Food, Inc. on Facebook (Photo credit: Jory™)

Facebook Inc. Pays No Taxes in 2012

In their most recent filing, Facebook Inc. reported not paying any taxes on their 2012 income of $1.1 billion. There are a number of reasons that a company would not pay taxes on such a sizable amount of income and this case it appears that loses from prior years and the granting of stock options to employees are the main reasons. The company lost money during earlier pre-IPO years when it was growing and only beginning to monetize its services. In addition the company gave stock grants to employees to a large degree which is common in the technology industry. These stock options are considered business costs and are therefore deductible.

English: Michael Dell speaking at Oracle OpenWorld, San Francisco 2010 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dell Buyout Has Challenges

Michael Dell has clinched a Dell buyout deal and must turn a business losing ground in personal computers into one that will provide higher-margin cloud-computing services and tools. Dell needs to bundle highly profitable products like data storage and networking with the computer servers it currently has on the market.

Dell,47,will have greater freedom in personnel management and strategic growth without answering to shareholders. Michael Dell and the Silver Lake Management are taking the Round Rock, Texas-based company private in a buyout transaction valued at $24.4 billion with Dell regaining majority control of the company and remaining the chairman and CEO.

Image via CrunchBase

Dell's Debt-Laden Leveraged Buyout

Whispers from the Street: Dells Wastes Million in Buyout Plan

Many people are at a loss to explain Dell's (DELL) leveraged buyout and how exactly the math will add up in the $24.4 billion takeover bid which is the largest this side of the financial crisis.

Very few people or even analysts seem worried that the consortium group organized by founder Michael Dell, Silver Lake Partners, and Microsoft(MSFT) will not happen, even though there are concerns that a mere $13.65 per share cash payout gives only a little payment to Dell's shareholders.

Those who are shaking their heads back and forth are trying to make some sense of the numbers and are stunned after hearing that the three large rating agencies (Standard & Poors, Fitch Ratings, and Moody's) stand ready to downgrade Dell's stock to junk.

This post brought to you by Personal Capital. All opinions are 100% mine.

Money Management On Mobile Devices

Any person that currently owns an iPad should always be on the lookout for mobile applications that would help them to alter the way that they are handling important tasks on a daily basis. Life can be very difficult if you do not have the right tools available to turn to. However, I have been able to use Personal Capital to help me deal with many issues related to my finances. One of the reasons why I decided to purchase an iPad would be the fact that I am always on the road. I needed a device that would be easy to pick up while also providing all of the functions I already enjoyed on my iPhone.

Google Chrome (Photo credit: thms.nl)

Investing In Google

Posting a blog about a "little accounting", the chief accountant and treasurer, of Google, Vice President, Brent Callinicos, reminded analysts that because of Google's sale of Motorola's set top box business, it has been described as a terminated operation. When it comes to investing in Google it seems that all of the analysts are not taking this into account.

Image via CrunchBase

Big Bank Earnings: The Week Ahead Could Be Make Or Break

With five of six of the largest banks in the nation scheduled to report earning results for the fourth quarter, for the financial sector it is a make or break week. On Wednesday morning Goldman Sachs (GS) and JP Morgan (JPM) report. On Thursday it will be Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C) while Friday it is Morgan Stanley (MS).

There have been strong gains for bank stocks ahead of these critical earnings reports. The Financial SPDR ETF (XLF) which carefully follows more than 80 diversified financials has shown a gain of over 4% since the beginning of the year and from one year ago 23%.

Deutsch: Logo von Amazon.com (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Amazon Company Growth

Amazon.com Inc. has recently opened a new brick-and-mortar center to help meet increased sales demands thanks to the success of newer features such as Amazon Prime. The online retailer continues to grow and enjoy a position as the top US online merchant. Amazon posted better holiday shopping numbers than originally expected, and plans are already under way to bring Prime subscription availability to Canadian customers.

Deutsch: Logo von Yahoo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Putting A Value On Yahoo!

The introduction of a new leader, Marissa Mayer, in July 2012 at the helm of Yahoo!, along with the disposal of almost 50 percent of its stake in Alibaba has allowed Yahoo! to re-focus on its main business. In addition, both these moves have contributed to a 30 percent increase in the company's stock price in the two months after the 3rd quarter earnings were released. Many analysts predict that the company's stock price will increase by around 35 percent in the next year, for several reasons:

Cliffs Of Moher #2 (Photo credit: Jim Moran)

Depending on which newspaper or alternate source of news one pursues they can and will find reports that negotiations regarding the fiscal cliff are going well and almost finalized or that they are a disaster and nothing positive is happening.

One of the consequences of these positive and negative reports is that the financial markets reflect the confusion and react in different ways that no person can accurately predict. This leaves millions of investors totally confused and deeply concerned of their investments and their futures. Trading the volatility index (VXX) is probably your best bet since all the uncertainty will cause it to rise. Just be careful for a deal to get done which will make the Index reverse course quickly.

qualcomm logo (Photo credit: momentimedia)

Qualcomm Shareholders

Qualcomm is in the lead position among Apple's market, but has become misplaced in the trundle of qualms around Apple's alleged ceasing of vendor orders.

Apple gadgets are not the only thing driving Qualcomm's wealth. Certainly the iPhone sales continue to be a key part of Qualcomm's enigma. But even so, Apple still sells iPads and iPhones.