'Ruthless' Buffett fails to show in Omaha

Color Warren Buffett more mystified than angry over David Sokol's career suicide. 

Sokol's illicit trading and deceit in the months leading up to his departure last month were "inexplicable and inexcusable," Buffett told Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) shareholders at Saturday's annual meeting.

Puzzler

But the billionaire investor expressed no hostility toward Sokol and no regrets for Berkshire's initial press release, which was widely criticized as failing to hold Sokol accountable for his sins. Buffett said he believes Berkshire acted MORE

Asian quake losses hit Berkshire profits

Berkshire Hathaway's first-quarter profit tumbled 58% from a year ago, as the company took a $1.1 billion pretax hit on last month's earthquake in Japan.

Berkshire's (BRKA) net profit dropped to $1.5 billion from $3.6 billion a year ago, the company said Saturday at its annual shareholder meeting. CEO Warren Buffett said Berkshire took $1.7 billion in pretax losses in its big insurance business, as the company reserved for probable claims MORE

Don't hate on VCs...

Entrepreneurs are doing other entrepreneurs a disservice when they badmouth venture capitalists. So stop it. 

By Roger Ehrenberg, contributor

…just the ones who deserve it. VC bashing, like bubble-talk, is clearly in vogue. A good friend and co-investor of mine, Jerry Neumann, tweeted the following:

Some entrepreneurs are so paranoid about VCs that I think it would be easier to communicate with them if I actually were an asshole.

I've gotta say, I completely understand MORE

Where did all the LBOs go?

Source: Pitchbook

Lots of stories floating out there right now about the dearth of leveraged buyouts, compared to where things seemingly should be in a bullish equities market (and a loose credit environment). I think this is all a bit overblown, but there do seem to be four factors at work:

1. In the mid-markets, tax concerns pulled a lot of deals forward into Q4 2011. This is (part of) an argument made MORE

Pre-Marketing 4.29.11

* James Altucher: 10 reasons you should stop buying stocks

* Overthinking it: The economics of death star planet destruction

* Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London opens soft, European shares dip and the Nikkei is closed.

* Groupon to Donald Trump: You're fired!

* Peter Eckersley: Why we need an open wireless movement

* Connie Loizos: Catching up with Facebook exile Noah Kagan

* Economist: What makes The Carlyle Group different from all other PE firms?

* MORE

The Buffett judgment question

Few can match Warren Buffett as stock picker. But is he a sound judge of character?

It's surely not a question the billionaire Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) CEO relishes nowadays – not a month after David Sokol (right), his longtime right hand man and presumed successor, was unmasked as a selfish, rule-bending creep.

Mission creep

But however unfair it may seem, the judgment question is one the 80-year-old Buffett won't be able to avoid this weekend. He and Berkshire MORE

Bring on the corporate tax holiday!

Giving companies a tax break on repatriated profits may not lead directly to new jobs, but it would likely boost the economy by propping up the dollar and fueling stocks.

By Vishesh Kumar, contributor

FORTUNE -- When it comes to the hot button issue of a tax holiday for US corporate profits held overseas, many lawmakers are once bitten, twice shy.

That's understandable -- the last time Congress decided to give companies a MORE

Why 99designs raised $35 million from Accel Partners

99Designs, a crowd-sourced online marketplace for graphic designs, today announced that it has raised $35million in venture capital funding. Accel Partners led the round, and was joined by angel investors like Stewart Butterfield (Flickr, Tiny Speck), Dave Goldberg (SurveyMonkey), Michael Dearing (eBay, Harrison Metat) and Anthony Casalena (Squarespace).

This is the first institutional round for 99Designs, which spun out of  Australia's SitePoint in early 2008. The company pays out over $1 million each month MORE

ABRY Partners ties string to $1.6 billion offer

ABRY Partners is targeting $1.6 billion for its seventh private equity fund, according to a document filed today with the SEC. The Boston-based firm focuses on investments in the media, communications, business and information services sectors. Recent portfolio additions include iTradeNetwork Inc., RCN Corp. and York Risk Services Group.

As I first reported last month in the Term Sheet email, ABRY is playing some hardball with this fundraise.

The firm is telling MORE

How to love Amazon and still hate its stock

Amazon.com is a retail powerhouse. But why are investors so enamored with its shares as it continues to produce disappointing profit growth?

FORTUNE -- Ah, Wall Street. You're always surprising us, aren't you? When Amazon.com reported earnings on Monday, you did the opposite of what we might expect. The online retailer's profits were down -- below expectations, even -- and yet you decided that the appropriate response was to bid up MORE