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i think this is helping acc..
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4910225/
Picasso’s ‘Boy with a Pipe’
sells for $104 million
Sale beat auction record set by
Van Gogh's ‘Portrait of Doctor Gachet’
This 1905 painting by Pablo Picasso titled "Garcon a la pipe" sold for $104 million Wednesday at Sotheby's in New York.
The Associated Press
Updated: 10:36 a.m. ET May 06, 2004NEW YORK - Pablo Picasso’s 1905 painting “Boy with a Pipe” sold for $104 million Wednesday at Sotheby’s, shattering the record for an auctioned painting.
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The total includes the auction price of $93 million plus the auction house’s commission of about $11 million.
“This is the finest work in public hands that was for sale,” Sotheby’s senior vice president David Norman said.
The previous record was set by Vincent van Gogh’s 1890 “Portrait of Doctor Gachet,” which was sold to a Japanese billionaire for $82.5 million in 1990 at Christie’s. That price included the auction house’s premium.
Sotheby’s did not say who bought “Boy with a Pipe.”
A 24-year-old Picasso painted “Boy with a Pipe” soon after settling in Montmartre, France. It depicts a young Parisian boy holding a pipe in his left hand and wearing a garland of flowers. John Hay and Betsey Whitney bought the painting in 1950 for $30,000.
Sotheby’s called the work, which had a presale estimate of $70 million, “one of the most beautiful of the artist’s Rose Period paintings and one of the most important early works by Pablo Picasso ever to appear on the market.”
The previous highest-selling Picasso piece was “Woman with Crossed Arms,” a Blue Period painting done in 1901 and 1902, which sold for more than $55 million in November 2000 at Christie’s. It was the fifth-highest auction price paid for a work of art.
“Boy with a Pipe” was part of a collection of major works by Picasso, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas and others that headlined an auction of 34 paintings from a charitable foundation created by Betsey Whitney, a philanthropist, Sotheby’s said.
Also on the auction block was “Courses au Bois de Boulogne,” by Manet. Painted in 1872, it depicts a sunny day at the horse races and features a top-hatted figure in the lower-right corner that is thought to be Manet’s fellow racing enthusiast Degas. It had a presale estimate of $20 million to $30 million.
The collection, which had a presale estimate of more than $140 million, netted $190 million. The proceeds will go to the Greentree Foundation — created in 1982 by Betsey Whitney following the death of her husband.
John Hay Whitney was editor in chief and publisher of The New York Herald Tribune from 1961 to 1966 and chairman of the International Herald Tribune from 1966 until his death. He also founded the venture capital firm of J.H. Whitney and Co. Betsey Whitney died in 1998.
mant chart..
designer..
the karma is strong w bill.. how many other companies can pay out millions and millions to settle yet not flintch?
oh ye karma gods!
btw - have you seen my red stapler?
Staying the Course With Faltering REITs
From the Online Posting of April 20, 2004
by Ray Smith
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Provided by RealEstateJournal.com, The Wall Street Journal Guide to Property
For current and potential investors in shares of real-estate investment trusts, some financial planners are advising the "P" word: patience.
Some planners are saying that investors wanting to trim some holdings given the sector's recent stumble should do so gradually.
No Need to Panic
"I wouldn't panic sell," says Joseph J. Janiczek, chairman of Janiczek & Company Ltd., a wealth-advisory firm based in Greenwood Village, Colo. "I don't think there is a risk of REITs just continually diving with no bottom. It can maybe go down another 10% or so, and that's probably where the resistance will level out."
Daniel Roe, chief investment officer of Budros, Ruhlin & Roe, a Columbus, Ohio, wealth-management firm, who believes REIT stocks are overvalued, says that "if you started with having 5% of your portfolio in REITs and that's grown, at a minimum I would carve it back to 5% and wait until we see better real-estate fundamentals." But Mr. Roe also suggests that investors looking to take advantage of lower prices hold off on buying REIT stocks. He says in addition to waiting for improved fundamentals, particularly for the office market and the apartment market, investors should wait for REIT prices to come down even more than they already have. "REITs are a good way to have exposure to real estate in the portfolio, but prices are overvalued," he says. "We're looking for additional sell-offs in REITs."
Jobs-Data Fallout
REIT stocks began falling April 2, after the release of stronger-than-expected March job numbers. Prices were down 8% last week. REITs fell another 5% Monday and were down 0.66% Tuesday. The jobs report sparked a rise in bond yields and fears that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates. REITs by law must pay out 90% of their taxable income in the form of dividends, and those dividends are a big reason for REITs' popularity. The fear is that higher rates will make other investments such as bonds more attractive from a yield standpoint. But some financial planners say an obsessive focus on yields may have caused investors to overlook or forget that a strong jobs report should bode well for certain REITs, office and apartment companies in particular. They also think it's unlikely rates will rise that fast. Right now, financial planners say investors should focus on valuations, which they think are still too high, even after the recent price drops. Green Street Advisors Inc., a Newport Beach, Calif.-based real-estate research firm, estimates that REITs had been trading at a price/earnings ratio of about 18.5, compared with a historical ratio of 12 before the slide.
"I wouldn't buy REITs now because they are still in the overvalued range," says Mr. Janiczek. If REIT yields got in the 6% to 7% range, he adds, "that's where it's going to likely trigger buying opportunities compared with current interest rates."
Good Timing
But one financial planner thinks present prices represent buying opportunities for people who may have missed out on the apparently just-ended four-year REIT boom. Investors should start buying "economically sensitive" REITs such as apartment REITs and hotel REITs because those companies should do well faster as the economy improves, says James Kropp, managing director at Christopher Weil & Co., a San Diego-based investment manager. "They're the first to react to economic upticks," he says. What's more, they're a good deal cheaper than just weeks ago.
Indeed, Green Street's research shows that as of Monday's close, the premium at which REITs were trading relative to their estimated net asset values had dropped to 5.2% from 22.3% as of April 1. For malls, the premium dropped to 0.3% from 22.9%. For apartments, it dropped to 1.9% from 13%. For office space, the premium dropped to 3.5% from 19.7%. For industrial properties, the premium fell to 18.9% from 38.1%
hey brig..
did you learn that at hooters?
was there the other week and my lovely waitress showed me the trick.. i asked how that worked.. "um, you know.. its because of the salt.. hehe"
bounce bounce bounce
ot mmmmmmmm beeeeeeeer...
rotflmfao..
cant teach an old dog new tricks ;)
cheers!
AI
