talks like a bubble

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-793328095707070122009-01-25T08:56:00.002+05:302009-01-25T09:10:58.209+05:30

Should be banned and banished from India. The Big Four are so big that even Uncle Sam is scared. Also this leads to US companies dominating the Indian accounting scene and denying large Indian firms from growing. But this is not the reason for me to propose a ban on PwC. Sorry don't get me wrong.These big ones are believed to be more trust worthy than Indian firms. But PwC has been hand in glove

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-41596818369353207752009-01-22T10:52:00.001+05:302009-01-22T10:54:31.874+05:30

Raju Raju---Yes PapaEating Profit---No PapaCheating Public---No PapaTelling Lies----No PapaOpen your Books----Ha. .Ha..Ha.. .

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-25954448941832702162009-01-15T17:31:00.004+05:302009-01-29T10:24:16.642+05:30

Arun Sarin said to take up the Yahoo! CEO job. N-O W-A-Y. Arun just completed a long and ostensibly successful stint at Vodafone and left London and Vodafone at the right time. The telco and the industry are in perpetual cross roads. With the tech tsunami happening every day in the industry a longer terms for Arun at Vodafone was considered not so advisable. So the move.But then Yahoo! is a

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-89852325701395737102009-01-15T14:00:00.000+05:302009-01-15T14:00:00.408+05:30

Its only once in a while we get a good scandal like the Satyam Saga to talk , write, scandalize, speculate and some times go over board to the extent of lying to hold the attention of the reader / listener / viewer.But this one is beyond the imagination of all the scribes. It exceeds our expectations and lives up to all our imaginations. Raju's team has kept us engages by the grand scale and all

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-39186742780747565552009-01-15T06:47:00.008+05:302009-01-15T07:51:17.484+05:30

Insider Trading. Yes. This seems a real possibility. Given the magnitude of the fraud and the long time it has been going on - nearly 7 years - the only incentive for the top honchos to keep the show oops - keep the fraud going is the high market cap of Satyam shares. When a total collapse is imminent and you are in the know if it, what do you do - loot and run. This is exactly what Raju & Co

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-55775519270003325982009-01-13T16:03:00.007+05:302009-01-13T16:35:11.338+05:30

The speed at which GoI acted is amazing and the way this Satyam issue and earlier the Mumbai Carnage post 26 /11 and the resultant Indo-Pak friction is being handled - I will give a thumbs up to UPA. Composed & Collected.The new board is insufficient though very competent.None of them has run a software giant a la Satyam. Satyam was sure a name to reckon with in the past 20 years and running such

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-25184993243268917282009-01-11T08:17:00.002+05:302009-01-11T08:17:01.032+05:30

With 2 class action suits ( aka Mass Tort ) nobody will touch Satyam even with a barge pole. The breath and depth of the damages of the litigation is unpredictable. Most of the assets of the company are intangible. Also nobody know the extend of damage caused by Raju and his criminal chums. The kind of cases registered on Raju covers the entire major crimes in the Indian CrPC including forgery

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-12568273790001568272009-01-10T19:40:00.004+05:302009-01-10T21:41:40.526+05:30

Satyam Saga Part IIISo you confess to come out in the clean. And will give you immunity against prosecution. No way. But then in this case Mr Raju confessed not to emerge clean or to unburden his consciences as reported by the press.Boy its simple. His stake in the company has been reduced to about 3%. A hostile or friendly take over of management control is imminent. With such an event round the

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-37914119195299243742009-01-09T09:12:00.004+05:302009-01-09T09:36:17.123+05:30

And the plot thickens.Was money siphoned out ? Anybodies guess. A large scale fraud executed with the connivance of top honchos inside the firm and a big 4 audit firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers playing active supporter.Padding up inventory, inflating assets & accounts receivable are one way of window dressing. The other known option is accounts payable and slightly understating other creditors /

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-90233145148343178212009-01-08T16:15:00.007+05:302009-01-09T09:12:07.531+05:30

First it was an attempt to acquire 2 companies owned by his sons. Then it was share buy back and finally its number fudging. Have all the skeletons tumbled out of the cupboard ? Looks like yes.Seems unrelated events but bad timing right ?Wrong.See the tumbling of the events from the reverse.There was figure fudging going on for a while. Which Raju was aware of. He tried to acquire Maytas for all

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-65631861650169180342008-10-18T11:05:00.004+05:302009-01-08T16:14:32.855+05:30

In the present economic scenario Cash is Kingg. The typical question which looms large in any entrepreneur's mind big & small is what is do now. To spend or not to spend. To do this project or not to do this project. Or in short to quote the famous lines of William S : " To be or not to be " in these times of course.To quote the last line in a recent Newsweek article the world almost came to an

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-58805151427928791452008-05-02T14:57:00.002+05:302008-05-02T15:05:01.695+05:30

There is the practical & pragmatic approach and there is always the Utopian approach. Mother Earth has been royally screwed for millenniums. And suddenly all the damages cannot be revered in a few years. Consistent , progressive & incremental improvements are sustainable.The HyperGreens douse every such initiative with a cynical NO.They categorically state Hybrids are not Green. They brush aside

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-72966416993842053122008-04-22T15:16:00.002+05:302008-05-02T15:21:33.502+05:30

Blame Game IIThe Empire Strikes BackIn an interview to WSJ Alan Greenspan categorically states he is not responsible for the sub prime mess. Ask me why ? Housing is not part of the Federal Reserve Board Statute. Great. What has this housing bubble led to ? A total mess. Mr Greenspan : Is this in the Statute of the Fed ?

