January 2009 - Posts - A Daily Download

January 2009 - Posts

Satyam is second chance for Phaneesh, Banerjee

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Satyam's new CEO and CFO, although they might not be designated that, are to be announced this evening at 6.30 soon. This post isn't about them. It is about two men who have some chance of overseeing Satyam's future as and when the company is sold -- either to L&T, which currently has around 12% stake in the company or some other interested...

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Delhi-6, Dev D, and my mid-life crisis

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
I'm calling it my own middle-aged crisis. I've never been into Hindi music. Maybe it is because I grew up in a household where most people listened to Carnatic music. Maybe it is because my first language has always been English -- not Hindi, not Tamil. Or maybe it is because I started off listening to rock because it was cool to do so -- I...

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Why analysts, investors should play Oliver Twist

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Are happenings at Satyam Computer Services Ltd, where founder Ramalinga Raju revealed on 7 January that he had, over the years, fudged the companys books to the tune of at least Rs 7136 crore encouraging analysts and investors to ask for more information on companies? Indian companies, even some of the better managed ones, are notoriously stingy with...

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The year of Raju

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
We are 16 days into 2008 2009, and it is clearly the year of Raju. The Rajus, for those who don't know their Andhra Pradesh -- and many don't -- are one of the most influential clans in the state. I went to engineering school with a few and they claimed that if they went back several generations, they were sure they'd find a common ancestor...

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Corporate scams and business cycles

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
It isn't surprising that the Satyam Computer Services scam , where the company's founder chairman Ramalinga Raju confessed to having fudged books to the tune of at least Rs 7136 crore, happened now. India's real estate boom started tapering off towards the middle of last year and if, as one theory goes, the money from Satyam was used to...

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If Satyam's Raju were to write these books

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Satyam Computer Services chairman Ramalinga Raju's letter where he confessed to having cooked the company's books to the tune of at least Rs 7136 crore displayed several literary flourishes. Maybe the lover of science fiction could explore a second life in literature. Here, with due apologies to the authors of the originals (the original lines...

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Don't blame Satyam's Raju, blame me

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
Mea culpa. This blogger and the paper he works for owe Satyam's investors a huge apology. Just like everyone else who opposed the Maytas deal does. Those who came in late, will find the gristly details of Satyam's efforts to take over two companies promoted by the family of its chairman Ramalinga Raju here . The deal was called off amidst an...

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Weightless wired

Posted by Sukumar Ranganathan at 
I have been buying and reading Wired magazine for at least 10 years now, and the January 2009 issue is probably the lightest and thinnest I have ever seen. I have no way of validating this, nor do I know whether it is the lightest and thinnest issue in the magazine's history.Wired, and Red Herring rode the dotcom boom in the late 1990s and the early...

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