Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Mar 5, 2018

choi

(1) Michael McDonald and Tatiana Freitas with Ken Parks, The Harvard Bet That Went Splat.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/a ... ugar-and-eucalyptus

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: How the university  invested in Brazilian tomatoes, Australian cotton, and Romanian timber -- and lost $1 billion
(b) splat (n; etymology: imitative): "a splattering or slapping sound"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/splat
(c) The online version is identical to print.

(d) "Six years ago, Jane Mendillo, then head of Harvard's endowment, spent a week in Brazil, flying in a turboprop plane to survey some of the university's growing holdings of forest and farmland. * * * Harvard bet the farm in Brazil and lost."
(i) bet the farm: "North American informal  risk everything that one owns on a bet, investment, or enterprise"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/bet_the_farm
(ii) bet the farm on it: "US, informal —said to show confidence in an anticipated outcome  <They want to start their own restaurant, but they're not willing to bet the farm on it>"
https://www.merriam-webster.com/ ... he%20farm%20on%20it

(e) "its current endowment chief, NP 'Narv' Narvekar"

NP or Narv Narvekar is the CEO of Harvard Management Company, inc (HMC) since 2016. Prior to that he was the head of Columbia counterpart (2002-2016). Indian-born (from India), his first and middle names are not spelled out (perhaps too difficult for Americans to pronounce).
(f) "Harvard over the past decade ended June 30 posted a 4.4 percent average annual return, among the worst of its peers."
(i) Dow Jones Industrial Average grew from 11,894 on Mar 7, 2008 to 24,884 today (Mar 6, 2018). It bottomed out in early 2009.
(ii) The $1,000 principal will become $1,551 with a 10-year annual 4.4% compound rate.

choi

(2) Noah Buhayar, Buffett's Beach House Is Still for Sale.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/a ... still-on-the-market
("A year ago, Buffett put his vacation home in Emerald Bay, a gated enclave next to Laguna Beach, Calif, up for sale. He bought the property in 1971 at the urging of his first wife, Susan, for $150,000—the equivalent of a bit less than $1 million today. * * * Over the years, Buffett upgraded the home, which was built in 1936. * * * His asking price: $11 million. * * * the almost-3,600-square-foot property’s six bedrooms and sea views. * * * the ocean view is partially obscured by other homes.")

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Why the billionaire's mystique may not be enough to sell the possible teardown
(b) The online version is identical to print.

(3) Fabiola Zerpa with Lucia Kassai and Andrew Rosati, Too Hungry to Pump Oil.  
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/f ... is-the-oil-industry

Quote:

"At 6:40 am, Pablo Ruiz squats at the gate of a decaying refinery in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, steeling himself for eight Sisyphean hours of brushing anti-rust paint onto pipes under a burning sun. For breakfast, the 55-year-old drank corn-flour water.  Ruiz's weekly salary of 110,000 bolivares — about 50 cents at the black-market exchange rate — buys him less than a kilo of corn meal or rice.

"Endy Torres joined the PDVSA [Petróleos de Venezuela SA (government oil company); online version but not the print says 'Ten years ago'] company expecting an ample salary and a comfortable pension. Today, the 700,000 bolivars per month he earns as a plant control operator at the Poerto La Cruz refinery, plus a food bonus of 1.6 million bolivars (about $9.50 altogether) can't fill the fridge at his grandmother's house, where he lives.

Note”
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Venezuela's oil workers are quitting in droves/ Those that remain sometimes collapse on the job
(b) The online version is ALMOST identical to print. The quotations are from the print.

(4) Donna Abu-Nasr with Alaa Shahine and Zainab Fattah, Rebooting Dubai.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/f ... elcome-to-dubai-2-0
("Fifty years ago, ot [Dubai] defied geology, sandstorms, and oppressive summer heat to build elaborately shaped islands in the sea and skyscrapers, turning itself from a sleepy port into a city of superlatives. What it can't do is defy geography: Although Dubai's petroleum exports peaked in the early 1990s and have been declining steadily since, it relies heavily on the oil wealth of its Gulf neighbors. It should come as no surprise that its real estate and retail industries have suffered as a result of the [oil] price collapse.  
Saudi Arabia, whose citizens flocked to the city to enjoy the freedoms they lack at home, is undergoing an unprecedented squeeze")

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: The city of skyscrapers in the desert is coming of age. Its biggest challenge is to keep growing
(b) The online version is more or less similar to print. The quotation above is from the print. But really one may not need to read the rest of hte report.

choi

(5) Michael Smith and Polly Mosendz, The Most Dangerous Gun. Taurus sold almost a million handguns that can potentially fire without anyone pulling the trigger. The government won't fix the problem. The National Rifle Association is silent.  (the first of three feture stories)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/f ... t-can-t-be-recalled

Excerpts in the windows of print (but not online):

Only one product is beyond the government's reach when it comes to defects and safety: firearms.

'It's a constant source of stress and fear, worrying how to keep this gun from hurting me'

Note:
(a) "Taurus PT-145 Millennium Pro pistol * * * Brazilian gunmaker Forjas Taurus SA"
(i) Taurus History and Background Information. undated
https://www.taurususa.com/history.cfm
("From humble beginnings as a small tool manufacturer [founded in 1939; en.wikipedia.org] in Porto Alegre, Brazil over 70 years ago, Forjas Taurus (translation: Taurus Forge) has become a diversified, international company and one of the largest small arms manufacturers in the world")
(ii) PT stands for Pistola Taurus.
(ii) Portuguese-English dictionary:
* forja (noun feminine; plural: forjas; borrowed from French forge[, which was also borrowed into English]): "forge (workshop in which metals are shaped)"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/forja
* pistola (noun feminine): "pistol"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pistola
(b) Read a few paragraphs and you will know the gist of the story. There is no need to read the rest.