Microsoft - Wisconsin Settlement; John Edwards: Trail Lawyer, Poverty Expert, Investment Banker
Just filed my claim to get some cash from Microsoft. I think the whole thing is ridiculous — I paid a reasonable price for decent software (and there were free alternatives at the time) and got a number of years of usage out of it. Now Microsoft is cutting me a check for more than $50 because of some class action lawsuit. I really don’t give a damn, but I’ll take a court-ordered handout from Bill Gates any day of the week.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll make anything from Fortress Investments going public…
- Edwards Hired by Fortress Investment Group (Business Week, October 2005)
- Nomura Purchases 15% Share of Fortress for $888m (Bloomberg, December 2006)
- Fortress Announces IPO — First in the US for a Hedge Fund (DJ MarketWatch, November 2006)
- Edwards Announces Resignation from Fortress Investment, Claims He “Doesn’t Think” He Will Benefit from IPO (CNBC Morning Call 28 December 2006 — See Video at Bottom; Transcript After the Jump)
- Fortress Investment’s Portfolio (Stockpickr.com)
- Microsoft Wisconsin Class Action Settlement Website: http://www.microsoftwisuit.com/
CNBC: …you do work for Fortress Investments, which is a combination of a hedge fund and also a private equity firm. They plan on going public. How much money will you potentially make when that happens?
Edwards: I don’t think I’ll make anything from them going public. They — I should tell you, first of all, that I resigned from Fortress effective yesterday because today I’m announcing as a candidate as president of the United States. But having said that, I’m very proud of my relationship with the principals at Fortress, who are the people I know best. They’re good people, they’re friends of mine, and I hope at least they will support me in this presidential campaign. I believe they will.
January 2nd, 2007 at 8.56 pm
has it occurred to you that maybe the senator actually doesn’t think he’ll make anything from fortress going public? that maybe, when events play out, we’ll see that indeed he doesn’t land some windfall?
and besides, what would you have him do? sell off all of his investments, give away everything he’s earned, and try to raise his kids and take care of his wife off of nothing? why beat up on the guy just because he’s loaded? you can care deeply about people who suffer even if you don’t yourself suffer. you can come up with policy to improve the lives of millions of americans without being dirt poor. you can have ideas about how to make america reach its potential and exceed its own expectations in new and different ways without being an idiot about your own economic opportunity.
good for senator edwards for effectively managing his money. good for him for having capital that he invests wisely. let him give more americans a chance to do what he’s done!
January 2nd, 2007 at 8.58 pm
Good for you, you little true-believer. Keep up that idealism.
January 13th, 2007 at 9.08 pm
[…] [As a sidenote, Democratic Presidential candidate John Edwards recently resigned from Fortress. He told CNBC (watch the video) that he didn’t expect to make any money from a Fortress IPO.] […]