Microsoft to Buy Nokia

Software giant Microsoft Corp on September 3, 2013 announced that it would acquire Nokia's phone business in a transaction valued at $7.2 billion. After selling its handset division, Nokia will focus on growing its networking and mapping businesses. However, it will be an uphill battle for Microsoft to regain market shares in the profitable smartphone market, with Google Android leading with 52 percent, followed by Apple IOS (39.9%), Microsoft (3.1%) and RIM/Blackberry (4.4%). From the handset perspectives, the volumes of handsets shipped in 2012 show that Samsung had a clear lead:

* Samsung   406 million (215.8 million smartphones)

* Nokia        335.6 million (35.1 million smartphones)

* Apple        135.9 million (all smartphones)

From management standpoint, Nokia Oyj CEO Stephen Elop's return to Microsoft will add an additional dimension of jockeying for CEO position which will be vacated by Steve Ballmer within a year.

Glitch Shuts NASDAQ Market

On August 22, 2013, Wall Street received another black eye as the technical glitch took its toll on the market performance by shutting the tech-rich NASDAQ for three hours.

US to Sue Bank of America

On August 6, 2013, the US DOJ filed a civil lawsuit against Bank of America in a Charlotte federal courthouse, accusing the bank and several of its subsidiaries of failing to adequately disclose the risks associated with $850 million in mortgage bonds sold to investors during height of the banking crisis in 2008. Apparently, the bank didn't disclose that more than 70 percent of the mortgages backing the investments were written by brokers outside the bank's network. Investors eventually lost about $100 million on the investments. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a related suit against Bank of America during the day too. This is the most high-profile lawsuit since US took the Standard and Poor's to the court earlier this year. 

Amazon Founder Buys Washington Post

On August 5, 2013, the new media became the winner in acquiring a venerable brand from the old media as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos agreed to buy the landmark newspaper and other assets for a value of $250 million from the Washington Post Co., whose Chairman and CEO, Donald Graham, called Bezos a "uniquely good owner". This is the first time the ownership will switch from the Graham family, which has controlled the Washington Post since 1933, in almost eight decades. Katharine Weymouth, granddaughter of Phillip L. Graham and Katharine Graham, will remain the CEO and publisher of the newspaper. The Washington Post Company's name will be changed, but will retail all other assets such as Slate online magazine, TheRoot.com and Foreign Policy magazine. The rich history and the rightful place of the Post in American political fabric brought the investigative journalism to world stage with Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein becoming the household names after their unraveling and unwrapping of the Watergate scandal that had led to President Richard Nixon's quitting the office. In 2008 alone, Post achieved six Pulitzers for exposing mistreatment at Walter Reed Hospital, covering the Virginia Tech massacre and detail reporting on the private security contract in Iraq.

SAC Capital Advisors

The US brought criminal charges against the revered Wall Street hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors and related companies on counts that cover which the US Attorney Preet Bharara called the enabling and promoting insider trading practices. However, the criminal charges filed on July 25, 2013 didn't name the founder of the hedge fund, Steven Cohen. The criminal charges were filed almost a week after the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil case aimed at barring Cohen from managing investor funds for his failure to prevent insider trading by his employees.

On November 4, 2013, SAC Capital agreed to the largest ever insider trading settlement with US Attorney Bharara, and would pay a fine of $1.2 billion. SAC Capital also pleaded guilty to each of the five counts in the indictment, which notes that eight former employees were charged with securities fraud. Six of them had pleaded guilty, and two of them will be put in trials in the coming months. The trial of two former traders--Michael Steinberg and Mathew Martoma--will put the spotlight squarely on Steven Cohen, billionaire founder of the hedge fund. SAC Capital previously agreed to pay an additional $616 million in fine to Securities and Exchange Commission. As part of the November 4, 2013, settlement terms, SAC is barred to manage money of any outside investors. It is free to manage personal wealth of Cohen, who was not charged on any wrongdoing.

Largest Criminal Fine for Insider Trading Against SAC Capital
A federal judge, US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, on April 10, 2014 sentenced SAC Capital with $1.8 billion in fine, largest criminal fine in insider trading, on charges of wire fraud and security fraud committed by the trader and three related entities. All admitted to the charges last fall (2013 fall).

Detroit Files for Bankruptcy

The Motor City on July 18, 2013 file for bankruptcy under Chapter 9, becoming the largest local authority to do so. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder moved to take the drastic step after recommendation from an emergency city manager--Kevyn Orr--deputed by him after months of prolonged and protracted negotiations with the city's creditors, unions and business people. The city debt is estimated to range between $18 billion and $20 billion. The Motor City's stiff fall from grace in recent decades is as dramatic as its meteoric rise in the early decades of the twentieth century. In 1950s, its population stood at 1.8 million mostly due to influx of hundreds of thousands of auto employees. However, foreign competition and city mismanagement brought its recent decadence with the current population of 700,000 people, abandoned houses and bad city roads. The debt of the city easily dwarfs the second-largest municipal bankruptcy by the Jefferson County, Alabama that was teetering under $4 billion in debt and declared bankruptcy in 2011. Before Motor City's Chapter 9 filing--a code used by more than 60 municipal jurisdictions since mid-1950s--Stockton, California, which had filed for bankruptcy in 2012, was the most populous city to file for bankruptcy.

On July 19, 2013, a state judge, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina of Ingham County Circuit Court, ruled that the Detroit's Chapter 9 filing had violated the state constitution that protects the pension of the retired public employees.

However, to the relief of the city's emergency financial overseer, US Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes approved a motion on July 24, 2013 to freeze all litigation against the city during the bankruptcy process, effectively giving Rhodes the authority to rule on the issues raised by the retired public employees related to their pensions.

Detroit's Bankruptcy Exit Plan Approved
In an laudable move, Detroit's brief 16-month spell in bankruptcy was given first green light to leave past on November 7, 2014. US Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes for the Eastern District of Michigan on November 7, 2014 okayed the city's bankruptcy re-organization plan that would shed about $7 billion in debt and spend about $1.7 billion to improve the Motor City's crumbling infrastructure and services. Detroit was burdened with $18 billion in debt when it had filed for bankruptcy on July 18, 2013.

Bangladesh to Lose Trade Status with US

President Barack Obama on June 27, 2013 announced suspension of Generalized System of Preferences, GSP, with Bangladesh for not adhering to the acceptable standards related to labor rights and workplace safety. Under the GSP, more than 5,000 Bangladeshi products are being sold in the US duty-free. However, the list doesn't include the all-important garment sector that brings majority share of $5 billion in annual exports to the US, the largest trading partner with Bangladesh. The US action is to take effect in 60 days, and has come after less than desirable progress, according to the USTR Mike Froman, in mitigating the issues that have stalked the labor rights and workplace safety such as a November 2012 fire that has gutted a garment factory, killing more than 100, and April 24, 2013, collapse of Rana Plaza--that has housed numerous textile operations--killing 1,129 people. However, the real bite may come if the US action sways a similar European assessment as the Bangladeshi textile exports falls under the category of European GSP privilege.