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-70966000188489146182008-04-04T04:57:00.008+05:302008-04-12T09:36:26.662+05:30

The markets are in doldrums. Everyone is running for cover. Nobody knows the depth of the Sub Prime Mess. Paul Krugman the noted economist - who also doubles, triples & quadruples as an author, columnist & professor - in a recent interview for Fortune predicts the crisis and its ripple effect will run into 2011.( see CNNMoney.com ) forget to add both up ) The entire outstanding is unsecured.

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-77228009939781749532008-04-03T19:28:00.006+05:302008-04-04T10:45:50.585+05:30

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then chances are its a duck. Same holds good in the Tech Space. You may argue that the excesses of the 2000 era is absent. Agreed. But the excesses are in a different form.Imagine a valuation of US$ 15 billion for my friend Mark's FaceBook. ( Jerry...... crimping about 150 m US you missed out on a golden opportunity. This

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-51512711593350513302008-04-03T09:38:00.000+05:302008-04-09T19:52:17.654+05:30

We have been talking about photography for long. Now its time to walk the talk. Mr Chandrachoodan is arranging the 6 th PhotoWalk on 18 th April ' 08 Sunday. As per his blog post, SelectiveAmnesia the walk starts at 8 am from Madhya Kailash and ends at NIFT. The walk should take about 2 hours. All shutter bugs are welcome. Do join us guys.

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-53542155827254162032008-03-23T21:40:00.004+05:302008-03-23T21:48:57.167+05:30

IF If you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs and blaming it on you,If you can trust yourself when all men doubt youBut make allowance for their doubting too,If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or being hated, don't give way to hating,And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream--and not make dreams your

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-87992160568039306082008-03-23T15:55:00.008+05:302008-04-03T19:44:33.966+05:30

It can happen once. It can happen twice. But with regular periodicity the wardrobe seems to malfunction at all kind of places. The trick was started by the iconic Janet Jackson during Super Bowl with millions of Americans glued to their TVs. Then on, this has become a routine. But did you notice the malfunctions happen only to significant audience , mostly on the ramp and always when the

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-92208374932828463002008-03-23T15:42:00.006+05:302008-03-23T16:13:19.454+05:30

You can try this at home or at work. Even in the loo. With the keypad locked try dialling 112 or 911 the 2 international emergency numbers. Just hit Call, the handset will start dialling. It will work with the key pad locked, without any balance in your account and even without a SIM card inserted. This is a emergency system built into all GSM handsets by default. ( CDMA - I dont know ) But in

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-1157979955176621692006-09-11T17:53:00.000+05:302006-09-11T22:31:13.630+05:30

This was my first blog related get to gather. It was great. So many new friends whom I have not net. As they rightly say in Blogosphere there are no strangers only friend whom we have not met. Volunteered a bit. Forty Eight hours flew past in a jiffy. Great memorable weekend.I was a little skeptical about UnConference but it was incredibly effective. As a new comer to blogging I learnt how much

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-1136393149661285492006-01-04T22:15:00.000+05:302006-09-11T17:49:12.390+05:30

Self By Self

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-1136392727970542562006-01-04T21:49:00.001+05:302006-01-20T22:59:39.493+05:30

Set the clock back 10 years . I miss the good old days of only wireline telephones. No caller IDs and no phone books. No guessing who is calling or why. Just pick up the phone and answer. I bit my tongue many times after answering but the point is I answered. Life then was divided as calling hours and non calling hours. But now......The other day a guy told his friend " I have his mobile number

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-1136267562211115802006-01-03T10:59:00.000+05:302006-01-03T13:01:15.646+05:30

The technorati is engrossed with technology explained in a language which a average computer user cannot understand. Recently I visited the home page of the tech company. Reading and rereading just the one page revealed it was just a bolts & nuts web developer with content development and aggregation or segregation thrown in free. They made it look like rocket science . Plain vanilla "

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-1136266143209806132006-01-03T10:42:00.000+05:302006-01-03T23:38:48.606+05:30

Its very simple. While the net is very big the monitor is not. Still worse is the browser. There is this browser buttons - s , m , l , xl, 2xl, 3xl ....... Then there are rows and rows of tool bars- you name it I have it ( each with a single use ) Google bar, Yahoo bar and what else ? I keep loosing track of them. What I am left with for the world wide web is the area of a post card. Scrolling up

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-1136265118778533612006-01-03T10:30:00.000+05:302006-01-03T23:09:39.076+05:30

I am not a nerd. But use the computer a lot. Will someone tell me why I need 3 different applications for the most common use of a PC with net connection viz a separate browser, a e-mail client & a word processor. Can't one application handle this without having to launch anything. Yes, direct from the desk top. I cannot imagine something easier than that. While so much is happening in organizing

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-1136180206922556322006-01-02T11:01:00.000+05:302006-01-02T11:06:46.933+05:30

No god worth his salt will encourage fighting among mankind. If man kills man in the name of god then there is something wrong with the god or the interpretations of his teachings. ( I am not a MCP. Nouns like man and pronouns like he/ his are only notional and does not discriminate between sexes. ) Is there anyone left who follows or tries to follow the essence of any system of divinity.

YesYeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08295999457182384395noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20415270.post-1136174452554460872006-01-02T09:28:00.000+05:302006-01-03T10:30:26.990+05:30

Going by the recent repeated deaths in flood relief centers the cost of life in Chennai seems to be Rs 2000 + 10 kg rice + basic clothing.

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