Facebook is planning to file IPO registration papers next Wednesday, according to the The Wall Street Journal. Few additional details so far, except that Morgan Stanley (MS) is expected to be lead underwriter with Goldman Sachs (GS) "also likely to play a major role.

[Update: WSJ is now hedging a bit on that specific date, saying that "timing is still being discussed."]

The social network MORE]]> Facebook may finally be ready to go public.

Facebook is planning to file IPO registration papers next Wednesday, according to the The Wall Street Journal. Few additional details so far, except that Morgan Stanley (MS) is expected to be lead underwriter with Goldman Sachs (GS) "also likely to play a major role.

[Update: WSJ is now hedging a bit on that specific date, saying that "timing is still being discussed."]

The social network would be looking to raise around $10 billion at a valuation of between $75 billion and $100 billion. That would make Facebook the largest tech IPO of all time, so long as you exclude telecom companies like AT&T Wireless ($10.62 billion in 2000). There also were a pair of foreign telecom companies -- Germany's Deutsche Telekom and Australia's Telstra -- that priced larger IPOs in the U.S.

Overall, a $10 billion offering would be the seventh-largest IPO ever to price on a U.S. exchange, and the largest since General Motors (GM) raised over $18 billion in November 2010.

An investment banking source tells Fortune that he also has heard rumors about Facebook filing next week, but was unable to confirm. A company shareholder adds that the WSJ report "makes sense to me."

Source: Thomson Reuters

The report is sure to get Silicon Valley hyperventilating, since Facebook is expected to be the largest tech IPO of all time. But it's worth remembering that speculation about this deal has been rampant for months, and there have been more than a few false alarms.

Earlier this week was a report about how Facebook had temporarily halted secondary trades of its private shares for a three-day period, causing some to expect the filing to come in that window. It didn't happen, with trades expected to resume on Monday.

Just yesterday, we engaged in the same guessing game, based on Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg agreeing to speak at a Harvard Business School event in May. If Facebook files next Wednesday, our assumption was incorrect. If it doesn't, then the waiting game just continues.

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FORTUNE -- One common refrain heard at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos: "we need to create more jobs." That's hardly a controversial stance -- after all no one is really against creating jobs. The sense here is that if we can just figure MORE]]> Michael Spence, a Nobel laureate in economics and a professor at NYU, thinks he's found a breakthrough idea on creating jobs.

By Brian Dumaine, senior editor-at-large

FORTUNE -- One common refrain heard at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos: "we need to create more jobs." That's hardly a controversial stance -- after all no one is really against creating jobs. The sense here is that if we can just figure out a way to create more employment the Occupiers would disappear and business could return to the good old days. The rub is that with high consumer and government debt levels in much of the developed world, no one seems to have any idea how to achieve this goal. One exception is Michael Spence, a Nobel laureate in economics and a professor at NYU, who thinks he has a breakthrough idea on the topic.

According to Spence, recent surveys show that today's generation of young working-age Americans simply don't believe that they will have the same employment opportunities that their parents enjoyed. (For a measure of this, just ask any parent who still has a college grad living at home.) There are good jobs out there but they are mostly, argues Spence, in businesses that are trade-related, that are linked to the global economy. These jobs tend to be in fast-growing businesses that provide high-value added products. Think Apple (AAPL) and the iPhone. Trouble is, about 70% of the value of an iPhone -- design, software, etc. -- is created in the U.S. but most of the jobs, especially the manufacturing ones, are in Asia. Only about 2% of all American jobs are trade related.

So where will we find more high-paying jobs? Spence points to Germany as a model where manufacturing makes up about 30% of its GDP compared to only 16% for the U.S. Germany focuses on high-end products that have appeal in global markets. But the Germans didn't get there by accident. Spence says that Germany's business leaders, working with government and labor, provided high-end manufacturing training for workers. The three factions were also able to cut a deal years back to reduce labor rigidity in exchange for employment security. Germany has also formed industry clusters, sophisticated supply chains that help reduce costs and speed up design and manufacturing. A recent New York Times article explained that the major reason Apple does not make iPhones in America is that we simply don't have the sophisticated supply chains found in Asia.

