Successful niche firms will help economy rebound
When the American economy does turn around, presumably at some point next year, one aspect of that recovery will be very easy to forecast. I can say with absolute certainty that the vast majority of private sector jobs created in the rebound will come from small business. That’s because small businesses, particularly niche companies that Read More →
Jingle bells rock but wine gifts are smashing
Every holiday shopping list includes at least one person for whom it is nearly impossible to find the right gift. You could buy them a bottle of wine, but let’s be honest — it usually isn’t the most unique gift in the world unless you’ve made it yourself. And I say this as your wine Read More →
Year-end perspectives on the economy
How amazing is it to wake up morning after morning to headlines telling us that what was unthinkable yesterday has happened today. To punctuate a remarkable four-month period in the history of the markets, the Federal Reserve set a target for short-term interest rates at as close to zero as you can get. A $50 Read More →
Santa Barbara investors target multifamily units on clearance
Santa Barbara-based M3 Multifamily is seizing the bargain real estate opportunities caused by the market’s collapse. M3’s principals – John Mosby, Jon Martin and Mason Farrell – have been purchasing apartment properties from sellers in financial distress. Because would-be apartment buyers have been sidelined by rising capital rates, the principals expect rents and occupancy rates Read More →
Lessons to keep your business alive through 2009
When the current period of recession ends, probably sometime next year, there will be two kinds of companies left. Those who survived and those who didn’t. Having weathered a terrible recession in the publishing industry in 2001 and a total washout of the real estate market in my home state of Colorado a couple of Read More →
That
Just in time for the holidays, the cute little gingerbread-style house across from the Santa Barbara News-Press building on Anacapa Street is going to be torn apart. Maybe that’s a little more Hansel and Gretel than it is holiday cheer, but you get my drift. The small Victorian-era cottage, listed as “Myers Carpenter Gothic Cottage” Read More →
Mentor fetches $1B but J&J walks away with bargain
There is a saying on Wall Street that industries consolidate at the top of a market and at the bottom. Consider, if you will, the case of Johnson & Johnson, which is buying Santa Barbara-based Mentor Corp. for $31 per share — or slightly more than $1 billion total. That’s basically a 100 percent premium Read More →
