Second Opinion

The Problem With Corporate Boards: I tend to agree with Footnoted.org and the authors of a new book called "Money for Nothing," that boards of directors often seem to take up time and space and provide little value to shareholders, even as they collect hefty salaries for what can charitably be called a part-time job. (Footnoted) Art Imitates Life: Speakeasy, a blog run by WSJ, has a great story on the actor who plays David Wallace, the CFO of Dunder Mifflin, in The Office. Turns out he's a real life investment banker at a wealth management advisory firm in L.A. This interview on his double life is pretty great. (Speakeasy) 50-1!: Berkshire Hathaway received approval for a giant stock split. (Dealbook) But there's also another stock split Buffet doesn't want to talk about. (24/7 Wall Street) Big Story: Today was the Obama financial reform package. Mean Street has a nice linkbait-y post titled "Obama is Killing America by Killing Wall Street." Melodramatic, but I'll bite. (Deal Journal) One MBA Candidate's Agenda. Apparently he isn't going to business school just for a job. I'm confused. (BusinessWeek)

Oracle and Obama: Massachusetts voters may have had it with some of the Obama administration's policies. But it appears that Obama still has a fan in Omaha. (Deal Journal) Should Private Equity Be Investing in Residential Real Estate? Time thinks not. (Time) Looking to "Capitalise": Blackstone has applied for a British banking license. (Reuters) Fireworks: Cisco, Twitter See More Technology Takeovers for 2010. (Bloomberg) Amazing: Gary Fencik, once a hard-hitting safety with the Chicago Bears and now a partner with Adams Street Partners, turned down a chance to join some of his 1985 Bears' teammates in reprising their well-known "Super Bowl Shuffle" rap song and video for a Boost Mobile ad. (PE Beat) What Wall Street Really Fears: That Lloyd Blankfein, "the least-appealing CEO on Wall Street is leading the effort to change the public perception that the system is rigged against the little guy suffering through 10 percent unemployment while the big banks party on." (Daily Beast)

Steep Climb to Mt. Kellet: A Star Goldman banker's struggle is showing "how tough it can be for hot-shot Wall Street bankers to strike out on their own as investors, especially in volatile Asia." (Reuters) Crazies on the Internet: A profile of VC-backed Yelp in Inc. magazine begins with a ridiculous story of one shopowner going mad over Yelp reviews, taking the fight from the internet to the streets (really). (Inc.) Want to Feel Old? Here's a list of "Timeline twins." For example, Listening to Michael Jackson's Thriller today is equivalent to listening to Elvis Presley's first album (1956) at the time of Thriller's release in 1982. (Kottke) The Downfail of Dykstra: At least his creditors can't take away his nickname: Nails. (Business Insider) $$$: NY financiers to reap $64 bln in bonuses in 2010 (Reuters) It's Worse There: UK Buyouts Hit 25-year Low As Debt Dries Up - Study (WSJ)

Wow: Remember when Steve Jobs said the Segway would be bigger than the PC? Yeahhhh. It was quietly sold with little fanfare on Christmas eve, Dealscape reports. (Via @MKFlynn) Job Interview Techniques: Tips on how to research financial companies before interviewing with them. (FINS) Compensation: A report released by JobSearchDigest.com, publishers of Private Equity Jobs Digest, reveals that private equity and venture capital firms take very different approaches to compensation based on the size of their funds. More details here. Steve Rattner: Why are the former car czar/PE baron/NY Times editor/Democrat and his wife supporting Harold Ford? Because Kirsten Gillibrand broke his wife's brothers heart, apparently. (Gawker, WaPo) Hiring 2.0: Is it better to hire someone who gets social media but may not understand business strategy or to hire someone who understands business strategy and teach them social media? Tac Anderson asks his Twitter contingency and the answers are interesting. (New Comm Biz) Speaking of Social Media: Here are the 20 Best Marketing And Social Media Blogs By Women. (Forbes) Testing Rocking Waters: BC Partners seeks raise €5.8bn, the biggest fund since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. (FT)

Behind the Skype: Bloomberg digs into Skype's founders relationship with eBay, Andressen, and Silver Lake. (Bloomberg) Poor, Poor Rich Banker: "You're a senior-level bonus baby of Wall Street. How do you cope with what's happening to you: the angry blogs, the editorials demanding contrition, the tax threats, the suggestion that your bonus is an ill-gotten gain, the inquiry commissions, the "vilification" in Jamie Dimon's words?" (Dealscape) Men and Women Respond to Stress Differently: Finding calls for gender-specific treatments for some diseases, researchers say (BusinessWeek) The Lloyd Face: Lloyd Blankfein showed an amazing variety of facial expressions during the Financial Crisis Inquiry yesterday, Dealbreaker has a breakdown. (Dealbreaker) Name Drama: J.W. Childs' apparel company JA Apparel is embroiled in a lawsuit with the company's founder and namesake, Joseph Abboud. (WSJ)

