The Wall Street Journal reports, Federal regulators are cracking down on an obscure but booming market for trading shares in companies before they go public. The Securities and Exchange Commission brought charges against two money managers, alleging they misled and overcharged investors on funds formed to buy shares of Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and other social-media companies. A so-called secondary market in these companies’ private shares has grown rapidly as more investors seek to buy into the companies before their initial public offerings, hoping to profit later from a “pop” in the stock price after the IPO. The allegations by the SEC mark the first major regulatory blow to the market, which the agency says emerged in 2009 and which industry participants say has been fueled lately on the anticipation of a Facebook IPO in the coming months.
Bloomberg reports, Goldman Sachs saw 2.15 billion dollars of its market value wiped out, after an employee assailed Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein’s management, and the firm’s treatment of clients, sparking debate across Wall Street. The shares dropped 3.4 percent in New York trading yesterday, after London-based Greg Smith made the accusations in a New York Times statement. In the article Smith states: “Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as ‘muppets,’ sometimes over internal e-mail.” David Wells, a spokesman for Goldman Sachs in New York, declined to comment, beyond the contents of the memo and an earlier e-mailed statement, in which the firm said it disagrees with the views expressed in the statement.
Reuters reports, President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the possibility of releasing emergency oil reserves during a meeting on Wednesday, two sources familiar with the talks said, the first sign that Obama is starting to test global support for an effort to knock back near-record fuel prices.
The Wall Street Journal reports, Federal regulators are cracking down on an obscure but booming market for trading shares in companies before they go public. The Securities and Exchange Commission brought charges against two money managers, alleging they misled and overcharged investors on funds formed to buy shares of Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and other social-media companies. A so-called secondary market in these companies’ private shares has grown rapidly as more investors seek to buy into the companies before their initial public offerings, hoping to profit later from a “pop” in the stock price after the IPO. The allegations by the SEC mark the first major regulatory blow to the market, which the agency says emerged in 2009 and which industry participants say has been fueled lately on the anticipation of a Facebook IPO in the coming months.
Bloomberg reports, Goldman Sachs saw 2.15 billion dollars of its market value wiped out, after an employee assailed Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein’s management, and the firm’s treatment of clients, sparking debate across Wall Street. The shares dropped 3.4 percent in New York trading yesterday, after London-based Greg Smith made the accusations in a New York Times statement. In the article Smith states: “Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as ‘muppets,’ sometimes over internal e-mail.” David Wells, a spokesman for Goldman Sachs in New York, declined to comment, beyond the contents of the memo and an earlier e-mailed statement, in which the firm said it disagrees with the views expressed in the statement.
Reuters reports, President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the possibility of releasing emergency oil reserves during a meeting on Wednesday, two sources familiar with the talks said, the first sign that Obama is starting to test global support for an effort to knock back near-record fuel prices.