Robin Hood Foundation brings in big numbers for charity

The Robin Hood Foundation recently finished its annual New York benefit gala, typically the charity’s biggest fundraiser. A veritable who’s who of finance giants coming together to donate their money, the 2013 version of the event brought in $80.7 million for the foundation’s 25^th anniversary. This year’s offering was a less impressive but still substantial $59.9 million. The gala took a literal turn with the theme this year as a physical bridge stretched through the cocktail area, representing a “bridge from poverty to possibility”.

The Robin Hood Foundation was founded in 1988 by hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones and from its inception included household names in finance like Harvey Weinstein or Goldman Sach’s Lloyd Blankfein. In recent years, the annual gala regularly attracts stars from both the finance world and Hollywood to raise funds to combat poverty in New York. Many of them remain on the board today along with powerful newcomers like Glenn Dubin or Highbridge Capital Management or former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman.

Fed Says Stimulus Will Not Increase Inflation Risk

According to the minutes of the Fed’s April 29-30 meeting, Federal Reserve policy makers say that a continued stimulus would not increase the risk of inflation. The minutes read that the Federal Open Market Committee doesn’t “face a trade-off between its employment and inflation objectives, and an expansion of aggregate demand would result in further progress relative to both objectives.”

Two of the Fed’s major goals are to keep inflation below 2 percent and to reach full employment. The first goal is expected to be met, with inflation staying far below 2 percent. And the Fed believes that further stimulus would be a boon toward reaching full employment.

“What shows through in the minutes is tremendous comfort on the inflation outlook,” analyzes Barclays Plc’s chief U.S. economist Dean Maki. “The prevailing view is that inflation will return to 2 percent over the next few years. The countervailing view is that it would take even longer.”

If the labor market continues to improve, Fed Chair Janet Yellen says that it’s likely the Fed will begin buying bonds by this fall, adding that there was still “a high degree of monetary accommodation” warranted.

Unemployment rates in April were the lowest in five years at just 6.3 percent; however, that data could be skewed by unemployed citizens who are no longer actively participating in job searches. Hiring has increased, though, with 288,000 jobs added in April.

Chief Economist fir Sterne, Agee & Leach Inc. Lindsey Piegza says the Fed will likely “err on the side of caution” with any decisions, working to ensure that “future growth comes to fruition before changing monetary policy” such as raising interest rates.

Tesla is California’s Top Auto Employer

Employing over than 6,000 people in the state of California, Tesla is the fastest growing company in the auto industry and is now ahead of Toyota in job employment. Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker, has 5,300 employees in the Golden State, but expect that to fall in 2017, as the Japanese company recently stated it is moving a majority of its jobs to Texas.

An additional 500 employees are expected to join Tesla by the end of 2014. Considering California is notoriously expensive to produce products due to its high energy and labor costs as well as high environmental standards, Tesla is powering ahead and opening new plants in the area. Ninety percent of total employees with the electric car company are based in California. The largest employers in the state are government agencies, though chocolatier Nestle is among the top private job companies, with 20,000 in-state workers.

Tesla’s current factory is near San Francisco Bay and is housed within the same building General Motors built in 1962—a 5.5-million-square-foot plant which previously produced Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Pontiacs.

The state of California has definitely focused on wooing technology, Internet and aerospace companies into their fold. California’s lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom said Tesla works along side California’s strive for core values. “For Tesla, it makes perfect sense to invest in this state and for this state to invest in their success.”

In contrast, Honda, which has its sales, finance and marketing divisions in California, has about 2,500 employees in the state. Hyundai has around 1,802 direct workers.

 

Creative Hobbies May Have Positive Impact on Work Performance

If you’ve been finding yourself caught up in your work and neglecting your hobbies, you might be pleasantly surprised to see the results of a recent psychology study out of San Francisco State University. The research studied how creative hobbies such as knitting, cooking, painting and photography affect your overall work performance, and for those who don’t want to wait I can tell you that this study does have a happy ending.

The study was done in two parts including 341 professionals from various fields and 92 Air Force Captains (which seems oddly specific but I’m no researcher). Methods involved survey questions on creativity and work performance and actual performance reports.

The findings suggest that engaging in creative hobbies before working results in a 15-30% bump in performance. Possible reasons might be that creative pursuits help reenergize after the stress of work, or it could be that creative activities supplement abilities that could be useful in the workplace. So if you needed more arguments for a proper work-life balance there you have it. The study also made suggestions to incorporate the two spheres of life, such as encouraging employee artwork as part of office decoration or holding office cook-offs.

Vibram USA Cedes to Lawsuit, Shoes May Not Provide Health Benefits as Advertised

Vibram USA, the company best known for the eye-catching FiveFingers running show,        recently agreed to settle a lawsuit claiming the company made false claims about the health benefits of its product. Although Vibram USA staunchly denies any wrong doing (“Vibram expressly denied and continues to deny any wrongdoing alleged in the Actions, and neither admits nor concedes any actual or potential fault, wrongdoing or liability,”), the company has surrendered in order to avoid a costly drawn out legal battle.