Can America replicate the German model? Spence thinks so. He says the solutions are easy. They include training, more government spending in the short term, and more fiscal discipline in the long term, an energy policy that makes sense, and reforming our "silly tax system."

The current gridlock in Congress makes it unlikely that Washington would adopt such a long-term outlook and pragmatic approach to boosting jobs. Spence, however, remains undeterred. All we need to do, he says, is "act and learn rather than debate and wait."

Steve Pagliuca, one of the firm's managing directors, was interviewed in Davos today by Bloomberg TV, saying that criticism of his firm "will pass." He also said that the focus on private equity's job creation record -- a focus championed by Mitt Romney -- is misguided: "Bain Capital is not trying to MORE]]> Bain Capital has been getting kicked around all month, and now it's finally beginning to play some public defense.

Steve Pagliuca, one of the firm's managing directors, was interviewed in Davos today by Bloomberg TV, saying that criticism of his firm "will pass." He also said that the focus on private equity's job creation record -- a focus championed by Mitt Romney -- is misguided: "Bain Capital is not trying to create jobs. It's trying to create great companies, but great companies create jobs."

Watch the full interview here.

FORTUNE -- President Obama's newfound commitment to natural gas could be the spark needed to reignite the fledgling natural gas industry, while at the same time breathing life into an array of new businesses. Overproduction, coupled with anemic demand, has recently MORE]]> The President's effort to make natural gas a viable alternative to gasoline and diesel fuel in cars and trucks could change the fate of the ailing industry.

By Cyrus Sanati, contributor

FORTUNE -- President Obama's newfound commitment to natural gas could be the spark needed to reignite the fledgling natural gas industry, while at the same time breathing life into an array of new businesses. Overproduction, coupled with anemic demand, has recently sent natural gas prices tumbling to a 10-year low, delivering a big hit to the dozens of energy companies invested in large-scale natural gas drilling projects across the US.

But the President's support to make natural gas a viable alternative to gasoline and diesel fuel in cars and trucks could change all that. While such a major transition would probably take years, if successful, it would provide a massive new market for the trillions of cubic feet of natural gas that have been recently discovered, helping to lift prices back up to profitable levels and opening up new industries linked to natural gas transportation.

This week, the President sketched out a plan to encourage the use of natural gas as an alternative fuel to power the nation's long-haul trucking fleet. Through subsidies and tax breaks, the President hopes to spur the creation of a network of natural gas filling stations. The stations would, in theory, encourage trucking companies to take a tax break by either converting or buying trucks fueled by natural gas instead of diesel fuel.

Starting with the trucking industry makes sense. Those big 18-wheelers that crisscross the nation's highways consume around a third of all oil used in the US. Getting them off diesel and on natural gas could have a major impact on the nation's oil imports, helping to reduce the country's large trade imbalance.

A few years ago it wouldn't have made sense to power a vehicle on natural gas as it was more expensive than oil on an energy equivalent basis. When natural gas prices spiked around 2005, energy companies went out in search for more supply. They ended up getting more than they bargained for. The employment of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fractionation techniques unlocked billions more cubic feet of natural gas than they thought possible. As more supply hit the market, natural gas prices plummeted. It now costs more to drill for gas in many parts of the country than it's worth. Truckers who fill up with natural gas will pay 42% less than they would if they filled up with diesel.

For the past year, energy companies have vowed to cut back on their natural gas drilling to remove excess supply from the market. Companies like Chesapeake (CHK), the nation's second largest natural gas producer, began switching from gas drilling to oil drilling earlier last year and has continued to cut production this year. The number of natural gas rigs operating in the US fell a bit over the year, but still remained elevated. But even as prices took a nosedive, production kept hitting records. Part of the reason why is the when the producers switched to oil drilling they continued to hit a lot of gas.

