Lend not unto him that is mightier than thyself; for if thou lendest him, count it but lost.

UBS AG cites this passage from Ecclesiasticus 8:12 in a fascinating look at sovereign debt defaults, bank crises and bond restructurings dating back to ancient Greece. The point of the report, done by emerging markets analyst Costa Vayenas at UBS in Zurich, is to discuss the lessons from defaults of the past, and what investors might learn…UBS cites a well-documented case from 377 BC to 373 BC to illustrate how the ancient Greeks learned that sovereign defaults occur in clusters. In that case, 11 of 13 states defaulted on loans from the Temple of Delos, not exactly the equivalent of the Fed but the lender of last resort nonetheless. Some 90 per cent of the money had to be written off, UBS notes. [Globe And Mail]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Price targets for shares of Adobe (ADBE) are going up across the board this morning following the company’s better-than-expected fiscal Q4 results last night, and the Q1 forecast ahead of Street estimates.
The company had an upbeat conference call with analysts after the report, and the stock is up $1.49, or [...]

Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily

Today’s funding announcements include innovative ways to shop, work and market a brand:

U*tique brings in $3.6M to offer convenient beauty shopping: The San Francisco-based company has raised a first round of equity funding to sell high-end beauty products through automated machines, according to a filing with the SEC. Before making a purchase, consumers can use a touch screen to get product information and view ingredients. The machines, to be featured at upscale hotels, malls and spas, debuted at trendy LA retailer Fred Segal last year.

LiquidSpace gets $1.3M for the contemporary office: The Palo Alto-based startup has raised seed funding from Mike Maples of Floodgate, according to a filing with the SEC. The web site suggests that the company, founded in 2010, will help users “connect and work productively” from locations like the home, car, coffee shop and client’s lobby.

Mass Relevance raises nearly $2M to help brands organize real-time content: The startup has raised a first round of funding from Floodgate and Austin Ventures, Mass Relevance announced today. The Austin, Texas-based company helps marketers sort and rebroadcast social media content to capture user attention on smartphones, TV and the internet.

Bleacher Report scores $10.5M for fan-generated sports news: The company has raised a third round of funding led by Crosslink Capital to publish more than 500 sports articles online each day. Content written by the San Francisco-based company is syndicated by popular media sites like CBSSports.com, USAToday.com and NHL.com.

Companies: Austin Ventures, Bleacher Report, cbs, CrossLink Capital, Floodgate, LiquidSpace, Mass Relevance, NHL, U*tique, USA Today

People: Mike Maples

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Pershing Square Performance Report [PDF]

Related: A Hedge Fund Manager Who Is Man Enough To Let It All Out

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Spartanburg County, S.C., sheriff’s deputies told WXII sister station WYFF that they were called to a Motel 6 on Sunday night after a guest nearly punched through to the next room with a wrench. When deputies arrived, 73-year-old Joseph Jones told them someone had called his room about 11 p.m. and said he was a manager at the motel. Jones said the male caller told him the previous guest had installed highly sophisticated cameras in his room. The caller told Jones not to bother looking for them and instead, the caller would instruct him on how to get rid of the cameras…Next, he was told to remove the back toilet cover and to smash the TV with it. He did and the cover shattered without breaking the TV screen, so he was instructed to throw the TV outside. Jones did as he was instructed. At some point, according to the report, Jones gave the caller his cell number so he did not have to keep running back to the room phone…Jones said the caller then said that a “midget” who was 4 feet 3 inches tall was barricaded in the room next to him and that he needed to help police get to him. With that, the report said, Jones took his wrench and began to break away the wallboard behind the room door. He broke through to the next room, but then stopped due to complaints from other guests about the loud noises. [WXII, previously]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

For those of you playing at home, yet another update on expected tablet shipments.
DigiTimes’s Yenting Chen writes this morning that conversations with component makers in Taiwan indicate 20 million to 30 million tablet computers will be shipped next year, not counting Apple’s (AAPL) iPad.
This report follows on yesterday’s assertion, also [...]

Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily

Amazon.com (AMZN) is reportedly near a deal to buy Quidsi, parent of Diapers.com and Soap.com, for $540 million in cash, Fortune reports. Bloomberg confirmed the report, citing “two people with knowledge of the matter.” The story says an announcement could come as soon as Monday.
The story says Quidsi expects sales [...]

Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily

Three months ago, things were looking up for startups seeking venture capital. Now it seems that optimism was misplaced, according to the latest Moneytree Report from Pricewaterhouse Coopers and the National Venture Capital Association.

Venture funding has followed an unsteady path to recovery since the economy collapsed at the end of 2008. Venture rounds plummeted at the beginning of 2009, and though they’ve been climbing since then, the climb hasn’t been consistent. Investments fell in the first quarter of 2010, rose dramatically in Q2, and now they’ve fallen again.

So here’s the big number: During Q3 (July to September), venture firms invested a total of $4.8 billion in 780 deals, according to the report. That’s a 31 percent drop from the $6.9 million invested in Q2, and it didn’t even match the $5.8 billion invested during Q3 of 2009.

In a conference call discussing the numbers, Flybridge Capital Partners’ Michael Greeley suggested that Q2 may have been an “anomaly” and that the lower investment levels seen in Q1 and Q3 may be the new normal.

“Firms that are active are seeing quite healthy deal flow,” Greeley said, but the industry is consolidating and the number of active firms is falling.

Much of the unpredictability in venture capital can probably be attributed to cleantech. Since venture investment in the cleantech sector tends to be dominated by a few big deals, the amount invested varies widely from quarter to quarter. In Q3, cleantech investment declined 59 percent, to $625 million, from $1.5 billion in the previous quarter.

Still, other industries were down too. Biotech investments fell 32 percent. Internet investments fell 25 percent. The average deal size fell from $7.5 million to $6.2 million. And the number of early-stage deals fell from 454 to 358 (though as a percentage of overall deals, the number of early-stage financings remained the same).

The report was compiled using data from Thomson Reuters.

Tags: MoneyTree Report

Companies: Flybridge Capital Partners, national venture capital association, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Thomson Reuters

People: Michael Greeley

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

Ackman’s September performance.

Pershing Square Performance Report [PDF]

Related: Bill Ackman, Raw And Uncut

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Contrary to popular belief, the Apple (AAPL) iPad isn’t seriously cannibalizing the PC market, according to a new report from research firm NPD Group.
According to the report, only 13% of iPad owners surveyed bought an iPad instead of a PC, while 24% replaced a planned e-reader purchase.That suggests the device [...]

Article courtesy of BARRONS.com: Tech Trader Daily