Carl Icahn wants Ebay to offer PayPal IPO

Investor Carl Icahn has withdrawn his demand for eBay Inc. (EBAY) to spin off PayPal. Now, he wants 20% of PayPal to be offered to the public. PayPal is the online payment service of eBay.

eBay Inc. disclosed in their 4th quarter fiscal 2013 (4QFY13) earnings that Carl Icahn has a 2.2% stake in the company. He had nominate two individuals to the board of directors and he  has aggressively pushed for a spinoff of PayPal. He said eBay was hindering PayPal's growth, and said that they are damaging its competitiveness against current and potential rivals, that includes Apple and Google Inc.

However, eBay reiterated that the success of both eBay and PayPal depend entirely upon each other’s success, and that they were better off together. The war of words and mudslinging between them is still continuing.

eBay has also reacted strongly to Icahn’s accusations about bad corporate governance and the integrity of the board and has rejected his nominees.

Icahn said that PayPal and eBay should maintain close business ties, while forming independent boards. "EBay's 80% ownership of PayPal, and a commercially advantageous long-term contract between the two companies, would preserve any potential synergies," he said.

eBay replied: "We're glad to see that Mr. Icahn now seems to agree that a full separation of PayPal is not a good idea."

Mt. Gox Hiding $600 Million in Bitcoins Hackers Exposed

Hackers targeted the web accounts of MtGox boss Mark Karpeles. MtGox halted their trading last month and then filed for bankruptcy after they found out that $465m in bitcoins had been stolen through a security bug.

Investors are demanding for more information about the events and why they have lost their bitcoins.

The hackers gained complete control of Mr Karpeles personal blog and Reddit account. They used their access to steal very detailed information about trading activity at MtGox and then share it on the net. It is a 716MB file.

Some of the things that they have exposed are:

•     More than one million trades in Excel spreadsheet
•     Entries from MtGox's business ledger
•     Information about its back-office administration software

The hackers included a message: "It's time that MtGox got the Bitcoin community's wrath instead of Bitcoin community getting Goxed."

Problem with Bitcoin Again; MtGox website Down

Bitcoin has encounter another major problem as Tokyo based MtGox website is shutdown because of reported theft claim that is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

As of press time (Feb. 25, 2014), if you visit their website https://www.mtgox.com/ you will only see a blank page. Weeks ago, they suspended cash withdrawals due to a bug that allows fraud. 

Good news for Bitcoin Investors, Bitstamp restores service

Bitstamp the largest exchange service of Bitcoin has reinstated their automated customer withdrawals following a problematic closure of their exchanges for 4 days that have affected the value of Bitcoin. The closure is due to a hacking attacked and malware.

Bitstamp  is based in Slovenia, they have stated:

"after rigorous testing, we have restored fully automated processing for Bitcoin withdrawals."

Bitstamp declared last Friday that they have a software solution to fix the issues, it resulted to a 9.7% rise in Bitcoin's price, the price jumped from $580 early Friday to $670.

World Shares Dip as US slowdown joins emerging-market Gloom

World shares sink to almost a four-month low last Tuesday as signs of a downturn in economy of the United States worsen the jitters caused by a sell-off in emerging markets.

A statistics that shows a weaker U.S. factory activity than they have expected had

A report showing U.S. factory activity was weaker than expected had provoked both the dollar and global equities to slump on Monday. European investors remained anxious on Tuesday after another session of sustained selling in Asia.

Futures prices gained a 0.3% rebound for Wall Street later, but a mid-morning attempt at a stabilization failed in Europe. The benchmark FTSEurofirst index .FTEU3 fell 0.4% and headed for a third day of declines. And Europe looked almost rosy compared with Asia.

Tokyo's Nikkei .N225 dropped by 4% in its worst day since June, cementing its position as the worst performer in developed markets in 2014. MSCI's emerging-market index .MSCIEF plunge 1.4%, accumulating since late October at almost 12%.

Charlie Shrem and Robert Faiella of Bitcoin Accused of Money Laundering

US authorities have arrested both Charlie Shrem and Robert Faiella of Bitcoin and they were charged with money laundering.

Charlie Shrem 24, is the CEO of New York base company BitInstant, while Robert Faiella 52, is a virtual currency trader known as BTCKing. US Authorities alleges that the two conspired to sell over $1 million Bitcoins (£603,000) to users of black market website Silk Road. Silk Road was closed down by FBI last year because they were charged of using the site to buy drugs anonymously.

