MT. GOX FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY  | As feared, Mt. Gox, the troubled exchange for the virtual currency Bitcoin, filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday and said that it might have lost 750,000 of its customers’ coins in a hacking attack, Hiroko Tabuchi writes in DealBook. The Tokyo-based exchange halted trading earlier this week.
Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy, which is similar to Chapter 11 in the United States, means that a bankruptcy supervisor will be expected to develop a restructuring plan and will be responsible for handling any payment of claim distributions to its creditors. The exchange has liabilities of 6.5 billion yen, or $64 million, compared with total assets of 3.84 billion yen, the company said. It has 127,000 creditors.
JOS. A. BANK REJECTS MEN’S WEARHOUSE BID  | For what seems like the billionth time, Jos. A. Bank and Men’s Wearhouse are at odds. In what is just the latest development in the continuing battle between the two men’s retailers, Jos. A. Bank said on Thursday that its board had rejected Men’s Wearhouse’s newest takeover offer, worth nearly $1.8 billion. But in a twist, Jos. A. Bank said it was willing to meet to try to agree on a higher price, Michael J. de la Merced writes in DealBook.
It all seems to blend together these days, so here’s a high-level recap: Jos. A. Bank made an unsolicited and ultimately failed bid to buy Men’s Wearhouse, its larger rival, months ago. Soon after, Men’s Wearhouse went hostile with its own takeover offer.
Then earlier this month, Jos. A. Bank announced plans to buy Eddie Bauer for $825 million, which, not surprisingly, frustrated Men’s Wearhouse, which then raised its takeover bid to $63.50 from $57.50. Somewhere, someday, the retail gods may smile â€" Jos. A. Bank’s willingness to open talks certainly seems like a good sign â€" but for now, alas, the battle rages on.
OCWEN EMPIRE UNDER FIRE  | William C. Erbey, the chairman of the mortgage servicing giant Ocwen Financial, has been called smart, brilliant and clever by his peers. But these days, regulators aren’t so sure. Ocwen, they say, may be mishandling some of the mortgages it now services. And just this week, they raised questions about potential conflicts of interest between Ocwen and four other publicly traded companies where Mr. Erbey is chairman. In effect, Mr. Erbey’s enterprise “has become a complex financial services group, but without the regulatory scrutiny that a bank must face,†Michael Corkery and Peter Eavis write in DealBook.
Critics say the relationship between these five companies has led to concern that shareholders from some of the companies are benefiting at the expense of shareholders of the other companies, but Mr. Erbey denies these claims. The company says the recent regulatory scrutiny has obscured the company’s relative success at modifying mortgages. “I feel good about what we do, and we make a lot of money doing it,†Mr. Erbey said.
Investors are also concerned. For struggling homeowners, Ocwen steps in and can modify loans to make them more affordable. But investors say they are taking unnecessary losses when Ocwen modifies these loans, Peter Eavis writes in DealBook. And here arises a conundrum.
“The firm may in fact be more efficient, and more supportive of homeowners, than its rivals. As the regulators lean on Ocwen, it may hamper its ability to grow, leaving more servicing in the hands of large banks, which were criticized for the way they handled the torrent of foreclosures after the financial crisis,†Mr. Eavis writes, adding, “at the same time, however, the investors’ concerns cannot be ignored. They may be less likely to put money behind mortgages if they fear that companies like Ocwen won’t properly represent their interests.â€
THE POLAR VORTEX MAY BE SLOWING DOWN THE ECONOMY  | Two weeks ago, a snowstorm forced Janet L. Yellen, the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, to postpone testifying before the Senate Banking Committee. But the hearing may not have been the weather’s only victim. During the hearing, which was finally held on Thursday, Ms. Yellen said that cold weather had contributed to the recent run of disappointing economic data, but that the Fed had not been able to determine whether the harsh winter across the eastern half of the nation completely explained the slowdown, Binyamin Appelbaum writes in The New York Times.
“What we need to do and will be doing in the weeks ahead is trying to get a firmer handle on exactly how much of that soft data can be explained by weather and what portion, if any, is due to a softer outlook,†Ms. Yellen told the Senate Banking Committee. The comments were a shift from Ms. Yellen’s testimony two weeks ago before the House Financial Services Committee, Mr. Appelbaum writes. But she did not change her description of the Fed’s plans, saying it probably would keep reducing its monthly purchases of Treasury and mortgage-backed securities.
Thus far, the Fed has stayed the course on tapering because it has concluded that job growth is increasing and the economy is improving. But Ms. Yellen also said that Fed officials were looking on a broader range of economic indicators to shape their policy, providing the first public hint from a Fed official of any misgivings about that trajectory.
ON THE AGENDA  | The second estimate of fourth-quarter G.D.P. is released at 8:30 a.m. January’s pending home sales index is out at 10 a.m. Richard W. Fisher, the president of the Dallas Fed, speaks at 5 a.m. in Zurich, Switzerland. Four regional Fed presidents sit on panels in New York â€" Jeremy C. Stein, a Fed governor, and Narayana Kocherlakota, the president of the Minneapolis Fed, take the mike at 10:30 a.m. Charles L. Evans, the president of the Chicago Fed, and Charles I. Plosser, the president of the Philadelphia Fed, are on at 1:30 p.m. James Bullard, the president of the St. Louis Fed, is on CNBC at 7 a.m. Neel Kashkari, who oversaw the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program and is running for governor of California, is on Bloomberg TV at 1 p.m.
