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Tom Taulli
California - http://taulli.com

Tom Taulli is the author of various books on finance, including The Complete M&A Handbook (Random House) and Investing in IPO's (Bloomberg Press). In addition to his writing, Mr. Taulli has appeared on high-profile television venues such as CNN, CNBC and Bloomberg TV, and has been quoted in the various print media sources such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and LA Times.

Back in the late 1930s – when the U.S. economy was still dealing with the impact of the Great Depression – Roy Neuberger started an asset management firm, called Neuberger Berman. It was a prescient move and the firm eventually grew into a powerhouse. As of now, there are $160 billion in assets.

The firm eventually became a part of Lehman Brothers (in 2003) and as a result, got trapped in the massive bankruptcy. No doubt, this made it difficult to sell, especially in light of the dicey markets and lack of funding.

But, this week, Neuberger did find a buyer. Actually, it consists of a group of managers of the firm who will purchase about 51% of the equity (the creditors will get the remaining amount). The total price tag: $2.15 billion.

All in all, this deal looks smart (keep in mind that the proposed valuation was $7 billion in August). Neuberger has a good group of funds and a strong infrastructure. And by being independent – with managers having a heavy equity stake – Neuberger should be poised for some growth over the long haul.

More importantly, there is likely to be renewed confidence in the firm, which should help keep clients on board as well as help snag new ones.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

For many small business owners, the main focus is on survival -- not growing the business. And, with the freezing of the credit markets and the slowing economy, the sentiment is certainly warranted. Hey, even companies like Google, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) are cutting back.

So, what are some key survival skills? Let's take a look:

Get Paid: It's never fun to call customers who are behind on their invoices and ask for them to pay up. But it's a necessary skill if you want to survive the recession.

Thus, you need to be proactive (for more help on this, you can check out a recent column I've done on this topic).

As layoffs have spread across banking, investment banks and hedge funds, things have been fairly quiet for private equity firms. Then again, these operators tend to have small employee bases.

But, interestingly enough, we may be finally seeing some pink slips for the private equity folks. According to The Wall Street Journal, 3i will announce a 15% cut in its staff and that there will be a 19% cut at American Capital.

And now it looks like the tier-1 firms are not immune. The Carlyle Group is gutting 10% of its staff this week (which comes to about 100 people). There's not much deal-making to do right now. Besides, it looks like it will be tougher for private equity firms to raise new capital. If anything, the focus will be on trying to manage the existing portfolios.

What's more, Carlyle has had a variety of blunders. There was the implosion of its mortgage fund (Carlyle Capital) and the recent bankruptcy of its Hawaiian Telecom holding.

Of course, Carlyle is not alone. So, it's a good bet we'll start seeing more layoffs in the private equity world.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Not long ago, the sentiment of Web 2.0 startup founders was fairly consistent. Basically, the IPO market would come back; the online advertising market would continue to grow; and valuations would continue to escalate.

Well, it looks like things have not gone according to plan. If anything, it looks like we are seeing the return of the dot-com implosion.

However, this can be a good thing for the established players, such as News Corp's (NYSE: NWS) MySpace. In fact, at Reuters Media Summit, the co-founder of that site, Chris DeWolfe, mentioned that he is seeing companies offered at steep discounts. Price tags are a "small, small" fraction of what they were just six months ago, he says.

With dicey business models and dwindling venture capital, the cash positions of many Web 2.0 players is dwindling, putting even more pressure on valuations. Hey, just look at the rash of layoffs over the past few months.

So, where might MySpace look for deals? Apparently, there is interest in global markets. MySpace also wants to bulk up its music offerings.

DeWolfe is relatively optimistic about the expectations for MySpace for the next year. While growth is likely to tail off, things still remain intact – especially if MySpace can pick up some properties at compelling valuations.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

While Bill Gross is big-time bond trader for Pacific Investment Management Co., he also has some interesting takes on the equities markets. Unfortunately, his views are fairly pessimistic.

According to Gross, the stock market can be somewhat nuanced. In fact, he compares it to a "fragile flower where price is part perception, part valuation, and part hope or lack thereof."

