Revolutionizing the way we absorb content

A friend of mine just launched his startup that promises to change the way we absorb content. Instead of reading blogs, the website offers service that will enable us to listen to blogs on laptops, iphones and other personal gadgets. Check out my feeds on the playlist displayed on the right.

2007: the year of Sovereign Wealth Funds

Happy New Year 2008!

Looking back, 2007 was the year of Sovereign Wealth Funds. With Investment banks still announcing massive write-downs owing to subprime mortgage crisis, Sovereign Wealth Funds did a great job in amassing significant stakes in major global investment banks. With investing over $20 billion alone in the fourth quarter of 2007 in western financial arms, the funds have scooped up stakes in Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Bear Stearns, Barclays, HSBC, Carlyle Group and Blackstone. Here's my compilation of the prominent deals done in later half of 2007:

Bank	Investment amount	Acquirer	%age Stake
Merrill Lynch	$4.4B	Temasek Holdings (Singapore)	9.90%
UBS	$9.75B	Govt. of Singapore Investment Corp.	9.00%
	$1.77B	Undisclosed Stategic Middle East investor	1.80%
Citi	$7.5B	Abu Dhabi Investment Authority	4.90%
Morgan Stanley	$5B	China Investment Corporation	9.90%
Bear Stearns	$1B each	Citic Securities (China)	-
Barclays	$3B	China Development Bank	3.10%
	$2B	Temasek Holdings (Singapore)	1.77%
Blackstone Group	$3B	China State Investment Company	10%
HSBC	Undisclosed	Dubai International Capital	Undisclosed
Carlyle Group	$1.35B	Mubadala Development Co. (Abu Dhabi)	7.50%