Peridot Capitalist

After seeing Apple’s unveiling of the new iPad tablet yesterday my overall conclusion is that the product is very solid and will probably find a niche with certain users, but it hardly seems to be the game changer for old media that many had hoped for.
Essentially the iPad is a thin, light-weight, extremely mobile device [...]

You may remember a few years back when Comcast (CMCSA) made a bid for Disney (DIS) only to be turned down. Reports today have them once again making a play for a blockbuster media content deal. Initial reports out of a Hollywood web site last night had Comcast buying NBC Universal outright from General Electric [...]

Time Warner (TWX) has long been a media conglomerate difficult for investors to dissect. However, that may be about to change and the moves could finally extract some value for Time Warner shareholders. The company will complete its spin-off of Time Warner Cable at the end of the month, which offloads billions of debt to [...]

One of CNBC’s finest, David Faber, recently completed a two hour documentary about the housing bubble and the credit crisis. I had the chance to watch it on Sunday and it is very well done. For those of you who are interested in how the combination of mortgage brokers, Wall Street, and consumers led to [...]

If people are looking to cut back on discretionary spending, the Netflix (NFLX) mail order DVD service can obviously help. Rather than spending $30 at a theater for a couple to see a movie and order some snacks, a Netflix subscription can cost half that for an entire month. Not surprising, fourth quarter sales and [...]

When I was growing up the gift option of choice was federal savings bonds. When I was old enough to be allowed to make my own financial decisions I promptly sold them and invested the proceeds in the stock market, where my long term inflation-adjusted returns would be much higher. Among both my high school [...]

Since it came up in discussions regarding my last post, I wanted to touch upon the issue of the financial media a bit more. I think it is important for investors to understand why media outfits like the NY Times (NYT) might not be the best resources to use when making investment decisions. Recent events [...]

A very interesting cover story in Barron’s this week about CNBC market guru Jim Cramer and the track record of his investment recommendations on his nightly television show, Mad Money. Essentially, Cramer’s picks were found to have lagged the market over the last two years. While certainly not surprising to professionals, many retail do-it-yourself investors [...]

Rumors of a merger between Amazon (AMZN) and Netflix (NFLX) have been rampant for months now, with the latest sending Netflix shares up over $25 each last week. However, with Blockbuster (BBI) lowering prices on their online movie rental service, Netflix is slumping back down to $20 per share. Amazon seems to be trying [...]

The movie Wall Street starring Michael Douglas as a greedy corporate raider in the 1980’s is a classic and although two decades old, it appears the film will be making a comeback. According to a New York Times source, Gordon Gekko is back. Edward Pressman, the producer of the original film, has signed on to [...]