manhattan posts
FeedPosted Nov 12th 2009 3:40PM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Competitive strategy, Microsoft (MSFT), Financial Crisis
It's easy to save the world when you've already taken care of yourself. But, we rely on these mavericks -- the wealthy who realize they can make a difference -- to do what we cannot on our own. So, it comes as a relief that Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft (MSFT) believes executive compensation is still too high.
It's a murky topic, and some forms of regulation, Gates believes, won't help. In a discussion on philanthropy at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan, where many of the people Gates criticized send their kids for early education, the former CEO and still rich guy cites the $1 million executive salary cap required by law in 1993 as a big mistake. While compensation has to be controlled, he believes this measure backfired and thinks that other, similar efforts are doomed to fail now.
Continue reading Rich still too richly compensated according to richest of them all
Posted Oct 26th 2009 11:40AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Industry, Consumer experience, Internet, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon.com (AMZN)
Traditional retailers haven't exactly embraced online sales channels. Sure, they all have websites, and they sell varying amounts of merchandise through them, but they've been slow to tap into the potential. When I was watching the space as an analyst at a major consulting firm (admittedly, back in 2007), many retailers equated a website to a new store opening. Finally, however, this industry is starting to see the potential of this venue, particularly when it comes to tracking consumer behavior.
When the CEO of Macy's (NYSE: M), Terry Lundgren, says that online sales are only good for 6% of last year's total sales, it's a hint. The translation: "We focus on where the revenue is" is much different from "We focus on where the revenue could be." Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO), on the other hand, sees the upside of playing in the online space, which is where it saw revenues spike 85% last year. Aeropostale has seen increases in traditional venues too, but nothing like what it's realized on the web.
So, maybe there's something to this internet, after all.
Continue reading Consumers dislike web tracking, but not enough to change behavior
Posted Oct 5th 2009 9:00AM by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Good news, Economic data, Headline news, Housing, Recession
A year ago, Manhattan homeowners lived within the firm grasp of the worst recession in 70 years. A skyrocketing real estate market seemed ready to come back to Earth, as carnage in the financial services industry – which spread to just about every other business – decimated incomes and net worths throughout the city.
From the second quarter to the third, this year, the sale of co-ops and apartments spiked between 46% and 69% according to several reports from the real estate business. Sales are still lower than last year, but the recovery has been nothing short of amazing (to the chagrin of those of us who had dreams of one day moving up from the rental class).
Prudential Douglas Elliman reported a price increase of almost 2% from the second quarter, though the median was down 8% to 18% from last year – to the $760,000 to $850,000 range. Jonathan Miller, president and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm, calls this good news, but cautions that it doesn't mean we're at the bottom.
Continue reading Pricey Manhattan homes are moving again
Posted Jan 6th 2009 5:45PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad news, Housing, Recession

It looks like the nation's last hold-out -- the last bastion of the housing bubble, if you will -- has finally started to burst. Or at least deflate.
Manhattan, which remains, despite the nation's decade of policy errors, the capital of the world, registered its fourth straight quarterly decline in apartment sales in Q4 2008, according to research compiled by
Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate (pdf).
Transactions in Q4 2008 fell 9.4% from a year ago to 2,282, Prudential said. Further, while the median price of all units (new and existing) rose 5.9% to $900,000, the median price for re-sale properties fell 3.6% to $732,500. Luxury unit prices fell 3.9% to $4.13 million
Just as telling:
inventories have soared. Listings increased 39.3% to 9,081 units compared to a year ago, with the average days a listing was on the market before sale rising to 159 days, from 131 days a year ago.
Driven by record investment banking / financial sector salaries and bonuses, and by creative mortgage forms, New York City's real estate market, specifically the
borough of Manhattan, experienced "a 5-year period of clearly unsustainable price gains," so says economist Peter Dawson. Manhattan, he says, was able to hold on in 2007 as the housing slump devastated prices in the U.S., particularly in the California, Southwest U.S., and Florida markets, but the financial crisis that depleted New York's investment banking employee ranks is finally showing up in Manhattan's residential real estate market, he said.
Continue reading Tell-tale stat: Manhattan apartment sales decline for 4th straight quarter
Posted Apr 4th 2008 1:36PM by Zac Bissonnette (RSS feed)
Filed under: Housing
A lot of Americans are watching their homes decline in value, and many families are finding themselves upside down on their mortgages -- owing more than the home is worth.
But don't worry: if you were wealthy enough to afford New York City's sky-high real estate in the first place, you're doing quite well. New York apartments hit record highs in the first quarter -- an average of between $1.63 million and $1.72 million, depending on which data source you believe. That's a year-over-year price increase of more than 19%.