But if the plan is implemented and the nation's trucking fleet is successfully converted, there could be a lot of companies that would benefit if prices start to recover.

Energy companies
If the government is able to build natural gas highways, there will have a massive new market for all the excess gas pulled out of the ground. Prices could rise sharply if overall demand for natural gas starts to outstrip supply.

Producers that stand to benefit are those that have more exposure to natural gas production as opposed to oil production. Southwestern Energy (SWN) is nearly all natural gas focused. Chesapeake, which announced this week that it was slashing production by another large slag, is still a prolific natural gas producer. Other more "gassy" companies include Range Resources and Quicksilver Energy (KWK). Companies with one foot in oil and the other in natural gas would also benefit. Those include companies like Anadarko (APC), Devon (DVN) and Encana (ECA). But the big majors are not to be left out, either. ExxonMobil (XOM), through its acquisition of XTO in 2010, is the largest natural gas producer in the US. Meanwhile, ConocoPhillips (COP) maintains some strong acreage positions in the US thanks to its acquisition of Burlington Resources back in 2006.

Boone Pickens
Fierce lobbying and a marketing blitzkrieg will probably pay off big time for billionaire oilman Boone Pickens. Much of what President Obama proposed was similar to Boone's very own "Pickens Plan." The plan, marketed personally by Pickens, seeks to get the US off foreign oil by shifting to domestic natural gas. It should therefore come to no surprise that Pickens visited the White House 7 times since President Obama took office.

The Pickens Plan wasn't just a suggestion, it was a business plan. Pickens owns Clean Energy Fuels which operates a number of natural gas filling stations around the country. The company says it will have 70 stations opened by the end of 2012 in 33 states. If President Obama's energy plan gets through congress, Mr. Pickens is going to get a lot of money from the government. He could secure large contracts to fuel commercial and government vehicles worth millions.

There are only 45 truck stops that sells liquefied natural gas, which is chilled and compressed natural gas used to power big trucks. By comparison there are 5,000 truck stops selling diesel, so the potential for growth is quite large.

Manufacturers
Companies that build the big natural gas powered trucks also stand to make a pretty penny as demand skyrockets. Westport Innovations is one of the only manufactures of natural gas powered trucks. They designed the trucks used by UPS in a pilot program using natural gas trucks to deliver packages from the Las Vegas area to Utah and the West coast. The trucks currently cost around $200,000 a pop, twice as much as a diesel-powered truck. Government subsidies will help bridge that gap. The price of a natural gas truck should fall as demand rises.

Radiate Media (f.k.a. Matchbin) of Bountiful, Utah has acquired Nokia's media advertising business for an undisclosed amount. www.nokia.com

Industrial Growth Partners has sold O'Brien Corp. to AMETEK Inc. (NYSE: AME) for approximately $175 million. O'Brien Corp. is a MORE]]> Eastman Chemical Co. (NYSE: EMN) has agreed to acquire Solutia Inc. (NYSE: SOA) for $4.7 billion in cash and stock. The deal represents a 42% premium over yesterday's closing price for Solutia shares. www.solutia.com

Radiate Media (f.k.a. Matchbin) of Bountiful, Utah has acquired Nokia's media advertising business for an undisclosed amount. www.nokia.com

Industrial Growth Partners has sold O'Brien Corp. to AMETEK Inc. (NYSE: AME) for approximately $175 million. O'Brien Corp. is a St. Louis-based maker of fluid and gas handling solutions used in test, measurement and flow applications in process industries. www.igpequity.com

BNP Paribas is looking to sell up to $11 billion worth of loans to oil and gas companies, according to the FT.

Get yesterday's M&A news

* Rotten Apple reply: Tim Cook's letter to employees

* Better things to do: A who's who of Davos absentees

* Dan Shapiro: Your "company culture" is a meaningless platitude

* Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London falls early, European shares climb and the Nikkei slips.

