John C. Malone, whose success wiring American homes for cable television in the 1980s and 1990s earned him the nickname King of Cable, is back on the prowl in the industry he helped create, DealBookâs David Gelles reports. Mr. Malone, 72, now the chairman of Liberty Media, is working behind the scenes to gain control of Time Warner Cable, the countryâs second-largest cable operator by subscribers, behind Comcast.
Such a deal would thrust him back into the heart of the cable TV world at a precarious time for the business, with overall pay television subscribers declining and content costs soaring. But Mr. Malone is energized by the prospect of returning to the fray. âJohn looks out and says, âThatâs an industry that I helped shape, that made me a lot of money, but more importantly that I care a lot about, and I want to see that industry set right,ââ Gregory B. Maffei, Liberty Mediaâs chief executive, said in a recent interview.
Mr. Maffei, 53, who is leading Liberty Mediaâs day-to-day efforts to strike a deal, said that Mr. Malone believed the cable industry is once again primed for transformation. âWe have expressed a view that consolidation is helpful,â Mr. Maffei said, adding, âTime Warner Cable is appealing.â
BEYOND BITCOIN Â |Â âWith mounting interest from prominent investors and growing acceptance from regulators, bitcoin â" either the new gold or the next Dutch tulip craze, depending on who is being asked â" is at the center of the virtual money universe. Yet there are dozens of digital alternatives, like PeerCoin, Litecoin and anoncoin, whose backers point to advantages they say their currency has over bitcoin,â Nathaniel Popper reports in DealBook.
âIn the alternative galaxy of virtual currencies, newly created money can become worth millions of real dollars in a few months. All the PeerCoin in existence, for example, was worth nearly $40 million last week. Programmers and mathematicians release new entrants into the field almost every week. On one popular exchange, Cryptsy, 60 different coins can now be traded. Almost all of these altcoins, as they are known, have fed on the stratospheric rise of bitcoin.â
SIZING UP JPMORGANâS $13 BILLION SETTLEMENT Â |Â The top lawyer at JPMorgan Chase had a bad taste in his mouth. Just days after JPMorgan reached a $13 billion settlement with the Justice Department over the bankâs sale of troubled mortgage securities to investors, Stephen Cutler, JPMorganâs general counsel, delivered a harsh assessment of the governmentâs oversight of the financial industry. âWe should all be concerned that there doesnât seem to be a natural end point to how high fines could go,â Mr. Cutler said at an industry conference on Friday, according to Fortune. âOne hundred million dollars is still meaningful.â
And yet, Gretchen Morgenson writes in the Fair Game column in The New York Times, the settlement raises a big question: What took so long? Much of the statement of facts accompanying the deal âwas the same-old-same-old, a not-very-lively description of a corrupted Wall Street mortgage factory, based largely on some facts that have been in the public domain for years.â
ON THE AGENDA Â |Â Data on pending home sales in October is released at 10 a.m. Wilbur Ross is on CNBC at 8:10 a.m. Richard Kovacevich, the former chief executive of Wells Fargo, is on CNBC at 4 p.m. Nuance Communications and Palo Alto Networks report earnings after the market closes.
APPLE BUYS MAKER OF MOTION-TRACKING CHIPS Â |Â Apple has agreed to buy PrimeSense, a start-up based in Tel Aviv that makes chip technology for detecting movement, Bloomberg News reports. The companies had been ânegotiating a deal for about $350 million, one person familiar with the deal said last week,â according to Bloomberg. A spokeswoman for Apple confirmed the deal but declined to provide more details. Bloomberg writes that the deal fits Appleâs strategy of âbuying less well-known companies whose capabilities are folded into future products. PrimeSenseâs technology gives digital devices the ability to detect movements and objects, and then translates that into depth and color.â
Sale of T.G.I. Fridays Is Considered  | Carlson, the global hospitality and travel company, said on Friday that it had authorized a review of strategic alternatives including a possible sale of T.G.I. Fridays restaurants. DealBook »
Chrysler Moves Forward With I.P.O. Plan  | The Chrysler Group expects to set a price range for its initial public offering as early as this week and complete an I.P.O. by mid-December, putting pressure on the companyâs owners to reach a deal to allow Fiat, the majority owner, to buy full control before a listing, The Wall Street Journal reports. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Trafigura Sells $500 Million Stake in Africa Unit  | The commodity trading firm Trafigura said it sold a $500 million stake in Puma Energy, its African unit, to Angolan companies rather than raise money through a share sale, Reuters reports. REUTERS
Indian Units of Pfizer and Wyeth to Combine  | The Indian subsidiaries of the drug companies Pfizer and Wyeth plan to merge, the companies said on Saturday. REUTERS
Bloombergâs News Mission Shows Signs of Change  | Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York is preparing to rejoin a company âwhose core business, after two decades of heady growth, has slowed, and whose news division has more than doubled since he left,â The New York Times reports. âInterviews with current and former employees show that the business and news operations exist in uneasy tension, and occasionally collide.â NEW YORK TIMES
