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Tom Taulli
California - http://taulli.com

Tom Taulli is the author of various books on finance, including The Complete M&A Handbook (Random House) and Investing in IPO's (Bloomberg Press). In addition to his writing, Mr. Taulli has appeared on high-profile television venues such as CNN, CNBC and Bloomberg TV, and has been quoted in the various print media sources such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and LA Times.

A study from American DataBank indicates that as much as 95% of all businesses in the US suffer from some type of business theft. In fact, with the slowing economy, the risks may be even greater.

Actually, I've known some examples where a company had to shut down because of the shenanigans of an employee (keep in mind that the most serious examples of business theft are often from employees).

But there are some precautions you can take (you can find out more details at BusinessTheft.com, which is an excellent resource). Let's take a look:

Background checks: Before hiring someone, it's a good idea to do a background check. Focus on verifying the resume and criminal checks. Also, has the person filed suits against prior employers?

Because of the complexities, it's a good idea to use a third-party investigation service. There are also some good online offerings, such as HireRight.

Data security: What if your customer records were breached? Or, what if the corporate bank account was drained?

Yes, you need to secure your data assets. Sure, this can be expensive – requiring extra software and probably some consulting – but it is critical.

Physical security: If you operate an office or a retail front, you should consider some level of physical security, such as cameras. With the growth of online technologies, video surveillance is becoming much more affordable. This is also the case with alarm systems.

Theft Insurance: No security system is full-proof. This is why you might consider purchasing theft insurance. Basically, this provides more coverage than typical insurance policies.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Even though social networking and widgets are pervasive -- and useful -- the ultimate business model is a bit fuzzy. But, for some VCs, there is still hope.

Look at KickApps, which has a full-platform to build cool widgets. This week, the company announced a Series C round of $14 million. The investors include North Atlantic Capital, Softbank, Spark Capital, and Prism Ventures.

The deal is definitely gutsy. After all, online advertising looks particularly vulnerable -- and even top social networking sites, such as Facebook, are falling below expectations.

However, VCs are supposed to look at the long haul. So, with the money, KickApps can continue to forge its strength in the marketplace, with arrangements with more than 48,000 websites across a myriad of industries. Some of the customers include Budget Travel, New York Knicks, and Guinness World Records.

The company's platform is powerful -- there are strong video capabilities -- but also relatively easy to use. No doubt, this is usually a good combination for a new technology.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Increasingly, Google, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) YouTube is becoming more like TV. For example, the typical size of its videos is now increasing to 960 pixels (or an aspect ratio of 16:9, which compares to 4:3). According to the YouTube blog: "This new, wider player is in a widescreen aspect ratio which we hope will provide you with a cleaner, more powerful viewing experience."

As should be expected, there are some concerns. That is, what will happen to those videos that were meant for smaller screens? Well, YouTube will keep the same size but there will be black space around the video (which may be somewhat distracting).

But such things are natural as technology marches on. Apparently, more and more users are uploading wider screen videos to YouTube.

According to an interview with Chase Norlin, who operates Pixsy:

"It makes perfect sense for YouTube to expand into wide format and HD online video delivery for two reasons: the decreasing cost of HD camcorders for consumers to create and distribute higher quality 'semi-pro' video content, and, the increased interest among professional content owners to distribute their movies and TV shows in the highest quality format to end users online."

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Last night, I was at the Bloblive event in Philly where people go on stage and talk about their cool business ideas. Interestingly enough, the event organizers used Facebook to invite people. And, at the event, there was a live Twitter feed, where users could make comments.

It was cool stuff, which shows the effective use of integrating social media.

Well, speaking of integrating things, it looks like Facebook has had some serious discussions to buy Twitter. Iin light of the slowing economy, I'm sure that these discussions are popping up among many social media companies.

The proposed price tag? A cool $500 million.

However, it was not for cash; instead, it was for Facebook stock. With the fall in equities, it's a good bet that the stock is worth much less than its previous valuation of $15 billion. Twitter wasn't impressed.

Indeed, Twitter still has lots of momentum and appears to be the next dot-com darling. With its growing user base, there should be opportunities to monetize things, which could help bolster the valuation.