In his analysis, Gross takes a look at several well-known market metrics. For example, there is the "Q" ratio, which compares the stock market to the replacement costs of the net assets. If below 1.0, then stocks are cheap. Interestingly enough, the ratio is now the lowest since World War II.

Next, there is the P/E ratio. And yes, this is also at historically low levels.

So, it is time to buy up shares? Perhaps not.

Basically, Gross says that we need to account for a myriad of trends. First of all, there is a massive deleveraging of the economy. In other words, there is much less financing to boost valuations.

Another problem: expect much more regulation of the economy, which will likely slow things down.

Oh, and it's a good bet there will be higher taxes.

For the most part, Gross thinks that these trends are "transgenerational." Essentially, the US is moving away from being a financed-based economy and becoming more enmeshed in government meddling (keep in mind that 20% of bank capital is now owned by the US government). The upshot is likely to be slower growth, and in turn, muted stock valuations.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

A study from American DataBank indicates that as much as 95% of all businesses in the US suffer from some type of business theft. In fact, with the slowing economy, the risks may be even greater.

Actually, I've known some examples where a company had to shut down because of the shenanigans of an employee (keep in mind that the most serious examples of business theft are often from employees).

But there are some precautions you can take (you can find out more details at BusinessTheft.com, which is an excellent resource). Let's take a look:

Background checks: Before hiring someone, it's a good idea to do a background check. Focus on verifying the resume and criminal checks. Also, has the person filed suits against prior employers?

Because of the complexities, it's a good idea to use a third-party investigation service. There are also some good online offerings, such as HireRight.

Data security: What if your customer records were breached? Or, what if the corporate bank account was drained?

Yes, you need to secure your data assets. Sure, this can be expensive – requiring extra software and probably some consulting – but it is critical.

Physical security: If you operate an office or a retail front, you should consider some level of physical security, such as cameras. With the growth of online technologies, video surveillance is becoming much more affordable. This is also the case with alarm systems.

Theft Insurance: No security system is full-proof. This is why you might consider purchasing theft insurance. Basically, this provides more coverage than typical insurance policies.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Even though social networking and widgets are pervasive -- and useful -- the ultimate business model is a bit fuzzy. But, for some VCs, there is still hope.

Look at KickApps, which has a full-platform to build cool widgets. This week, the company announced a Series C round of $14 million. The investors include North Atlantic Capital, Softbank, Spark Capital, and Prism Ventures.

The deal is definitely gutsy. After all, online advertising looks particularly vulnerable -- and even top social networking sites, such as Facebook, are falling below expectations.

However, VCs are supposed to look at the long haul. So, with the money, KickApps can continue to forge its strength in the marketplace, with arrangements with more than 48,000 websites across a myriad of industries. Some of the customers include Budget Travel, New York Knicks, and Guinness World Records.

The company's platform is powerful -- there are strong video capabilities -- but also relatively easy to use. No doubt, this is usually a good combination for a new technology.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Increasingly, Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube is becoming more like TV. For example, the typical size of its videos is now increasing to 960 pixels (or an aspect ratio of 16:9, which compares to 4:3). According to the YouTube blog: "This new, wider player is in a widescreen aspect ratio which we hope will provide you with a cleaner, more powerful viewing experience."

As should be expected, there are some concerns. That is, what will happen to those videos that were meant for smaller screens? Well, YouTube will keep the same size but there will be black space around the video (which may be somewhat distracting).

But such things are natural as technology marches on. Apparently, more and more users are uploading wider screen videos to YouTube.

According to an interview with Chase Norlin, who operates Pixsy:

"It makes perfect sense for YouTube to expand into wide format and HD online video delivery for two reasons: the decreasing cost of HD camcorders for consumers to create and distribute higher quality 'semi-pro' video content, and, the increased interest among professional content owners to distribute their movies and TV shows in the highest quality format to end users online."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Last night, I was at the Bloblive event in Philly where people go on stage and talk about their cool business ideas. Interestingly enough, the event organizers used Facebook to invite people. And, at the event, there was a live Twitter feed, where users could make comments.