Manhattan real estate rose 13% to between $855,000 and $945,276, depending on which source you believe. But some experts say that that number is inflated by a disproportionate number of high-end properties and that prices on lower-end units are flat to negative.
In a related story, Italian businessman Luigi Zunino is looking to sell a Park Avenue apartment he hasn't yet closed on for $100 million.
According to the
Wall Street Journal (subscription required), the 1907 Plaza Hotel where the unit is located is also home to Bear Stearns Chairman James Cayne and developer Harry Macklowe -- both of whom are suffering (or rather their investors are suffering) in the wake of the falling housing market.
But as long as executives who destroy value still reap large paydays, high end real estate will probably continue to do fine.
Posted Nov 28th 2007 1:51PM by Sarah Gilbert (RSS feed)
Filed under: Launches, Time Warner (TWX)

Rarely does any new online toy launch with features that seem better from those that were advertised in the mockups. But somehow, this
next-generation dynamic quotes and company research site launched today by our parent, AOL Money & Finance, still blows me away. I've watched demos and made notes on large-format printouts of how it could be; I've listened to calls in which developers enumerated its benefits. I'm still giddy like a kid Christmas afternoon trying out her new toys, such as:
- Interactive charting. Sure, that could mean anything, but this is truly great. Hover your mouse over the chart to see the high, low, open, close and volume from the day in question, or see where earnings and dividends were announced. Compare with a competitor at the click of a mouse; add in any symbol to compare quickly (I wanted to compare two of my portfolio holdings, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX)). Clicking through to see seasonal performance shows trends (Apple often spikes at the end of November as investors anticipate holiday sales of gadgets and Macbooks and such).
Continue reading AOL Money & Finance launches new quotes experience
Posted Sep 11th 2007 4:20PM by Valerie M. Russo (RSS feed)
Filed under: Other issues
I have reposted here my experience on Sept. 11, 2001, archived at http://911digitalarchive.org/parser.php?object_id=19929.
That morning my boyfriend, a NYPD officer, dropped me off at work at P.S.11 (on West 21st Street), where I was an assistant teacher at the time. Shortly after my students got to their classroom, while I left to retrieve something from another floor, another staff member told me a plane had crashed. On my way back to my classroom, someone said, "You need to turn on the T.V." I heard someone else say "The World Trade Center is gone." I went upstairs and shared the news with the other teachers in my room.
I left the room again to call my boyfriend since no one's cell phone was working. He was awaiting my call desperately, as he was being called in to duty. He told me we were in a state of emergency, and that I should try to make it to my mother's place in Spanish Harlem and not come home. He promised to call me. I told him I was to remain at school until all the parents came and that my kids were still unaware of the news. Parents began streaming in, tears falling from their eyes as they tightly hugged their small children and took them home. The children in my special education class sensed our anxiety and sadness and began to ply us with questions. What was happening? Why were the parents coming so early? Was it a half-day? I simply said the train was out of service, which was true, because I didn't want to frighten the kids.
Continue reading Six years ago today: My 9/11 experience
Posted Jul 25th 2007 11:43AM by Kevin Shult (RSS feed)
Filed under: Analyst reports, Analyst upgrades and downgrades, Good news, Amazon.com (AMZN), , Expedia Inc (EXPE), United Parcel'B' (UPS), Cheesecake Factory (CAKE), Stocks to Buy
MOST NOTEWORTHY: Countrywide Financial (CFC), Brandywine Realty Trust (BDN), Manhattan Associates (MANH), Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (SPPI) and Amazon.com (AMZN) were today's noteworthy upgrades:
- Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) was upgraded at Wachovia to Market Perform from Underperform based on pipeline progress and valuation.
- JP Morgan upgraded Manhattan Associates (NASDAQ: MANH) to Neutral from Underweight following better-than-expected Q2 results.
- Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SPPI) was upgraded to Hold from Sell at Brean Murry, expecting shares to remain stable into the spected Phase III initiation with Ozarelix coming in Q4.
- Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) was upgraded by a host of companies following the strong quarter and margin growth, including JP Morgan, which upgraded shares to Neutral from Underperform. Bear Stearns upgraded shares to Peer Perform from Underperform, Lehman upgraded shares to Equal Weight from Underweight and Credit Suisse upgraded shares to Outperform from Neutral...
OTHER UPGRADES:
- Goldman added AT&T (NYSE: T) to its Conviction Buy List.
- Matrix USA upgraded Expedia (NASDAQ: EXPE) to Hold from Sell.
Analyst summaries provided by TheFlyOnTheWall.com (subscription required).Next Page >