If Twitter really wants to sell out, its best alternative is probably to go to an established player that has a solid stock value and cash in the bank such as a Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) or Google (NASDAQ: GOOG).

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

The main purpose of hedge funds is to generate absolute returns. That is, even if the general market is down, hedge funds should still post positive returns as these vehicles have much leeway in terms of investment approaches, such as futures and short selling.

But this theory has been a bust. Many top hedge funds have sustained double-digit losses over the past few months.

As a result, investors are yanking their money from hedge funds. In fact, in October, the hedge fund asset base shrunk by 9% to $1.56 trillion according to Hedge Fund Research Inc. What's more, the average return for hedge funds in October was a grim -6%. For the year, the average loss is 16%.

The biggest losers -- in terms of lost assets -- have been the funds of hedge funds. Essentially, these are funds that invest in other funds. This means higher fees, and, unfortunately, it looks like this may also mean further reduced returns.

Keep in mind that hedge funds have posted losses for five consecutive months, which is a record. With continued volatility, the streak could stretch into November, leading to even more redemptions that will certainly continue to put pressure on the markets.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

A recent piece in The Wall Street Journal had a grim headline: "Extinction Threatens Yellow Pages Publishers." As should be no surprise, consumers are moving away from traditional yellow-pages and instead using the internet, going to places like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). In fact, it looks like spending on yellow pages advertising will plunge by 39% over the next four years, according to research from Borrell Associates.

This makes it all the more important that you have a strong web presence.

These days, there are good hosting services, such as Web.com, that help you take care of the basics. But it can be expensive to add dynamic elements to your website. Often, it means hiring a web consultant.

But there are alternatives. Take Caspio, which provides a web-based system that makes it easy to create your own web applications. Its latest offering is called the "Website Marketing Suite." With it, you can add such capabilities as:

I recently attended Salesforce.com's (NYSE: CRM) annual conference, Dreamforce. The place was packed, with nearly 10,000 people. The atmosphere was certainly an antidote to the grimness in the tech community.

Then again, this week Salesforce.com announced its quarterly results -- and they were particularly strong (especially in light of the size of the company). Revenues came to $276 million, up 43% over the past year. Earnings spiked 60% to $0.08 per share and there were 4,100 new customers.

At the conference, the big message was "the cloud" (in fact, Salesforce.com refers to itself as " the enterprise cloud computing company"). Essentially, the company is positioning itself as the key platform for business software, which is completely web-based.

Interestingly enough, this appears to be attractive to cash-strapped customers. After all, there are no large up-front costs. Moreover, there are no ongoing costs for things like servers. Another key benefit is customization (which is done through Force.com).

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

Years ago, I was a subscriber to PC Magazine. For those in the tech business, it was a must-have publication.

But of course, with the emergence of the Internet – and the explosion of free resources – I eventually cancelled my subscription. And so did many others.

So, finally PC Magazine is going completely digital (this is according to a decision from the parent corporation, Ziff Davis Media). The last edition will be January 2009.

In a way, PC Magazine is a part of tech history. After all, the magazine got its start back in 1982, when IBM launched its PCs and Bill Gates was in the early stages of building the Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) empire. All in all, the magazine had a great ride.

The good news is that PC Magazine has also done a fine job of transitioning to the Web. For example, the online network includes other valuable properties like Gearlog. In fact, about 80% of the profits come from the websites.

Despite a slowing economy, Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU) continues to eke out growth. In the latest quarter, revenues increased 8% to $481 million.

The good news is that the company has a diversified array of revenue streams – such as with tax preparation, payroll and small business software – that have strong market positions and customer loyalty.

Unfortunately, it looks like the U.S. economy is getting worse – and that means some more weakness for Intuit. Going into the next quarter, the guidance is for revenue growth of 3% to 5%.

Essentially, there are three main drags. First, there has been a fall in merchant transaction volume, which is probably a result of the deterioration of consumer spending. Next, the number of new QuickBooks users has fallen -- perhaps a key reason is that people have a difficulty getting credit to start up businesses. Finally, there are slowdowns in segments like real estate and Quicken.

So this week, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) agreed to exercise its option to double its position in China Construction Bank (CCB), which is the #3 financial institution in China. The stake comes to about 19.1%.