It was cool stuff, which shows the effective use of integrating social media.

Well, speaking of integrating things, it looks like Facebook has had some serious discussions to buy Twitter. Iin light of the slowing economy, I'm sure that these discussions are popping up among many social media companies.

The proposed price tag? A cool $500 million.

However, it was not for cash; instead, it was for Facebook stock. With the fall in equities, it's a good bet that the stock is worth much less than its previous valuation of $15 billion. Twitter wasn't impressed.

Indeed, Twitter still has lots of momentum and appears to be the next dot-com darling. With its growing user base, there should be opportunities to monetize things, which could help bolster the valuation.

If Twitter really wants to sell out, its best alternative is probably to go to an established player that has a solid stock value and cash in the bank such as a Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) or Google (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

The main purpose of hedge funds is to generate absolute returns. That is, even if the general market is down, hedge funds should still post positive returns as these vehicles have much leeway in terms of investment approaches, such as futures and short selling.

But this theory has been a bust. Many top hedge funds have sustained double-digit losses over the past few months.

As a result, investors are yanking their money from hedge funds. In fact, in October, the hedge fund asset base shrunk by 9% to $1.56 trillion according to Hedge Fund Research Inc. What's more, the average return for hedge funds in October was a grim -6%. For the year, the average loss is 16%.

The biggest losers -- in terms of lost assets -- have been the funds of hedge funds. Essentially, these are funds that invest in other funds. This means higher fees, and, unfortunately, it looks like this may also mean further reduced returns.

Keep in mind that hedge funds have posted losses for five consecutive months, which is a record. With continued volatility, the streak could stretch into November, leading to even more redemptions that will certainly continue to put pressure on the markets.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

A recent piece in The Wall Street Journal had a grim headline: "Extinction Threatens Yellow Pages Publishers." As should be no surprise, consumers are moving away from traditional yellow-pages and instead using the internet, going to places like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). In fact, it looks like spending on yellow pages advertising will plunge by 39% over the next four years, according to research from Borrell Associates.

This makes it all the more important that you have a strong web presence.

These days, there are good hosting services, such as Web.com, that help you take care of the basics. But it can be expensive to add dynamic elements to your website. Often, it means hiring a web consultant.

But there are alternatives. Take Caspio, which provides a web-based system that makes it easy to create your own web applications. Its latest offering is called the "Website Marketing Suite." With it, you can add such capabilities as:

I recently attended Salesforce.com's (NYSE: CRM) annual conference, Dreamforce. The place was packed, with nearly 10,000 people. The atmosphere was certainly an antidote to the grimness in the tech community.

Then again, this week Salesforce.com announced its quarterly results -- and they were particularly strong (especially in light of the size of the company). Revenues came to $276 million, up 43% over the past year. Earnings spiked 60% to $0.08 per share and there were 4,100 new customers.

At the conference, the big message was "the cloud" (in fact, Salesforce.com refers to itself as " the enterprise cloud computing company"). Essentially, the company is positioning itself as the key platform for business software, which is completely web-based.

Interestingly enough, this appears to be attractive to cash-strapped customers. After all, there are no large up-front costs. Moreover, there are no ongoing costs for things like servers. Another key benefit is customization (which is done through Force.com).

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Years ago, I was a subscriber to PC Magazine. For those in the tech business, it was a must-have publication.

But of course, with the emergence of the Internet – and the explosion of free resources – I eventually cancelled my subscription. And so did many others.

So, finally PC Magazine is going completely digital (this is according to a decision from the parent corporation, Ziff Davis Media). The last edition will be January 2009.

In a way, PC Magazine is a part of tech history. After all, the magazine got its start back in 1982, when IBM launched its PCs and Bill Gates was in the early stages of building the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) empire. All in all, the magazine had a great ride.

The good news is that PC Magazine has also done a fine job of transitioning to the Web. For example, the online network includes other valuable properties like Gearlog. In fact, about 80% of the profits come from the websites.