Biz: GE selling Consumer Durables Biz

As news emerged the reasons for GE selling durables biz are pretty apparent and in line with there portfolio management strategy:

• Commodity biz with very little differentiation and low margins
• Facing a severe downturn with a negative growth in new-home sales
• Predominantly American market, without global synergies and leadership and Asian manufacturers being far more cost-effective

Only thing that GE may have to sort out is the brand issue, it’s been connected to these for all its years of existence. Would it go in for a IBM styled handover or some other way? It remains to be seen.

Mehbooba - Won’t Swipe!

I never thought I will see a second entry to the Won’t Swipe List so soon.  But that was before I saw the trailer of Mehbooba, starring Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan and the returning Manisha Koirala. Bad music, sad sets and hopeless looking actors… I could not even remember the name of the movie at first. This movie is definitely a ‘Won’t Swipe’.

Biz: China takes on Boeing and Airbus

China today launched the China Commercial Aviation Corp. which going forward will challenge B & A combine in the area of commercial aircraft. And they are already doing that pretty well… the regional jet is already delayed thanks to system delivery delays from vendors. Looks like Life is going to get all the worse for the  B & A of commercial aviation.

Trying to make a dent in the World Order - Try Brains and Guts!

Cheap Money and political might may not be good enough!!!

PS: I could not stop take myself from taking a dig at them…

Biz: Icahn’s Move on Yahoo!

Not really sure what can he accomplish here for he’s fighting against all the reasons stated in the a previous post. Additionally, with the elongated takeover saga, talent will start moving out to competitors and Google, which anyway is seen as the best alternate against Microsoft. the only thing in favor would be the fact that the last price that MS offered was $33 a lot more than what you can get for them in the open market. But then what guarantees that MS will come back to the table with the same price. Finally, new age tech which is a rebel business does not really appreciate quick-money-people like Icahn!

Don’t start what you can’t finish, for it will come to haunt till you finish it!

And with the way this has started, I don’t see Icahn closing this out the way he has envisioned, though he still may make a lot of money on it.

Biz: Why MS walked out on Yahoo?

Probable reasons why Ballmer walked out on Yang & Co.:

• A prolonged proxy battle makes both MS and Yahoo take eyes of the ball
• Yahoo and Google have done well in the initial ad. tests making cooperation all the more possible, hence taking the price a too high to be comfortable
• Anyways, MS is making huge strides in the display ad market
• And finally, the anti-trust issues on mail and instant-messaging will make takeover proxy look easy

So, I think Ballmer chose to take the slower but more appropriate path of facing Google on its own effort and not with external support which will be painful, treacherous and hostile to say the least!

WoodStock Villa - Won’t Swipe!

Just saw the trailers of ‘WoodStock Villa’! I think it’s a RGV movie and given the trailer this movie will never have me swipe my credit card and hence it has managed the distinction of being the first movie in the ‘Won’t Swipe’ bucket.

PS: This movie has the remixed Mika song - ‘Saawan main lag gayi aag’ and this also has not manged to make the original look good.

F1: Paul Ricard Testing

Day 1 results from testing at Le Castelett Circuit buildup on what was already very visible in the Turkish GP. McLaren have been able to improve the overall package considerably and Hamilton has led the Day 1 timesheets at Paul Ricard. With one driver per team testing, the overall pecking order has remained the same with Red Bull teams leading the rest of the pack behind Ferrari and BMW. Day 2 will prove to a real test with rain predicted and Ferrari and Raikkonen expected to up the ante after today’s testing of new aero-components.

F1: Last F1 GP at Magny Cours

This looks like the last Magny-Cours as Bernie has been talk for a few days. Oh, but has he not been doing taht for last few years… we all heard how every commentator and journalist bid a emotional farewell to Magny-Cours last year, just to told a few months later that they will be coming back to same damn circuit next year… some backing up your words with action.

And he’s at it again this year, though a toned down version with saying that he would want the race moved to a location closer to Global Fashion Capital Paris by 2011 or no French GP. But then, we all know that France will be too big to ignore given Renault’s involvement and overall importance of French Market in EU.

But just a question… won’t a move to Paris put it direct conflict with Monaco? For Monaco is equally known for the Jazz and Pizzazzz as for being the slowest circuit on the calender.

F1: The Great Greek Faux Pas

Q: When do you not wear your race overalls?

A: When you are acting Apollo in Battle of Troy.

This was discovered by Hamilton is his not-so-great, oh lets be realistic hopeless theatrical debut.

So, the moral of the story is that as a sporting concern, please find better ways to sell your sponsors to the world than Greek mythology and as a sponsor have the post-battle conference painted in your colors than have Apollo dressed in your sponsored racing overalls.

F1: Moscow Demo

With a street demo being planned in Moscow for later this year… the prospect of a Russian GP in the near future (read 2010) looks real for the following reasons:

• Street Demos are used to announce a full GP as was done in Abu Dhabi
• Hermann  Tilke will design the new circuit new Moscow; most of circuit designs nowadays are meant for F1 GP
• Finally, Bernie wants to see a GP in the onion capital before he’s dead and we all know what age he is!

So, which year do you think is the Russian GP happening? My guess is 20-10.