All Articles Tagged "Warren Buffet"
No Hova: Harvard Initially Rejected Jay-Z As Business Model
Image: (AP Photo/Charles Sykes
Is Jay-Z a successful businessman? Forbes thinks so. He was named in September by the magazine as one of the top hip-hop moneymakers.
But Jay-Z’s successes weren’t enough for Ivy League Harvard University, which initially rejected Jay-Z as a “proper” business model. Could it be because he was once a drug dealer? Well, Harvard isn’t talking. The university did not respond by press time to requests for comments.
Here’s what has been reported: In 2005, a freshman student, Chanequa Campbell, turned in a profile for an on-campus recruiting program in which she listed Jay-Z as her business role model, reports Business Insider. The Office of Career Services told Campbell to find another subject. Campbell, who grew up just blocks away from Jay-Z in Brooklyn, stood her ground and refused to redo her report. Career Services eventually relented and allowed her to submit the profile using Jay-Z’s legal name, Shawn Carter.
Why is this info now just surfacing? Campbell, who was later kicked out of Harvard and who is now teaching in New York City, is thinking of writing a memoir on her times at Harvard.
Still the fact remains that Harvard University got it wrong. Many in business consider Jay-Z a successful entrepreneur. CareerBuilder, in fact, published a “5 Things You Can learn From Jay-Z’s Career.”
Among the points:
· Find something you’re passionate about and make it part of your life. Jay-Z is a sports enthusiast. Not content with just being a fan, Jay-Z assembled a team (that included Lebron James) in 2003 to play an Entertainers Basketball Classic (EBC) and then became a partial owner of the Brooklyn Nets.
· Market yourself. One of the other reasons Jay-Z decided to assemble was the great marketing opportunity. He branded a bus with the image of a sneaker he designed for Reebok, had the team tour in it, all while his music blared.
· Know when to move on. In 2003, at the peak of his career (up to that point), Jay-Z retired. Most of us don’t have that luxury right now, but if you’re just going through the motions and the excitement and passion you once had are lacking, don’t be afraid to look around.
CareerBuilder isn’t the only group impressed with Jay-Z business instincts. He rolls with other multi-millionaire businessmen. Business magnate Warren Buffet, considered one of America’s greatest financial minds, even sat down with Jay-Z for a joint interview.
Speaking of Forbes, a staff writer for the magazine, Zack O’Malley Greenburg, even inked a book about Jay-Z’s business prowess, Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went From Street Corner to Corner Office.
With investments worth up to half a billion dollars and including the Brooklyn Nets, ad firm Translation, cosmetics company Carol’s Daughter, Rocawear, and the 40/40 Club, we think Jay-Z knows a little somethin’, somethin’ about business.
Jay-Z Set To Appear in New Cartoon Mini Series
Who said all rappers say disparaging things about women, talk drugs, guns and promote excessive materialism to our youth? Well, hip-hop mogul Jay-Z is teaming up with multi-billionaire Warren Buffet in one of four new animated specials called Secret Millionaires Club. The animated short will teach basic business principles to youngsters, set to premiere tonight on Hub TV.
The Jiggaman won’t have to do much acting; his character is a business savvy mogul promoting financial literacy to kids.
The new series will focus on spreading the message to kids that it’s never too early to invest in your self. Jay-Z must love the kids, he currently has one on the way with wife Beyonce, a few weeks back he held a Carnival in the middle of New York City to raise money for young scholars looking to further their education and now he’s educating young children about the importance of financial literacy.
Check out the trailer over at E!
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More on Madame Noire!
What the President’s ‘Buffett Tax’ Means for the Middle-Class
Monday morning, President Obama presented a plan for long-term debt reduction that included a tax hike for the “wealthiest corporations and richest Americans” who should “pay their fair share.”
GE Capital, which brings in billions of dollars in revenue, legally pays almost nothing in taxes. And billionaires, such as Warren Buffett, hold most of their capital in business assets which are taxed differently.
“Those who have done well, including me, should pay our fair share in taxes to contribute to the nation that made our success possible,” insisted the President. “Nobody wants to punish success in America,” he added, “This is not class warfare. It’s math.”
The plan also called for an end to the Bush tax cuts (which were designed to be temporary) for those with incomes of $250,000 or more, with the idea that increased tax revenue will enable continued funding of entitlement programs, nibble away at the national debt and pay for his stimulus jobs plan.
So, what does this mean for middle-class America?
Not much, really. Don’t expect to see any extra zeros on your bank statement.
Income and age restrictions on food stamps, housing assistance and federally-funded health care limit availability to victims of the recession who are not unemployed but drastically underemployed. Those who were truly middle-class (not just stretching a $35,000 salary to pay for an adjusted rate mortgage on a $300,000 house) do not qualify for welfare programs. Therefore, the President’s pledge not to support a “one-sided deal that hurts folks that are most vulnerable” mostly applies to the poor—a large percentage of which already qualified as poor.