The shoes in question, Vibram USA FiveFingers

Valerie Bezdek began the lawsuit in 2012, alleging that Vibram USA’s claims that their footwear has health benefits for the wearer’s feet are false and have no scientific backing. Additional claims soon followed and were absorbed into Bezdek’s existing lawsuit. At this time, Vibram has settled for $3.75 million which will be deposited into a fund and distributed between valid claimants, aka anyone who has purchased a FiveFingers shoe from 3/21/2009. The more damning claim is that Vibram has agreed to cease claims that the shoe provides health benefits until scientific studies can prove otherwise and establish a website (www.fivefingerssettlement.com) to spread the terms of the agreement to the public.

Lazard Earnings Double in Q1 2014

Asset management and financial advisory company Lazard walked out of Q1 2014 with some impressive numbers after a major spree of deals for the first few months of 2014 led to $81 million in net income. The figure is more than double what Lazard made last year and translates to 61 cents per share, handily beating analyst estimates of 54 cents per share.

Part of the strong results stem from a major jump in mergers and other corporate deals around the world, with over $1.1 trillion in mergers confirmed by April 25^th – a ripe environment for a company like Lazard which provides financial advice on mergers in exchange for fees paid. According to Lazard CEO Kenneth Jacobs many companies have been biding their time waiting for a good opportunity to sell and buy, and 2014 provided the opening they needed.

But to give credit where it is due, Lazard did something correctly to come out on top of other boutique banks. Standard competitors Evercore Partners and Greenhill & Co. fared poorly this quarter, suffering a respective 12% and whopping 98% drops in net income compared to Q1 2013. Shares in Lazard have risen 3.8% so far this year, and many investing advisors have been bullish on their value since late 2013. In comparison, Evercore’s stock fell 10.6% and Greenhills has tumbled by 13% so far this year.

Mozilla works to move past Brandon Eich scandal

Mozilla is making attempts to move past the controversial stepping down of Brandon Eich, who was CEO for a whole ten days before uproar from the LGBT community shouted him out the door. His crime? A $1,000 contribution to an anti-gay marriage campaign in California. There is still widespread online debate over whether Eich, creator of the Javascript language and cofounder of Mozilla, deserved what he got but Mozilla the company is trying to pick up the pieces and move on.

On Monday, Mozilla announced the appointment of Chris Beard as interim CEO according to a statement by Mozilla executive chairwoman Mitchell Baker. Beard served as the company’s chief marketing officer and contributed to the launch of the famous Firefox browser both on computers and mobile devices. In the statement, Baker made it clear that despite recent upsets the company is forward facing. “Mozilla finds itself in the midst of an unexpected leadership transition,” she said. “We intend to use recent events as a catalyst to develop and expand Mozilla’s leadership.”

An interesting note about the selection is that Beard actually left Mozilla in 2013 to work at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, though he continued to serve as an advisor to Mozilla. His departure doesn’t seem to make Beard any less enthusiastic about the role, however. He tweeted on Monday “Excited to step in as interim CEO to continue shaping the future of the Web for public good w/ fellow Mozillians,”.

Bitcoin Under Fire – Wall Street Journal (blog)

European Union Wants Greater Transparency For Infrastructure Loans

The European Union’s demand for greater transparency on infrastructure lending is proving to be popular among investors. Designed to encourage long-term funding from institutions other than banks, the European Commission argued that infrastructure loan information for member states should be available in a central database.

IFM executive director David Cooper is readily on board with the proposal, stating “It’s absolutely needed in my view.” In his opinion, more data equals more clarity on investments and more clarity equals better informed decisions from investors.

The European Commission stated that it would consider the idea of “collecting and, where possible, making available comprehensive credit statistics on infrastructure loans and setting up a single-point compilation of project bond issue data.” There appears to be a general consensus among Europe-specialized finance professionals that infrastructure assets are a great asset class, and improving transparency could only help promote their use.

Lazard portfolio manager Warryn Robertson believes that the proposed transparency is necessary, but given proper implementation could prove a great boon for EU economies and their associated investors. “Infrastructure is where REITs were 20 years ago – so improvements to disclosure and transparency could be made, and it would be good to see more people buying into that,” said Robertson.

Dogecoin makes largest crypto-currency donation ever

With all the bad press Bitcoin has been getting lately, it’s refreshing to see a little more positive news involving digital currency. Bitcoin’s quirky little spinoff Dogecoin (yes, based on the meme) just set a record for the largest digital transaction completed via Twitter. An anonymous Dogecoin community member using the Twitter handle @savethemhood donated 14 million Dogecoins to Doge4Water, a charity that helps people in Kenya by converting digital donations into hard currency that will purchase new wells. The donation is equivalent to roughly $11,000 USD.

As the second wave of cryptocurrency, Dogecoin has proven to be more popular and has become the most traded cryptocurrency in the world. Much of that popularity can be attributed to its relatively low entry fee versus the now cutthroat competitive Bitcoin market. For Dogecoin, steps are being taken to avoid that path by keeping the entry price artificially low, though the thefts and investment hoarding that plagues Bitcoin still happens on occasion.

Still, Dogecoin is starting to gain a reputation as a vehicle for altruism, especially after the headlines of Jamaica’s broke bobsled team being funded for Sochi attendance off Dogecoin donations alone. For a spinoff currency based on a vapid meme, Dogecoin has come a surprisingly long way and will hopefully avoid the pitfalls of Bitcoin in the future.