REGULATOR PURSUES THIRD PERSON IN LIBOR CASE  | The Financial Conduct Authority on Thursday issued a warning against an third unidentified individual at an unidentified bank on allegations that the person colluded with another trader in an attempt to influence the London interbank offer rate, or Libor. “If that sounds vague, it is because the authority cannot identify them or their firm, but it has to give a warning within three years of the start of an investigation,†Jenny Anderson writes in DealBook.
The latest charges come amid a continuing global investigation into various interest rate benchmarks, not to be confused with the wide-ranging inquiry examining the possible rigging of foreign exchange rates. Britain’s Serious Fraud and the United States Department of Justice also have investigations under way.
KEVIN ROOSE STOPS BY ‘THE DAILY SHOW’  | Kevin Roose, the author of “Young Money,†appeared on Thursday night on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart†to discuss his new book. Watch the full interview here. The show also featured a segment on the collapse of the Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, followed by one on Credit Suisse’s role in helping American clients hide billions in assets from United States tax authorities. Looks as if someone may have been reading DealBook.
Patton Boggs in Early Merger Talks With Squire Sanders  | The possible combination of the two law firms comes as Patton Boggs is trying to navigate changes in the legal industry since the 2008 financial crisis.
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Reuters Breakingviews »
Hulu Sells Japanese Business  | Hulu announced in a blog post that it was selling its Japanese operation to Nippon TV, ReCode writes. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
RECODE
3M Is Said to Seek Buyers for Electronics Business  | 3M, whose products include Scotch tape and orthodontic braces, is said to be seeking buyers for part of its electronics business, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Wells Fargo to Cut 700 Jobs From Mortgage Business  | Wells Fargo is planning to cut 700 more jobs from its mortgage unit as demand for buying and refinancing property continues to fade, Bloomberg News writes. The bank eliminated 250 jobs in January and may make further cuts in the coming months.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Taxing Big Banks May Not Be the Solution  | Perhaps the greatest danger of a bank tax like the one proposed by Representative Dave Camp of Michigan “is that it could steal momentum from setting new capital requirements and taking other steps that would actually make the financial system more resilient,†Bloomberg View writes.
BLOOMBERG VIEW
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Berkshire in Advanced Talks to Buy Catalina Marketing  | The private equity firm Berkshire Partners is in the last stage of negotiations to buy the Catalina Marketing Corporation, which offers personalized digital shopping for consumers, from the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman in a deal expected to be valued at $2 billion, Reuters reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation.
REUTERS
SeaWorld Questions Ethics of ‘Blackfish’ Investigator  | SeaWorld Entertainment, which the Blackstone Group took public last year, has come under fire after a documentary criticized its practice of holding whales in captivity. Now, the company is firing back, The New York Times writes.
NEW YORK TIMES
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Loeb Sees Opportunity in Market Fluctuation  | Daniel S. Loeb, the billionaire manager of the hedge fund Third Point, said he expected increased market volatility this year, which would provide opportunities to add to his portfolio, Bloomberg News reports.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Man Group Announces $115 Million Share Buyback  | Shares of the Man Group, the world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund, rose the most in more than three years after the fund announced a $115 million stock buyback and said clients added money to its funds for the second straight quarter, Bloomberg News writes.
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Chinese Auction House Raises $331 Million in Hong Kong I.P.O.  | The offering by Poly Culture bolsters the prospects of the company’s auction business in the world’s fastest-growing art market and allows it to expand its cinema, theater and performance hall operations.
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HubSpot Preparing for I.P.O. Â |Â HubSpot, an online marketing software company, is working with Morgan Stanley on a potential deal for its initial public offering, The Wall Street Journal writes, citing unidentified people familiar with the situation. The company is expected to go public this year.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
Saudi Arabia to List Biggest Bank  | Saudi Arabia’s finance minister announced that the country planned to float a 15 percent stake in National Commercial Bank, Saudi Arabia’s biggest bank by assets, The Financial Times writes. Much of the initial public offering is expected to be reserved for locals at a marked-down price, as is customary in the Gulf.
FINANCIAL TIMES
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Start-Up That Analyzes Twitter for Wall Street Raises Financing  | Eagle Alpha has raised $1.5 million in financing to expand in a growing field of sifting through social media and the web to glean information on stocks.
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Institutional Venture Partners Opens San Francisco Office  | Institutional Venture Partners is opening a new office in San Francisco, a move that reflects increasing venture capital investment there compared with Silicon Valley, The Wall Street Journal writes.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Another Lesson From the Fed’s Crisis Transcripts  | The release of the transcripts of the Federal Open Market Committee meetings offers an opportunity to look at how analysis of the government decision-making process is changing, writes David Zaring in an Another View column.
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Fed Faced Curse of Unanimity During Crisis  | The Federal Reserve’s failures in 2008 may have been rooted in cultural handicaps including a homogeneous group of decision makers and a distaste for disagreements, Binyamin Appelbaum writes in the Economix blog.
NEW YORK TIMES ECONOMIX
A Dire Economic Forecast Based on New Assumptions  | This year’s economic forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office were worse than last year’s because the office stopped treating the recent slow years as outliers, Floyd Norris writes in the High & Low Finance column.
NEW YORK TIMES
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