Category Archives: Business Management

Sitting on my desk in front of me, as I type this article, is an analyst report by Morningstar for Wachovia dated December 31st, 2007.  This is the bank that was built almost entirely on the foundation of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco in Winston-Salem.  At the time, Wachovia common stock had closed at $38.03 and was paying a very rich 6.31% dividend yield.  The analysts at Morningstar valued the shares at $61.00, indicating they were nearly 40% undervalued. Within 10 months, those same shares of Wachovia were trading for $1.00 following a catastrophic collapse.

Adolphus Green was the genius that founded the modern day Nabisco, which was known as the “biscuit trust” after J.P. Morgan combined much of the nation’s bakeries under a single entity that Green controlled. He is responsible for most of the snacks America has enjoyed for generations. The thing that impressed me most about Adolphus…

Following up on the article I wrote about cigarette market share in the United States, I thought this was a great story about the legendary employee stock ownership culture at Reynolds Tobacco back in the first half of the 20th century. It comes from Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, which you should buy.  It explains how R.J. Reynolds almost forced his employees to buy stock in the company and even created a special class of dividend shares for them!

Sam Walton’s heirs have an estimated net worth of more than $90 billion.  To put that into perspective, the Walton family is as rich as Bill Gates and Warren buffet combined. Virtually all of this wealth came from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the publicly traded company that operates as the world’s largest retailer, bringing in a…

When you hear the name Bill Gates, what do you think?  Microsoft.  At least, that is what comes to mind for most people.  It makes sense.  After all, Bill Gates owns 620,973,551 shares of Microsoft.  At today’s market price of $24.38 per share, this puts the pre-tax value of his holdings in the software giant…