Banks Issue Warning Over a Proposed Rate Cut  | The Financial Times reports: âLeading U.S. banks have warned that they could start charging companies and consumers for deposits if the U.S. Federal Reserve cuts the interest it pays on bank reserves.â FINANCIAL TIMES
Big Investment Banks Still Need to Cut  | Given banksâ double-digit cost of capital, the bulge bracket is still frittering away shareholdersâ money, Dominic Elliott of Reuters Breakingviews writes. REUTERS BREAKINGVIEWS
Peter B. Lewis, Philanthropist Who Ran Progressive Auto Insurance, Dies at 80 Â |Â The New York Times writes: âPeter B. Lewis, who turned the 100-employee insurance firm co-founded by his father into one of the nationâs largest auto insurance companies, the Progressive Corporation, by insuring high-risk drivers and high-end sports cars, and who became an outspoken and sometimes quarrelsome supporter of liberal causes and the arts, died on Saturday at his home in Coconut Grove, Fla.â NEW YORK TIMES
For Jordan Belfort, a Moment in the Sun  | Jordan Belfort, the former boiler room kingpin who went to prison for stock manipulation, is portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the coming film âThe Wolf of Wall Street,â based on Mr. Belfortâs memoir. At one juice bar in Manhattan Beach, Mr. Belfort is something of a celebrity, New York magazine writes. NEW YORK
Skip Hop, Maker of Childrenâs Gear, Sells Majority Stake  | The investment is the latest by Fireman Capital, a five-year-old private equity firm that has had several big hits in recent years. DealBook »
Spain and Italy Attract Private Equity  | âSpain and Italy, two countries the private-equity industry had forgotten, could soon become a deal playground for European and U.S. buyout firms,â The Wall Street Journal writes. WALL STREET JOURNAL
Carlyle Is Said to Plan Sale of Eastern Broadcasting  | The Carlyle Group âis preparing to sell its controlling stake in Eastern Broadcasting Company, Taiwanâs biggest broadcaster, and is seeking as much as $700 million, people familiar with the matter said,â Bloomberg News reports. BLOOMBERG NEWS
Ackman Vows to Take Bet Against Herbalife âto the End of the Earthâ  | William A. Ackman said he had lost $400 million to $500 million on Herbalife, which he contends is a pyramid scheme. DealBook »
Influx of Tech Riches Prompts a Backlash in San Francisco  | The New York Times writes: âAs the center of the technology industry has moved north from Silicon Valley to San Francisco and the largess from tech companies has flowed into the city â" Twitterâs stock offering unleashed an estimated 1,600 new millionaires â" income disparities have widened sharply, housing prices have soared and orange construction cranes dot the skyline. The tech workers have, rightly or wrongly, received the blame.â NEW YORK TIMES
Shares of Vince Surge in Market Debut  | Shares of Vince, the fashion retailer owned by Sun Capital Partners, jumped more than 40 percent in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange. DealBook »
Brazil Raises $9.1 Billion in Privatizing 2 Airports  | Brazilâs government privatized two major airports, raising a total of 20.8 billion reais ($9.1 billion) on Friday, as the country makes infrastructure upgrades ahead of next yearâs World Cup. DealBook »
Echoes of the Dot-Com Boom  | âIs this time different? Out in Silicon Valley, many insist it is. But for the average investor, there are reasons for caution,â Nick Bilton writes in the Disruptions column on the Bits blog. NEW YORK TIMES BITS
Corporate Incubators Appear in Europe  | Big corporations in Europe are offering office space, contacts with prospective clients and often early stage investment to technology start-ups â" aiming to strike tech gold, Mark Scott reports on the Bits blog. NEW YORK TIMES BITS
Swiss Voters Reject Limits on Executive Pay  | Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a measure that would have put severe limits on executive pay, despite opinion polls showing widespread dismay about huge executive paychecks, The New York Times reports. NEW YORK TIMES
Government Adviser Says R.B.S. Profited From Struggling Businesses  | The Royal Bank of Scotland, which is majority owned by the British government, âhas been accused by a government adviser of pushing struggling small firms into its turnaround unit so it can charge higher fees and take control of their assets,â Reuters reports. REUTERS
Former Credit Suisse Executive Sentenced in Mortgage-Bond Case  | Kareem Serageldin, who led a group at Credit Suisse that traded in mortgage-backed securities, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for inflating the value of bonds during the housing crisis. DealBook »
Audit Board Finds Flaws in Reviews by Deloitte  | A regulator said that Deloitte & Touche, for the second consecutive year, had failed to correct deficiencies in its audit procedures to the regulatorâs satisfaction. DealBook »
Dealer Fees for Arranging Car Loans Are Drawing Scrutiny From U.S.  | Consumer advocates and regulators are concerned that the ability of dealers to decide how much to charge for arranging a loan has led to discrimination. DealBook »