Keep in mind that Bank of America got a sweet discount on the option. Thus, the position is in-the-money – the investment has tripled in value to $14.5 billion -- and it may be tempting for the firm to start dumping shares. In fact, shares of China Construction Bank have taken a hit because of the this possibility.

And, as for Bank of America, it could be a savvy move. Of course, the firm had to slash its dividend and must integrate the huge acquisitions of Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) and Countrywide. At the same time, Bank of America's stock price continues to deteriorate. So, bagging a couple extra billion is probably a good bet right now.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

It's been "shock and awe" for the financial system over the past few months. Even seemingly invincible companies like GE (NYSE: GE) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) have not been immune. As a result, there has been a tremendous deflation of equity values across the globe.

Unfortunately, the game has also changed for your business. It's much more difficult to get debt or equity financing, and it may even be impossible, at least for now. Customers are having difficulties paying invoices. And, as for finding new customers, this is particularly tough.

So, in light of everything, what is the value of your business? Well, keep in mind that, for the most part, the value of a business is dependent on its cash flow. So long as this remains strong and long-lasting, you are likely to weather the storm. If anything, you could be in a nice position to capitalize on the situation, such as by buying companies, hiring employees and in making new investments.

But this is the rare exception. In fact, even some of the growth darlings are having issues. For example, the data service, VCExperts.com, has recently launched a new offering – called the Valuation Ticker – that provides valuations of venture-backed companies. Essentially, the system compares private companies to public indexes, such as the NASDAQ and S&P 500. Here's a look at a sample, with valuations over the last ten months:

• Facebook: $12.4B (12/31/2007), $6.9B (10/31/08) -- 44%
• Slide: $545.2M (12/31/07), $376.6M (10/31/08) -- 31%
• Yardbarker: $18.1M (03/03/2008), $14.2M (10/31/08) -- 22%
• Going: $21.9M (5/07/08), $15.2M (10/31/08) -- 31%

This week, some of the top veterans in private equity -- TPG's David Bonderman, Carlyle's David Rubenstein, and KKR's George Roberts -- got together at a conference in Hong Kong. And, all in all, it was fairly depressing (hey, I guess that's what happens when you lose billions and billions of dollars).

Take Bonderman. He thinks the downturn will be protracted, calling it an L-shaped recession (the more common description is a V-shaped recession, which means there is a strong snapback). In fact, he thinks U.S. unemployment will hit 10% or so.

Then again, keep in mind that Bonderman lost about $1.3 billion on his six month investment in Washington Mutual.

Despite all this, Bonderman still has an appetite for investments. For example, he's focusing on the debt securities from hedge funds. Because of massive redemptions, the prices are at distressed levels.

Rubenstein also gave a grim presentation (he thinks the downturn can last several years). But, he is still bullish on some opportunities, especially in Asia. For example, he thinks China offers some compelling valuations and that the country may become more open to outside investments.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.

On the Q3 earnings conference call for Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE: FIG) -- a top alternative investment firm -- there was an interesting discussion of the recent volatility in the financial markets. For example, between 2003 to 2007, the S&P 500 only had two days where the markets moved 4% in a day. However, in October of this year, there were 20 of 23 days where the S&P had intraday moves of greater than 4% (one day had a 10% move).

As a result, it's no surprise that the Q3 results for Fortress were lackluster. The firm reported a loss of $20 million, or $0.04 per share, which compares to a profit of $111 million, or $0.26 per share in the same period a year ago.

In fact, Fortress hedge funds have been hemorrhaging. That is, investors have requested $4.5 billion in redemptions, which accounts for about a quarter of assets. Unfortunately, it looks like there will be more redemptions over the next couple quarters.

As for the private equity funds, things are much better. After all, there are long-term lock-ups on such vehicles. No doubt, these assets will be a rich source of ongoing management fees. And, when markets come back, there are likely to be incentive fees.

In light of the wrenching markets, it's likely to be a long slog. And this is not comforting for investors. Keep in mind that Fortress carries $675 million in debt, which could be in jeopardy of a covenant violation -- because of deteriorating cash flows.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Streetsmart Guide to Short Selling: Techniques the Pros Use to Profit in Any Market. He is also the founder of BizEquity, a valuation website.