Pencils Down

Reading the paper lately has been really depressing:

• Lance Armstrong accused of doping over a long period of time by teammate
• Mark Hurd not only plays with a c0ntractor, but attempts to hide the facts by adjusting documents

Both of these men have been heroes in my book.  Armstrong overcoming cancer to win the Tour de France several times.  Hurd taking the mess of HP/Compaq and turning it into a strong contender in the hardware space.  Neither easy or short-term feats.

I guess the realization that these guys (and others) are really just human and not supermen afterall is a sad day.  Who’s left?  My interest is in software or business in general.  Does Gates or Buffet really fit the bill of hero?  I always liked the idea of having heroes.  They give you something to aspire to.  Believing in yourself is nice.  Believing you could grow to become someone as great as one of your heroes is a whole new level.

By Monica Hernandez

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) – A laptop scam has been running at the fairgrounds for the last week. And authorities say they’ve captured the men behind it.

Eddie Handford, 45, and Frank Hamilton,54, are each charged with two counts of trademark infringement and two counts of illegal sale of goods bearing counterfeit labels. Each count carries up to five years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.

Hinds County officials said the men were trying to sell blocks of wood, covered in duct tape and bubble wrap, as laptops. They placed a Toshiba label on the duct tape, and another fake label had a price tag.

The men were also trying to pass off binders filled with paper as laptops.

“By the time you take it and get it home, you find you’ve purchased a block of wood, you may as well throw it in the fireplace. It’s no good,” said Lt. Jeffery Scott, public information officer with the Hinds County Sheriff’s Department.

The men were captured Thursday, after they tried to sell the counterfeit goods to an off-duty state trooper, who took down their license plate number.

“This type of thing wouldn’t happen if people weren’t trying to get something for nothing. But it’s very dangerous because it takes a lot of money out of the pocket of the consumer,” said Lt. Scott.

Officials say no one actually bought the knock-off laptops.

The men were also trying to sell fake gold chains, a camcorder, an iPod, and porn.

http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=12900278

The wheels have come off at Satyam Computer Services (SAY). The company, which just a few weeks ago tried to pull off a giant acquisition of two companies tied to founder B. Ramalinga Raju, shocked the Indian stock market on Wednesday with news that Raju has resigned after admitting he overstated the strength of the company’s balance sheet and misreported the company’s profits. The company’s shares were trading down as much as 70% in India this morning.

Reuters has published a copy of his resignation letter, in which Raju confesses to trying to use the the failed acquisitions to “fill the fictitious assets with real ones.”

A stunning tale, which is going to cost holders a lot of money.

  Barron’s Tech Trader Daily

What a mess.  Satyam was the 4th largest IT company in India.  This puts a shadow of doubt on all companies controlled by Indians.  Possible side affects against outsourcing companies as well.

It will take a while for this to subside.  If there is another blowout from some other company (likely given the financial meltdown worldwide) this could destroy the Indian IT market.

I didn’t notice this flying by in November – probably too concerned with my 401K getting demolished:

You cofounded Twitter.com with venture-capital money back in 2006, and it still isn’t turning a profit. In November, the company declined Facebook’s offer to buy it for $500 million. Say what? We admire and respect Facebook. We are big fans, actually. They approached us, and we took it seriously. But we feel like we want to continue this path we’re on — sustaining this innovation — and the time is not right.

  Boston Globe interview with Biz Stone, founder of twitter.

I am voting for this as the #1 bonehead move by a tech company for 2008.

When exactly would be the right time to take $500 million for your company?  How many companies out there dream of this phone call from Facebook?

Note the article says the company has never been profitable and probably will not be for some period of time.

Further, most of the development has been funded by VC’s.  I’d like to know which VC’s.  They must have the worst lawyers/negotiating skills in the business.  How could they let this guy turn down that kind of payback?