At a mere $276 million, celebrity talk-show host and entertainment billionaire Oprah Winfrey could afford to buy Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC), which closed Tuesday at $5.91 per share and keeps on climbing to over $6.50 a share in morning trading. The story alone and the associated publicity would be worth at least that. Furthermore, she could at least make an offer and demand a meeting with the Federal Reserve Board to discuss the issue.

If her offer was rejected, she would still be able to generate millions of dollars of publicity and perhaps she might want to acquire the asset, in particular if the Fed is going to protect the acquirer from potential losses. She could really become an international mogul, the likes of which has not been seen. We all know that Oprah wants to do good. She is so giving, this could be the ultimate.

I could just see the headlines: Oprah Winfrey takes on JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and the Federal Reserve to rescue John Q. Public.

If Oprah Winfrey can cast a spell that turns thousands of housewives into literature critics and transformed underdog Barack Obama into the possible Democratic nominee for president, getting her followers to embrace an esoteric New Age philosophy should be a snap. Her latest endeavor, though, is going to need more bandwidth.

The talk show queen is getting into the business of enlightenment, offering a 10-week Web seminar with self-help guru Eckhart Tolle, author of "A New Earth," an amalgam of Buddhist, Christian and Islamic influences, according to USA Today. The book also happens to be the latest pick of Oprah's Book Club.

Last night's first webcast was one of the largest events in the history of the internet, attracting more than 500,000 people. "Unfortunately, some of our users experienced delays in viewing the webcast," according to a statement from Oprah's Harpo Productions. "We are working to identify the specific causes for the problems experienced and will work diligently to rectify them."

Seekers of enlightenment be forewarned, the path outlined by "A New Earth" isn't an easy one.

Oprah Winfrey is teaming up with Discovery Communications to create a new network, cleverly titled OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

The network will not carry her trademark Oprah Winfrey Show to start, but since Ms. Winfrey has the option of ending her deal for the show with the networks in 2010 and 2011, she could move the show there then.

Winfrey told reporters that "Eventually that will happen, we hope". Discovery will own half of the network, and Winfrey's production company will own the other half.

Oprah Winfrey moving to her own cable network would, if it does happen, send shock waves through the television industry and create additional problems for the already beleaguered networks. Similar to Radiohead's decision to forgo the major labels and release their album on their own, such a move would send a clear message to the networks: Cable is ubiquitous enough that top stars don't need you: We can do it ourselves and keep a bigger chunk of the money.

It's too soon to know what will happen. The new network could flop, but given Oprah's popularity, I seriously doubt that will happen.

This week, another group added their support to a merger between the two satellite radio companies: XM Satellite Radio Holdings (NASDAQ: XMSR)'s and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI). A quintet of organizations representing rural Americans presented a letter to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head Jonathan Adelstein. An excerpt from the letter read:

"This merger is clearly in the best interest of rural consumers because it would allow a combined company to expand upon its existing services with increased efficiencies and at the same time provide rural listeners with more diverse programming and lower pricing ... [the merger] will make satellite radio a more viable option for rural consumers ... even in the most remote areas."

Indeed, a combination of the two companies could bring all 4 major sports, Oprah and Stern, and John Cougar Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen tunes, virtually commercial free, to households distanced from terrestrial broadcast towers.

Originally announced on February 19, 2007, this partnership continues to be closely scrutinized by the FCC as well as the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). The latter organization effectively represents the combined company's would-be competition, weakening the argument that the satellite-radio merger stifles competition. But I digress before I slip into a monopoly wormhole.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Suspended Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick's best chance at public redemption lies with Oprah Winfrey. At least that's the conclusion of Detroit Free Press columnist Drew Sharp, who makes a convincing argument that "now that pop culture dictates news judgment, it's only appropriate that a pop culture diva quite possibly holds the key to Michael Vick's NFL future."

Vick should take Sharp's advice. If Vick goes on Oprah, his handlers would no doubt encourage him to cry, talk about "finding Jesus" and encourage young people to make smart decisions. Unfortunately for Vick, the road to redemption starts with the talk show queen. Vick will have to spend the next few months apologizing until the American public is sick of seeing his face.

The question for Vick's handlers is where to go after Oprah.

Will he try to reach NFL fans through Walt Disney Co.'s (NYSE: DIS) ESPN cable network or News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) Fox?

What about the morning shows? You can bet that ABC, General Electric Co.'s (NYSE: GE) NBC and CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) would kill to land an interview with the disgraced athlete. "Dateline" and "60 Minutes" are probably working on stories about the evils of dog fighting. The story also continues to be the gift that keeps on giving for Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE: TWX) CNN, Fox News channel, and MSNBC.

But I am not sure that all of the apologizing in the world can save Vick's NFL career. People understand that young, rich athletes misbehave and occasionally break the law. But Vick's behavior was so heinous that it defies explanation.

For those of you who just aren't sated by the daily one-hour program, the monthly magazine, occasional feature films and made-for-TV movies, and the radio content available at XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR), you'll be relieved to hear that a one-stop shop for all things Oprah is in the works.

