The Babe's Trades

[billyjoe]

Good job, River. I bailed at 3.36 and 3.10. That 6.5% against GOOG works out to a tremendous amount of $$. GOOG will try to find a way to prevent payment but it's too late for them, right? Do they have appeals?

--------------------billy

[riverbabe]

At last!!!! Now I need to figure out how to get the best price for my remaining shares..., (amid crazy volatility and a short squeeze). Halt appears lifted 9:15 AM.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/vringo-announces-u-district-court-135401056.html

VRINGO ANNOUNCES U.S. DISTRICT COURT ORDER OF POST-JUDGMENT ROYALTY RATE OF 6.5% AGAINST GOOGLE FOR CONTINUED AND WILLFUL PATENT INFRINGEMENT

[riverbabe]

Congratulations riverbabe, that is awesome

It's about time! It's been dead money for two years! LOL (and gnashing of teeth) waiting for the (really slow) judge's decisions.

[sixfeetfour]

Sold 2/3 last week for a $20,000 profit.

Congratulations riverbabe, that is awesome

[riverbabe]

Still have 1/3 of my Vringo (VRNG) holding. Sold 2/3 last week for a $20,000 profit. Waiting for the judge to rule on the ongoing RR (running royalty) against GOOG for willful infringement. Could come at any moment.

[riverbabe]

Back in AAPL. 503.03

[billyjoe]

The only way back when story of success I can remember is when I bought Bob Evans stock. Might have been around 1969. I was told old man Evans was very conservative. He only had 4 restaurants and really did his research before opening any more. Bought for 17 and was thrilled to sell for 34. I can't get historical quotes back that far but I can't imagine what it would be worth today had I held, but heck, college tuition was about 250/quarter and if I got $1700 from the sale, that was huge back then.

-------------------billy

[riverbabe]

I bot MSFT @ $8.00 real early in the 1980's on a hunch after reading a NYTimes article (yes, I subscribed even then). LOL

[billyjoe]

Peter Lynch got some of his best leads from his kids. Had I listened to mine I could have gotten in real early to e-bay, Google, Chipotle. I even remember getting a piece of paper and asking my son "what is the name of that site you can get all the information on?" and "what is the name of that site you sell stuff on like an auction?"

---------------------billy

[riverbabe]

I guess I should pay more attention to the guy who told me to look at ARQL...
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/arqule...231241029.html

'Ya know, some tips actually work out. Somebody, somewhere knows something and can't keep their mouth shut. Maybe this info caused the temporary price spike we saw. But it wasn't public info then. Insiders just let it be known that something is happening without having to be specific. From there on the tips are passed and rumors grow.

Louetta's tip on ANLY and your tip in ARQL are perfect examples.

[tiedyed1]

Don't sweat it unless you happen to be curious yourself. If I find anything noteworthy I will let you know. Thanks!

I guess I should pay more attention to the guy who told me to look at ARQL...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/arqule-shares-jump-positive-drug-231241029.html

[billyjoe]

Someone once said if you can't figure out what the company's business is, its product or source of income, stay away. Nobody could explain in easy to understand terms what Enron's business produced. There are several companies today that make no sense to me yet have market caps of billions.

-------------------billy

[mimo_100]

I am reading “What the Dog Saw” by Malcom Gladwell. In Chapter 7 Gladwell goes into excruciating detail on the Enron saga. The financial statements were thousands of pages long. In addition there were “sketchy practices with special-purpose entities” (legal entities setup to protect a company from financial risk), which made it “very difficult for anyone to understand the full complexity and depth of the Enron mystery.”

Gladwell refers to it as the “most paradigmatic scandal of the information age.” Up to that point in time, that is. He said the recent banking scandal was many times more devastating. We never learned a lesson from Enron.

When I get involved in complex financial statements, I become suspicious, and then I head for the hills.

[riverbabe]

Softbank Annual Report 2013

http://www.softbank.jp/en/corp/irinfo/financials/annual_reports/

Financials - Yahoo and Alibaba info begins on page 115

http://cdn.softbank.jp/en/corp/set/d..._utmk=55437867

Thank you for directing us to page 115! LOL Anyway, short story here is that Softbank collateralized a bank loan with Yahoo shares in 2004 and paid it back at maturity in 2012 with those shares. In the annual report link I went to "Investor Relations, Stocks and Bonds, Performance of Stocks Held" and found that they own shares of Yahoo Japan. If they have part ownership of Alibaba (privately held company) where might I "easily" find it? I tried "Financial Results, Financial Position, Assets & Liabilities", but no mention of Alibaba. Ah-Hah, I just found it here, a very interesting article! http://www.marketwatch.com/story/chi...lem-2013-09-01

[riverbabe]

This YHOO link is from Oct. 16th. Says it owns 24% of Alib and must/will sell a maximum of 40% of that in the IPO. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...99F0FU20131016 YHOO might be a buy now with the COO firing. There is an SA article here also from Jan. 13th discussing out-of-the money YHOO calls. http://seekingalpha.com/article/1941...teresting-2014. I have to admit all this gives me a headache from all the complications involved. Might be simpler for me to just buy Alib in the secondary market. But I will give your suggestion more thought. Thank you!

There is an article in today's NYTimes about YHOO. Here is a quote..."Wall Street values Yahoo, which closed on Thursday at $40.34, mostly for its partial ownership stakes in Alibaba, a successful Chinese e-commerce company that plans to sell stock to the public this year, and Yahoo Japan. The core business is not nearly as valuable."