Tiger roars past $1 billion
Tiger demonstrates is pitching skills in this Buick ad.
Forbes.com’s SportsMoney blog by Mike Ozanian estimates that Tiger Wood’s $10 million payday last weekend pushed his career earnings — on and off the course — past the $1 billion mark. That would make him the world’s first billion-dollar athlete, Ozanian said.
Ozanian writes:
The scary part is that Woods is only 33-years-old and might have 15 years of competitive golf left in him and 30+ years of designing golf courses. This is only the first $1 billion for Woods.
Comments on the blog claim that Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Formula 1 driver Michael Schumacher already have eclipsed the billion-dollar mark. But Woods’ financial accomplishments at such a tender age are impressive.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Virtual reality biz actually imaginary
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged 3001 AD, which claimed to be a virtual reality technology company, with fraud. The SEC claims the company was nothing more than a boiler room telemarketing scheme designed to fleece investors.
The SEC alleges that 3001 AD, LLC and these individuals raised approximately $20 million from about 500 investors nationwide through a maze of unregistered offerings that hyped the company’s supposedly promising virtual reality products, including a helmet system tracking players’ head movements to provide a 360-degree view in a video game. Investors were told in the offering materials that the sales commissions paid on their investments were dramatically less than they actually were. An imminent Initial Public Offering (IPO) was repeatedly hyped to investors while no steps were actually being taken toward going public. And prestigious business relationships between 3001 AD and Microsoft, Apple, and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner were touted to investors even though such relationships never existed.
Turns out the promised profits, like the professed products, were virtual.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
A century of dumb inventions
Life has compiled a photo gallery from its archives of some of the dumbest ideas that inventors created in the 1900s. Many of the photos are priceless, and the captions contain just enough snark. About a gunslinging robot, Life writes: “It’s always easy to question the wisdom of giving a robot a gun, but also making him quick on the draw is just irresponsible.”
Of an anti-bandit bag with a bottom designed to collapse and dump the bag’s contents when its owner is threatened, Life writes: “That’ll stop those thieves from getting at the contents of your bag! No, wait. It won’t.”
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Mad Money’s Jim Cramer coming to OU
Jim Cramer, money maven of the rolled-up shirt sleeves and sound effects, will visit the University of Oklahoma next month. Cramer, host of CNBC’s “Mad Money,” will tape an episode of the show before a live audience of OU students on Oct. 30. He also will be the keynote speaker at a dinner for OU business students and alumni on Oct. 29.
OU President David L. Boren said Michael Price, the former Wall Street money manager who the OU business college is named for, arranged Cramer’s visit.
“Jim Cramer’s visit will give OU students an excellent opportunity to hear one of the most prominent personalities on Wall Street,” Boren said.
Anyone have any questions they would like to ask Mr. Cramer? Submit them in the comments.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
A short stack, robot style
British food producer HoneyTop employs the Flexpicker machine to stack its pancakes for shipping. The robot uses a high-def camera to identify the stackable pancakes and utilizes a buffer shelf to save pancakes to fill in short stacks. The process, one part “The Jetsons” and one part “Terminator,” must be seen. First view of the Flexpicker comes at about 1:15; the buffer shelf is demonstrated at about 2:10. (via eatmedaily.com)
By the way, who buys pre-made pancackes? Is there any food that’s easier or faster to cook?
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
They don’t build ‘em like they used to — thank goodness
To note the 50th anniversary of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, best known for its vehicle crash tests, the organization brought together some 50-year-old Detroit steel with its modern-day counterpart. In other words, they slammed together a 1959 Chevy Bel Air and a 2009 Chevy Impala at 40 mph. As the following video shows, it was no contest when it came to passenger protection.
“It was night and day, the difference in occupant protection,” Institute president Adrian Lund said. “What this test shows is that automakers don’t build cars like they used to. They build them better.”
The fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror of the ‘59 Bel Air appeared to survive unscathed.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
I flunked the “smarter than a seventh-grader” quiz
In Sunday’s editions of The Oklahoman, I posed the question “Are You Smarter Than a Seventh Grader?” and ran a quiz testing our readers’ financial knowledge. As scores of our highly informed readers have informed me, one of the questions was wrong.
Question 6, which asked at what age one is required to take distributions from an Individual Retirement Account, listed 59 1/2 as the correct answer. The correct answer actually is 70 1/2, which was not among the options offered in the multiple-choice quiz.
Distributions may be taken from IRA accounts at age 59 1/2 without penalty. But the required withdrawals don’t begin until 11 years later.
My sincerest apologies. I have personally rapped my own knuckles with a ruler.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
The $300,000 clunker
The Detroit Free Press ferrets out some fascinating details from government data about the recently concluded Cash for Clunkers program. Someone traded in a 1997 Bentley Continental R, which had an original price of more than $300,000, in exchange for no more than $4,500 credit toward a new car.
Some enthusiasts would have paid many thousands of dollars for the rare 1987 Buick GNX destroyed under the program; only 547 were built. The nation’s supply of used Chevrolet Corvettes was thinned by 131, including 34 convertibles, and the program also liberated 22 Americans from the burden of owning a Peugeot.
And this
And 37 people decided to clunk models that were less than a year old.
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
Oh, you beautiful (homeless) doll!
American Girl’s latest creation is unlike any they have ever issued. Gwen is homeless, but you can give her a home for $95. The New York Post reports:
Gwen’s father walked out on the family. Her mother lost her job. As the little kiddies learn to read about this doll as if she’s a human being, one learns that, as fall turned into winter, Gwen’s mom lost her grip. Mother and daughter started bedding down in a car.
Don Mecoy
Business News
Table for Mr. Jackson
Is a well-greased palm the key to a life of priviledge? Tom Chiarella, writing in Esquire, heads out in New York with a stack of $20 bills to find out. The short answer? It works, unless you’re asking someone to something that might cost them their job.
I always grease Bobby H., the bellman at my hotel, and on my first night, within minutes of the pass, he suggested that I might request a room upgrade. He even gave me a room number to ask for. Another twenty at the desk and I was out of two queens, snug in my one king. The next day, we ran the same drill, and wham, I was in the minisuite. The twenty after that, I was in a full suite with a view of Times Square. We used a different desk guy each day. When you’re passing twenties, Bobby H. told me, you have to spread the wealth. “It’s a one-time trick,” he said. “You don’t want anyone to catch on.” Somehow he managed to take a twenty each time, having caught on fully some time ago.
However, Chiarella is a bit less successful in buying favors during a trip west. (via kottke)
Don Mecoy
Business Writer
