What we’re reading (12/14)
“Jamie Dimon May Be Open To Relocating Chunks Of JPMorgan Chase From NYC” (New York Post). “When Jamie Dimon took over as CEO of JPMorgan Chase 15 years ago, he noticed something strange: Occupying the bank’s most expensive real estate, with prime Park Avenue views, was a floor full of computer servers. Dimon, according to JPMorgan insiders, asked why couldn’t those same servers be located in, say, Columbus, Ohio, where the real estate costs are much lower? I can’t tell you where JPMorgan eventually put those servers other than to say they aren’t located in the Big Apple anymore. And the same will soon be said of many other banks and financial businesses now seeking to move out of the once-friendly confines of New York City, which isn’t so friendly anymore.”
“The War On Cocoa: Hershey Co. Accused Of Not Upholding Sustainability Efforts In West Africa” (NBC News). “It has been a bitter holiday season for the maker of foil-wrapped Hershey's Kisses. For nearly a month, a battle has been raging between the Hershey chocolate company and the West African farmers who harvest many of its cocoa beans. And it appears that the long-disenfranchised farmers may have scored a rare win. The dispute began in November, when cocoa industry traders noticed that an unnamed source had purchased so many cocoa beans in the futures market that prices rose by more than 30 percent.”
“Google Suffers Widespread Outage Affecting Gmail, YouTube, Other Services” (Wall Street Journal). “More than a dozen Google services, including Gmail and YouTube, were offline in swaths of the globe Monday morning, interrupting access for both individuals and businesses. The Alphabet Inc.-owned company’s services showed errors for users attempting to sign in or access their emails or their files using Google’s Drive services, according to social-media postings from users. On YouTube, the home page was replaced with an illustration of a monkey with a hammer, with the title, ‘oops.’”
“A Hedge Fund Vet Makes A Fresh Start In The Pandemic” (Institutional Investor). “It’s been a good 2020 for John Thaler, who decided to stage a comeback in January after shutting down JAT Capital in 2015. After delivering eye-popping returns so far this year, Thaler’s new firm, Hampton Road Capital Management, is forming a strategic relationship with Leucadia Asset Management, the asset management division of Jefferies Financial Group…[a]ccording to an investor letter distributed early Friday and obtained by Institutional Investor, Hampton Road is up 39.4 percent net year-to-date through December 10.”
“Beware These 15 Worst States For Taxes On Your Retirement” (Yahoo! Finance). “Maybe you want to spend your retirement somewhere sunny. Or maybe a view of the mountains is more your style. But before you start making plans, it’s worth looking at the tax situation in any state you’re considering. Some places impose significantly harsher taxes on retirees than others.”