Charlie Shrem was at JFK International Airport in New York on Sunday morning, and Faiella, was

Shrem, 24, was arrested on Sunday morning at New York's JFK International Airport. Faiella, 52, was seized on Monday in his Florida home.

They were accused of conspiring to commit money laundering, and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Shrem is also accused of failing to report Faiella's illegal transactions, violating the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires financial institutions to alert authorities of suspicions of money laundering.

US Attorney for Manhattan Preet Bharara said in a statement: "As alleged, Robert Faiella and Charlie Shrem schemed to sell over $1 million in Bitcoins to criminals bent on trafficking narcotics on the Dark Web drug site, Silk Road.

Asian Stocks Dipped After China GDP Data; Nintendo Shares Tumbles

Asian stocks went down after China’s economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter as gains in factory output and investment spending slowed.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., dropped 2.1% in Hong Kong. Nintendo Co. fell by 6.2% in Tokyo, after the maker of Wii video-game consoles forecast a disappointing full-year loss. Ssangyong Motor Co. is up 1.4% after controlling shareholder Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. announced plans to invest US$939 million in the South Korean carmaker.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.2% to 139.22 as of 8:32 p.m. in Tokyo, with six of the gauge’s 10 industry groups falling. The measure finished last week within 2 points of its closing level for 2013 as investors weighed signs of a stronger global economy against concern about equity valuations.

China’s economy expanded 7.7% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said today. That compares with 7.8% growth in the previous three months.

Industrial production rose 9.7% in December from a year earlier, data showed, down from a 10% gain in November. Retail sales last month rose 13.6% from a year earlier, slowing from 13.7% in November.

Fixed-asset investment in China excluding rural households increased 19.6% in the January-to-December period from a year earlier, when it expanded 20.6%.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.7%. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of mainland companies traded in Hong Kong slid 1.3%, while the city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 0.9 %.

New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index lost 0.1%. A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the country’s North Island today, shaking capital city Wellington and sending the nation’s currency lower.

Thailand’s SET Index dropped 0.4%. The risk of the country defaulting on its debt rose to the highest level since August after two explosions rocked a protest site where demonstrators are pushing for the removal of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Japan’s Topix (TPX) index lost 0.3%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index decreased 0.2% and Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 0.6 %. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.5 % and Taiwan’s Taiex index rose 0.3 %.

India’s S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.7% as the nation’s 10-year sovereign bond yield fell to the lowest level since October after the central bank said it will buy debt this week. The rupee weakened.

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell less than 0.1%. The measure slid 0.4 % on Jan. 17 as earnings at companies from General Electric Co. to Intel Corp. disappointed investors. U.S. equity markets are closed for a holiday today.

The Asia-Pacific stocks gauge traded at 13.1 times estimated earnings as of Jan. 17, compared with 15.6 for the S&P 500 and 14.1 for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Chinese lenders declined in Hong Kong. ICBC slipped 2.1 % to HK$4.78. China Construction Bank Corp. (939), the nation’s second-largest lender by market value, lost 1.8 % to HK$5.39. Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. dropped 1.7 % to HK$3.39.

Nintendo sank 6.2 % to 13,745 yen at the close in Tokyo, the biggest decline since September, after falling as much as 19 %. The company is under pressure to consider exiting production of video-game machines after reporting disappointing sales of its Wii U console and forecasting a surprise loss, said Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles.

Glorious Property Holdings Ltd. went down 27 % to HK$1.25, its biggest drop on record, after shareholders rejected Chinese billionaire Zhang Zhirong’s offer to take the property developer private.

Among shares that rose, Ssangyong Motor added 1.4 % to 8,060 won in Seoul. Mahindra & Mahindra, an Indian carmaker, is planning to invest 1 trillion won in its South Korean unit to develop new models and hire more workers, South Korean President Park Geun Hye said in India on Jan. 18.

Zhongsheng Group Holdings Ltd., a distributor of Volkswagen AG’s Porsches and Audis and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz cars in China, surged 8.9 percent to HK$12.54 in Hong Kong after the company said it is raising as much as HK$5.6 billion ($722 million) by issuing shares and selling convertible bonds to Jardine Strategic Holdings Ltd.