Would you pay $2.1 mill for lunch?

When you first look at that question, you think... NO WAY!

What if it was with the Oracle of Omaha himself Warren Buffett? That I can understand!

Well every year, Warren auctions off the opportunity to have lunch with and squeeze whatever information you possibly out of his billion dollar brain.

So who would pay that sort of money you may ask? An amount that was 3 times higher than last year.

The winning bidder was Zhao Danyang, who runs Hong Kong-based Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund. "Of course!" You may say!

The proceeds of the auction go to benefit Glide, a nonprofit foundation in San Francisco that offers programs for the poor, hungry and homeless.

How much would you pay to tap into the mind of Warren Buffett?

B and B...

And I am not talking about Bed and Breakfast.

Babcock and Brown have been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Rewind the clock 12 months and Australia's 2nd largest Investment Bank was trading at close to $35 a share, had a share price which had increased by 75% in the previous 12 months and looked unstoppable. The CEO was being hailed as a genius and the markets looked at the company with Envy.

They were classified as "Financial Engineering Specialists."
The strategy of securing debt to fund boring infrastructure projects throughout the world, then packaging it and listing it... seemed to be winning formula. One that was pushing the companies success to greater heights.

Now, June 2008 the Directors are bunkered down in discussions on how to bring the company back above market capitalisation of over $2.5 billion, so it wont be handed over to it's 25 financiers from around the world.

The share price hit a low of $4.70. The $46 Billion of debt throughout it's funds has had investors fleeing the stock and hedge funds driving it sharply lower.

Babcock and Brown have all eyes on them and it will be interesting to see how the company will get itself back on track. More importantly... what will happen to big brother Macquarie Bank.

What are your thoughts??

Fuel and The Impact On Travel

With Oil peaking at around $135 from the previously unthinkable benchmark of $100 per barrel, we are now seeing a major shift in business trends.

General Motors has just announced the rollback of their planned new SUV vehicles and gas guzzler brands such as Hummer. Qantas have cancelled 6 routes completely from their schedule to mitigate risk and Virgin Blue has stated that unless their fares substantially increase there is only 6 months of cash in the kitty before the company could potentially go bust.

BMW are pushing Hydrogen as fuel with their smooth travelling 7 Series concept car and Toyota are looking to go fully electrical in the next 3 years.

Clearly, oil is a substance that citizens are dependent on and companies are now struggling with. Oil affects food prices and changing trends in movement and spending. What can you do to reduce your risk, your bills and still be a traveller?