Oprah Winfrey's privately held company, Harpo Inc., released a statement indicating that construction has started on a store carrying Oprah merchandise. The boutique will be located catty-corner from the Harpo Studios building in downtown Chicago and will be one story and 4,500 square feet. Many details, including an opening date, have yet to be worked out.

The queen of the entertainment world already sells some products through an online store. Oprah fans can pick up a $14 iPod cover with the Oprah logo, DVDs, and African apparel and artwork. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that these and other Oprah-related merchandise will also be available in the retail store. Know a co-worker or friend that's expecting? The $36 'O Baby' velour jogging suit could be the perfect gift.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Random House, a division of the privately held media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG, is offering compensation to any reader claiming to be "duped" by James Frey's memoir, A Million Little Pieces.

Frey's story was a scandal that broke in January of last year. The author's ostensibly non-fiction book described, in excruciating detail, his miserable existence within an alcohol and drug-addled haze. Toe-curling details include a three-month stint in jail, an anesthesia-free trip to the dentist, and time in rehab.

Published in April 2003, the book hit the best-seller list more than two years later, after Oprah Winfrey named it her September 2005 book club selection. But Frey's ride of success wasn't long; in January 2006, it was revealed that the "memoir" contained outright fabrications. (Essentially, Frey is the Milli Vanilli of modern American literature). Readers who bought A Million Little Pieces before January 26, 2006 (around the time Frey confessed that his penned story wasn't entirely true) are now entitled to a refund from the publisher.

Those who bought the hardcover copy will receive as much as $23.95; ones who bought the book in paperback will get a maximum refund of $14.95. The entire program is expected to cost Random House $2.35 million. The publisher's decision, approved by a Manhattan Federal Judge, is expected to resolve several lawsuits already filed across the country by disgruntled readers.

While Frey's fabrications are certainly reprehensible, the fact remains that A Million Little Pieces reportedly helped countless readers who were struggling with their own addictions. I can't help but wonder how Frey's real story might have gone if he'd pitched his book as one "inspired by true events" rather than a completely factual "memoir."

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Senator Barack Obama received a huge endorsement to his campaign last week from Oprah Winfrey. If you question the power of her endorsement, I would point out that she recently convinced millions of Americans to read As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. Only parting the Red Sea would have been a greater miracle.

The advantages to Obama of having Oprah on his side are wide-ranging, and start with the good will his brand gains by its association with hers. In a recent Celebrity Trust Index compiled by Davie-Brown Talent, Oprah and Tom Hanks were named as the most trustworthy celebrities. And the most trend-setting? Oprah, again. To people impressed with wealth, her $1.3 billion will speak volumes.

Add this extraordinary good will to her market penetration, and Obama couldn't ask for a better supporter. Oprah is best known for her daily talk show, but she also hosts the daily Oprah & Friends radio show on XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: XMSR), publishes O, the Oprah Magazine, and works the Internet through Oprah.com.

Her presence should benefit Obama several ways. It will certainly help with fund raising, both from Oprah's audience and those bandwagon riders who see her endorsement as legitimizing his prospects.

Obama has, surprisingly, received lukewarm support from the African-American community, and this endorsement should elevate his stature in that demographic. Traditionally, Democrats benefit from large vote turnout, and he could benefit if Oprah uses her bully pulpit to inspire a strong get-out-the-vote movement.

Best of all, by announcing for Obama, Oprah has eliminated Obama's greatest threat as a potential candidate: Oprah herself. What a candidate she would be!

I have been clicking along through Forbes' "Billionaire Women We Envy" list and finding very little to which I related. Sure, Oprah's on my list, but not because she's a billionaire so much. And I started thinking... what is it, really, that I envy? Because envy is far, far from admiration. It's a whole other category. Who do I envy, and why?

When I saw the headline, before I even clicked further, I thought "Maria Bartiromo." She doesn't even make Forbes' cutoff -- she's not a billionaire, for starters. But if there's anyone I envy, it's Maria, she of the smoky eyes and the men in powerful places who do stupid, stupid things for her.

What do women envy of other women? It's not their money, at least, not for me. It's their power, their fame, their ability to juggle family and career. And most of all it's their ability to manipulate others without seeming manipulative at all. It's the Money Honey, able to move markets with a bat of her dark eyelashes.

If I was to create a list of the women most worthy of a female MBA's envy, here's who would be on it:

This post is written as part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst 2006. If you feel Oprah Winfrey makes too much money, cast your vote.

Multiple Emmy Award-winning host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, the highest-rated talk show in television history, Oprah Winfrey is also an Academy Award-nominated actress and a magazine publisher. Winfrey co-founded the women's cable television network, Oxygen, and is also the president of Harpo Productions.

Forbes recently estimated Winfrey's wealth at $1.5 billion, and has referred to her as the world's only black billionaire. She currently lives on a 42-acre ocean and mountain view estate in Montecito, California, and also has an apartment in Chicago, an estate on Fisher Island off the coast of Miami, a ski house in Telluride, Colorado, and property on Maui, Hawaii. Winfrey was called "arguably the world's most powerful woman" by CNN, and in 2003 she edged out both Superman and Elvis Presley to be named the greatest pop-culture icon of all time by VH1.

