Warren Buffett's Car Auction

An eBay bidder has bid $73,200 for Warren Buffett's Lincoln Town Car. At almost 5 times the cars resale value it wasn't a bargain but it was for charity so the more money raised the better.

Buffett’s car goes for $73,200 on eBay
"Buffett’s light gold Town Car has just 14,000 miles on it. Buffett said he quit driving it about three months ago when he bought a Cadillac DTS. The Kelley Blue Book retail value of the car is about $15,000.

Bidding started Sept. 13 with an opening bid of $25,000 and closed Friday afternoon. During the auction, 63 bids were placed by 19 people.

Along with the car, the winner will get Buffett’s “THRIFTY” license plate and an engraved plaque bearing the investor’s signature. Buffett also will pick up the winner at the Omaha airport when he or she comes to claim the car." MSNBC

## Philanthropy, Business Leaders News, Warren Buffett News

Women at the Top

48 women are at the top of big business up from 35 last year and as the increase continues, it seems women can cause just as much scandal as the men can. In recent times a few women at the top of big business have been ousted and even jailed after causing scandal, disagreements and even bankruptcy. They are also showning that they can leave with huge settlement payouts just like men can.

Powerful women who come in to clean up
"Our annual listing of the World's Most Powerful Women has seen a growing number of women with big career successes. A total of 48 women on the list now run businesses either as chief executives or chairmen, up from 35 last year.

And in a sign that women have arrived, they're increasingly being called on to clean up corporate scandals. Women who've mopped up, and who remain high on our list, are Patricia Russo at Lucent Technologies and Anne Mulcahy at Xerox. Both pulled their companies back from the brink of bankruptcy.

But women can be troublemakers, too. They can collapse in scandal as disastrously as men. And because women are still a rarity at the top of the corporate ladder, they often get a lot more attention than their male counterparts on the way up — and on the way down. "
MSNBC

## Business Leaders News, Major Company News

Quotes by Jeff Bezos

Here are a few quotes from Jeff Bezos the owner of the giant online shopping store amazon.com and internet entrepreneur. Quotes are interesting to read and think about and can be very inspiring.

• We are not a stock that you can sleep well with at night. We are a volatile stock . . . For a short-term investor, or for a small investor, I wouldn't invest in internet stocks.
• If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.
• We've got thousands of investors counting on us. And we're a team of thousands of employees all counting on each other. That's fun.
• A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well.
• What we want to be is something completely new. There is no physical analog for what Amazon.com is becoming.
• We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It's our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better.
  

## Business Quotes, Business leaders news

Businesses Selling within 3 Years

This is an interesting article that says a survey found as the baby boomer generation start to retire, many business owners plan to sell and head for retirement. It found that many businesses across America will be up for sale within the next 3 years, and also that 82% of owners have actually been approached to sell their business. With a buyers market at the moment there could be a lot of businesses changing hands in the near future!

Most business owners plan to sell within 3 years
"With millions of baby boomers approaching retirement age, 80 percent of business owners in the U.S. are now considering selling their firms, according to a new survey.

Of the owners that are considering selling, 75 percent anticipate doing so within the next three years. The survey, which was conducted by the University of Dallas School of Management and GW Equity, questioned more than 200 owners of businesses with revenue between $1 million and $150 million". Reuters

## Entrepreneurial News

Now Hiring Older Workers

Companies hiring new employee's often face the dilemma of taking on older workers over the younger generation. The thought has been that older workers are nearing retirement and therefore likely won't be with the company for a long time, but times and thoughts are changing as employers are discovering that younger employee's are much more likely to move on to better offers.
Studies are showing that older employee's are staying with the same company longer, which cuts down considerably on hiring and training costs that businesses are faced with. Older workers are now looking more attractive to employers so have a read.

Older workers more loyal to employers
"Employers who are looking to reduce turnover might want to consider hiring older workers, not recent college graduates, according to a new study. The study, released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that workers ages 55 to 64 have been with their current employers a median of 9.3 years, while workers ages 25 to 34 have a median tenure of only 2.9 years.
HR professionals say the mix of a tight labor market and baby boomers postponing retirement has encouraged employers to hire and retain experienced older workers". Reuters

## Entrepreneurial News

Windows Live Search

There's now a new competitor for Google to contend with and it's called Windows Live Search and is Microsoft's attempt to crack into the internet search business. Live Search has been in Beta form for a while and went through a few changes, and has now been launched without the beta tag. The result is a clean easy to use design similar to Google, but Microsoft still has work ahead of them to finish off the features they have been hyping in recent months. The battle heats up a bit more with Microsoft now on the block!

A Look Inside Windows Live Search
"In the Internet search space, Google has set a clear precedent: When you create a service, first you go with what you've got. Then when the bugs seem to have died down, you drop the word "beta" and you call it a launch. Late yesterday, Microsoft dropped the "beta" from Windows Live Search, the culmination of its original Live.com project the company "launched" last November". Beta News

## Major Company News, Google News

Good Economic Growth but Slowing Wages

The US economy has been showing good growth over the last few years but how does today's wages compare to those a few years back and is this growth helping out the average worker?. Well according to the research from the Economic Policy Institute the growth is helping the top 20% of the income bracket but not the lower levels, with lower income jobs even decreasing in wages compared to five years ago. This is an interesting read about what's happening with the economy and America's wages.

The end of the American dream?
"For real household incomes, the median point - the level at which half of households earn more and half less - has actually fallen over the past five years. That marks a notable contrast with the 1990s, when the economic boom boosted both jobs and incomes. The puzzle of economic expansion without significant job or wage growth has been troubling US economists and commentators of all political persuasions". BBC News

## Finance News

Bosses Overpaid and Underworked?

Here is an article that asks if bosses are overpaid and underworked and why they are paid so much. One thought mentioned is that hard work is encouraged by the chance of big bucks and one day being the boss. Read some more of these thoughts.

Overpaid, underworked and in charge
"It should go without saying - but never does - that your boss is overpaid and underworked, while you and your colleagues toil long hours for peanuts. But beyond the fact that life is cruel, is there a rational explanation for this? An economist called Ed Lazear has one. He noticed that in a sporting tournament - say, Wimbledon - players are paid for winning rather than for trying.

But they try anyway. Lazear thinks the same is true of office life. Nobody thinks that Roger Federer's cheque at Wimbledon is supposed to be his payment for turning up at the next tennis match. They realize it's a reward for his past victories and a motivation for every other player to go away and practice, so that next year they will play better. " BBC News

## Money & Wealth News

Option ARM Loans

With such high housing prices many struggle to make a break into home ownership and many struggle to make loan repayments each month. The option adjustable rate mortgage has lured many into its trap in the last few years by offering low interest rates and low monthly payments but the catch is that eventually these low repayments turn into high repayments often with high penalties to refinance out of the loan. What most didn’t do was read the fine print and fully understand how these loans work, which has put many Americans into a worse position than they were originally in. Read on and don't get caught in the trap!

Nightmare Mortgages
"For cash-strapped homeowners, it was a pitch they couldn't refuse: Refinance your mortgage at a bargain rate and cut your payments in half. New home buyers, stretching to afford something in a super-heated market, didn't even need to produce documentation, much less a downpayment.
Those who took the bait are in for a nasty surprise. While many Americans have started to worry about falling home prices, borrowers who jumped into so-called option ARM loans have another, more urgent problem: payments that are about to skyrocket."
Yahoo News

## Loans News