Likewise, what incentive do wealthy individuals have to contribute more of their earnings to a federal government that has proven itself inadequate when it comes to managing money, especially when there is no guarantee that additional tax funds will be used properly? Republicans refuse to pass anything to credit Obama’s presidency; Democrats want to keep minorities hooked on entitlements; and, together they’ve decided what is best isn’t more important than re-election. Few are interested in paying for more Congressional dysfunction.
Job creation is the only thing that can save the middle-class and this economy. Furthermore, who puts people to work? Small businesses and corporations. Since banks won’t lend to small business owners or take chances on budding entrepreneurs with less than stellar credit, employment rests on the shoulders of Big Business. With Bank of America, the U.S. Postal Service and Best Buy scheduled to slash thousands of jobs; presumably a tax increase would further hinder job growth.
Ultimately, the “Buffett Tax” still leaves middle-class people with two choices: pig feet or chitlins.
But hey, he’s trying.
LaShaun Williams is a Madame Noire contributor and columnist whose work has appeared in The New York Times and on several other sites, including the Grio and HuffPost Black Voices. For more commentary on love, race, pop culture and politics, visit her blog Politically Unapologetic or follow her on Twitter @itsmelashaun and Facebook.
Jay-Z Exploited by Forbes Magazine to Sell '400 Richest Americans' Issue
(AOL Black Voices) — Jay-Z is featured on the cover of this month’s Forbes magazine with billionaire Warren Buffet, not because he is listed as one of the 400 richest people in Americaby Forbes, as Buffet is. No, Jay-Z is included on the Forbes cover because someday, he hopes he will be included on the list of the 400 richest people in America. And Jay-Z just might be, if over the latter half of his life the rap mogul can double his wealth,as Gawker writer Hamilton Nolan observes:
[I]t’s clear that Forbes is trying to drum up some public interest in a fairly cynical way: Not only did they put Jay-Z on the cover, but they also include a story on a sit-down chat between he and Buffett, a video, and another separate story on Jay-Z, all on the alleged premise that Jay-Z “will earn a spot on the Forbes 400″ one day-as soon as he doubles his wealth.
Buffett and Jay-Z Trade Tips
Republished from Reuters –
Thinking independently and looking for truth are key to success in both careers, said Buffett, a fixture on the Forbes list, and Jay-Z, cited by Forbes as likely to make the list by 2015.
“When you come to a conclusion you have to really not care what other people say. Just follow the facts and your reasoning,” Buffett said, adding he learned to think of a stock “not as something with a ticker symbol that wiggles around but to think about it as part of a business.”
Buffett, known as the “Oracle of Omaha” for his successful investments, said he learned, “Don’t get elated because something had gone up or depressed because it went down.”
Listening to Buffett in the interview, Jay-Z said, “I could just hear all the similarities and all the things in what he’s saying, right?”
“Because if you don’t look at the tickers, you’re really just searching for the truth within all the numbers and all the chaos,” he said. “And that’s the key to being a recording artist. You’re telling your story or finding your truth.”
Jay-Z, who headed Def Jam Recordings and is one of the most financially successful hip-hop artists, said he found there was nothing wrong with making art and money.
“Just so long as you separate the two and you’re not making music with business in mind,” he said. “When you’re in the studio you’re an artist, you make music, and then after you finish, you market it to the world.”
Buffett concurred: “Jay said it perfectly when he talked about how he’s in there recording for himself, and the money comes afterward.”
“I got to do what I love, and it doesn’t get any luckier than that,” Buffett said.
Read The Rest at Forbes.com
The $600 Billion Challenge
(CNN Money) — Just over a year ago, in May 2009, word leaked to the press that the two richest men in America, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, had organized and presided over a confidential dinner meeting of billionaires in New York City. David Rockefeller was said to have been a host, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Oprah Winfrey to have been among those attending, and philanthropy to have been the main subject.
Lessons From Billionaire's Son Peter Buffett: Don't Spoil Your Kids
(BVonmoney.om) — The son of billionaire Warren Buffett has a lesson for parents everywhere: Don’t spoil your kids rotten. Peter Buffett is a musician and also the author of the new book ‘Life is What You Make It: Finding Your Own Path to Fulfillment.’ His father heads Berkshire Hathaway, consistently ranks on the Forbes List of the world’s richest people and is an investing legend known as the “Oracle of Omaha.”
Warren Buffett Says Economy Showing Real Strength
(AP) — Billionaire Warren Buffett said Monday the economy has begun to show real strength over the last couple months, and consumers who can afford to are spending more. Buffett appeared on CNBC Monday after the weekend’s Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting. About 37,000 people attended Saturday’s meeting to hear Buffett and his partner Charlie Munger answer questions.
Who Says the Economy Is Rebounding?
(Fortune) — The economy has made a sharp U-turn in the past couple of months, and better days for American businesses and workers are around the corner.
But don’t take my word for it. Take Warren Buffett’s. And Jamie Dimon’s. And Jack Welch’s. All three tell me that in the past four to eight weeks, they’ve seen a real change in their businesses, and that indicates better news for the nation’s economy. They should know.