I wondered on Wednesday about Oprah's so-called "Pay it Forward" show, where she gave audience members $1000 debit cards, loaned them video cameras, and told them to go out and do good works in a much-ballyhoed replacement for her "favorite things" holiday show. So charitable, I thought.

And then the comments started coming.

Audience members were asked to come back for the wrap-up show at their own expense. And they did, expecting (it seems) that their difficult journeys of giving back would be featured. Everybody loves a little fame, or at least thanks, for their efforts. And, let's face it, if Oprah asked you to film something you'd done, and then come back to the show, wouldn't you come? Of course you would.

Except that, once back in the studio audience, only a very few of the audience members' stories were told. The audience was also informed they couldn't keep the video cameras -- the tax burden would be too much (despite, as some commenters mentioned, the fact that the expense to return to Chicago for the taping was many times greater than any tax burden). Those who wrote in weren't so upset that their exploits went unwatched (despite the fact that they'd worked very hard to execute and record the tale of their response to Oprah's challenge) -- they were more hurt that the producers asked them all back without mentioning which clips would be shown. As Connie Miller said, "When the producers called the audience to return they should have informed them that their particular stories were not going to be highlighted so they could choose to get a pat on the back from Oprah from home and not pay additional funds to come back."

The final injury? When the audience members were in the waiting room, the producers played reels of past "Favorite Things" shows, so the charitable and entirely gift-free viewers could see the delight as audience members of years past discovered free gift ... after free gift ... after free gift.

Sheesh. At least give them a pashmina shawl, Oprah!

Oprah, Oprah, Oprah. We've always relied on you as the doyenne of spendy gifts, the queen of conspicious consumption. It was you, every year, who announced your "favorites" with much fanfare and fabulous giveaways to your adoring audience (and who wouldn't adore you, with your sponsorship-fueled generosity?).

But this year, you've betrayed the capitalist in us all. You've really gone and done it this time. You've told us to give to charities, not buy things. Huh?

Oh, sure, I'm all for philathropy. But I don't expect this of Oprah. Consumers everywhere are relying on her for her wisdom in selecting the must-have gifts for the holiday. Small, artsy and luxe companies rely on her (or fear her, as the case may be) to send stacks and gigabytes of orders their way, with a "must-deliver" date of December 24th.

Not this year. This year, you're supposed to use your spare cash (and the $1000 debit card, if you were in her audience during the October taping of Oprah's "Pay it Forward" show) to do good works.

I'm all for charity, but I don't see it as a replacement for giving things. I may sometimes interpret the "things" in a different way than Oprah ever did, choosing to give hand-made gifts, books, photographs, scores from the thrift stores, and other slightly less conspicuous examples of consumption. But holiday shopping is inviolate ... I'll wait 'til December 30th or so and then get into the selflessly charitable spirit. Will you follow Oprah's lead, or stick with the pretty-and-tangible things this holiday season?

With XM Radio swimming in the wake of competitor Sirius' success with bringing Howard Stern into the satellite radio biz, XM is going after a little of its own star power. The satellite radio network signed TV and publishing personality Oprah Winfrey to the network back in February, and just announced the Oprah talk network to debut today -- September 26.

This is a rather shrewd move by XM that will cost a pretty penny, but there are surely legions of women nationwide who, like their male counterparts and Stern, will have XM radio always handy just to hear their favorite celebrity. It's a formula for success that has worked for Sirius so far, and Oprah has a following just as impressive, if not more. XM hopes it is more.

In a perfect naming convention, the talk channel "Oprah and Friends" will make its debut at 11:00am EST today after being announced as available just yesterday (the official announcement was in February). Nothing like waiting until the last minute and launching right after the announcement to capitalize on the buzz and the incessant need most Americans have for instant gratification.

While Stern notched a reported $500 million deal with Sirius, Oprah's deal is reportedly worth $55 million. In Stern's defense these days, it's hard to not count the amazing 3 million+ customers who have tuned into Sirius since the raw radio personality took to the airwaves last January.

XMSR announced at the end of last week that close to 400k new subscribers came aboard during the second quarter, bringing XM's total subscriber count to 6.89 million.

"As we previously indicated, subscriber growth in the second quarter was limited by product availability and overall softness in the retail channel," said Hugh Panero, President and CEO, XM Satellite Radio. "As we approach seven million subscribers, however, satellite radio continues to be one of the fastest growing consumer entertainment products."

The company has scheduled a conference call on July 27, 2006, at 10:00 AM ET to announce and discuss its financial results for the second quarter of 2006.

XM has been busy adding name-brand personalities to its already star-speckled line up, a continuing effort to draw new listeners to XM's side of the satellite radio market. The much anticipated arrival of Oprah Winfrey in September, and the recent addition of Willie Nelson, are hoped to buoy soft sales heading into the last half of the year.

It remains to be seen how effective the Harpo machine will be in drawing subscribers to XM. Oprah seems to turn everything she touches into gold but, I'm just hoping, for the sake of my own santiy and that of the other 6.89 million XM subscribers, that she doesn't decide to bring Dr. Phil with her.

[Photo by miramb]