Big Story of the Day: Congress is grilling the bank CEOs on compensation. Here's some of the best coverage: WSJ: Banks Admit Missteps Amid Grilling, Elliot Spitzer on HuffPo: 10 Questions The Financial Crisis Commission Must Ask, Dealbook: More Questions for the Finance Chiefs, Dealbook: Wall St. Must Pay ‘Mad Scientists' Well, Lobbyist Says, Newsweek: The subsidy that won't die. Management's Ticket to Ride: Deal Professor breaks down the management roll-over deal in Apollo's buyout of amusement park operator Cedar Fair. (Dealbook) The AIG Shortfall Agreement: Using the word `Redacted' about 840 times in a single 16-page document is begging for trouble. (FT Alphaville via Dealscape) Here comes an M&A boom. Better to be early than late. (Michael Mauboussin via Abnormal Returns) Dolla dolla: Bain Capital has cashed in on more of its Dollarama chips after being public for only 3 months. (The Deal Pipeline) $87,000 Rug: CIT's executive offices may be getting a makeover. John Thain is in the running for the firm's CEO position. (WSJ)

Everyone Hates Goldman: Everyone, except for MBA students, who all still want to end up there. (Bloomberg) And maybe the firm's senior management, if they are in fact required to give to charity. Ups and Downs: Wellington Fund declares that Canada's private equity industry is on fire. Meanwhile, the U.S. market is anemic. But Mergers & Acquisitions says we need to put things in perspective. Wall Street Bonus Mad Libs: Canned outrage, basically. Mildly funny. (LolFed) Tale of Two Entrepreneurs: Ah, the lemonade stand metaphor of life. (Seth Godin) Reminds me of this lovely lemonade stand metaphor for the finanicial crisis. Back to DIY: All eyes are on VC-backed Etsy as its founder pulls a Steve Jobs, returning to the CEO role after some time away from the company. (Dealscape)

A Q&A with an Anonymous Facebook Employee: "I'm not sure when exactly it was deprecated, but we did have a master password at one point where you could type in any user's user ID, and then the password. I'm not going to give you the exact password, but with upper and lower case, symbols, numbers, all of the above, it spelled out ‘Chuck Norris,' more or less."(The Rumpus) Walking Away: Voluntary defaults by homeowners are a new phenomenon. It's being called irresponsible. Businesses - in particular Wall Street banks - make such calculations routinely. What's the difference? New York Times sums up the debate nicely. (NYT) That's Mr. Comptroller to You: John Liu, New York's new comptroller, is being called a prima donna, thanks to some new presidential-like formalities he's implemented. (Ny Post) Wonder Women: The 49 Most Notable Female Internet Heroes of 2009. (The Next Women) Indefensible? The Street.com says that defense companies' best days are over. (The Street) Servicey: Best places to power lunch in New York. (Clusterstock)

Aww: Steve Schwarzman loves romantic comedies. So much so that he hired a "seat saver" for him and his wife at the movies. (Dealbreaker) Why Should MBA Students Twitter? Here's one B-school-goers take. (B School Voyage) Thank Ayn Rand: Stumbled upon a blog called "The Mess That Greenspan Made," which today outlines how Bernanke is making the mess even worse. (The Mess That Greenspan Made) Corporate Pigs: The 15 most hated corporations in America include PE-backed Hertz at number 3. (24/7 Wall Street) Patriotism Test: Moody's has been mulling a fascinating question: should they introduce a formal rating of "social cohesion" into sovereign debt indices, when they judge whether a government is likely to default on its debt - or not? (FT) Earning Their Keep: M&A Bankers are worth the money. (Deal Journal)

Hubris Soars, Crisis Wasted: Bloomberg Op-ed on bonuses, reform-- The past year was filled with opportunities to fix the structural problems of the U.S. financial system-to little avail. Meanwhile, big banks are once again reaping extraordinary profits. (Bloomberg) Coller Capital Study: Return expectations, and enthusiasm for PE firms are down. (All About Alpha) Replacing Dodd: Tim Johnson of South Dakota is in line to become the chamber's Banking Committee chairman next year. (Bloomberg) Awwww: The Newark security breech from this weekend was caused by a man who slipped into a secure area to give a woman one last goodbye kiss. Hope that kiss made his ladyfriend happy because it pissed off a LOT of others. (Reuters) Merger Fail: Time Warner's merger with AOL may have been the worst merger of the century but there are plenty of contenders for that tile. (Telegraph) Have Funds, Will Travel: Is it possible to be a nomadic private equity pro? (Private Equiteer) Carried Interest: You knew it was only a matter of time. Well, that time is now. (WSJ)