* Brad Stone: Amazon's hit man

* Rodolfo Rosini: The age of AngelList

* New site alert: StartupDataTrends.com

* H.R. 4286: Newt's laws for governing a space colony

* Disappointing: Twitter MORE]]> * Ridiculous: The CEO bankruptcy bonus

* Rotten Apple reply: Tim Cook's letter to employees

* Better things to do: A who's who of Davos absentees

* Dan Shapiro: Your "company culture" is a meaningless platitude

* Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London falls early, European shares climb and the Nikkei slips.

* Brad Stone: Amazon's hit man

* Rodolfo Rosini: The age of AngelList

* New site alert: StartupDataTrends.com

* H.R. 4286: Newt's laws for governing a space colony

* Disappointing: Twitter caves to foreign gov't censorship

* Just a matter of time: Gillibrand enters Volcker Rule fray

* Survey says: U.S. investors want Romney, global investors want Obama

* Oops: Romney's tax returns show funds not listed in financial disclosure forms

* Chrystia Freeland: 'Kumbaya' capitalism collides with self-interest

* Get Term Sheet: Sign up for our daily email on deals & deal-makers

* Headline of the Day: Girl, 7, saves unconscious mother by slapping her with slice of pizza

FORTUNE -- Are exchange-traded funds a prime culprit in one of the signature afflictions of the markets today -- the tendency of huge swaths of stocks or other assets to swing dramatically up or down at the same time? Critics are pointing their fingers at ETFs. But evidence for their nefarious role is lacking.

There's MORE]]> Critics say the popular funds are causing stocks to swing wildly together. Finding proof is another matter.

FORTUNE -- Are exchange-traded funds a prime culprit in one of the signature afflictions of the markets today -- the tendency of huge swaths of stocks or other assets to swing dramatically up or down at the same time? Critics are pointing their fingers at ETFs. But evidence for their nefarious role is lacking.

There's no question ETFs have become a market phenomenon. There are now more than 1,110 in the U.S., according to the Investment Company Institute, up from 200 in 2005. ETF assets in this country have topped $1 trillion -- double where they were in 2008.

ETFs are like mutual funds in that they hold a basket of stocks or other assets (often mimicking an index), but unlike mutual funds in that they can be traded throughout the day. That allows investors to move rapidly in and out of, say, a group of tech stocks. And that's precisely what many investors do. ETFs now account for 30% of trading volume on U.S. exchanges.

That volume has raised suspicions. Harold Bradley, chief investment officer of the $1.9 billion Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, argues that ETFs boost stocks' volatility and their tendency to move in lockstep (known as "correlation"). "As these products have increased, correlations have been increasing every year," Bradley says, citing research from J.P. Morgan that shows that S&P 500 stocks moved together 60% of the time even in a calm 2010 period -- double the historical average. When stocks move together, Bradley claims, it undermines the essential role of markets: to pick winners and losers. He admits he can't prove that ETFs cause volatility. "But it's like smoking," Bradley says. "You can't prove that smoke is causing lung cancer, but by gosh, a lot of people get lung cancer who smoke."

Others are particularly worried by leveraged ETFs, which use derivatives to amplify bets. These instruments "corrupt the markets by exacerbating price trends" both up and down, wrote hedge fund manager Doug Kass of Seabreeze Partners in an article on the Real Money Pro website this fall. The issue has caught the attention of a U.S. Senate subcommittee, which held a hearing in October to investigate ETFs and their role in stock volatility; the SEC is also investigating.

10 best stocks for 2012

ETFs make an easy target. But dig a bit deeper and the picture seems different. Yes, they account for a lot of trading volume. But much ETF trading never results in buying or selling the ETFs' underlying stocks, according to Morningstar. We'll spare you the technical details, but in broad terms it amounts to baskets (i.e., the ETF) being traded back and forth while the contents (the underlying stocks) don't trade. In other words, it's effectively a wash. And for all their growth, ETF assets are still tiny compared with stock futures and options. They're too small to have outsize effects in the $17 trillion U.S. equity market, says Jason Hsu of Research Affiliates, whose strategies are used to manage $78 billion.

Moreover, "ETF trading spikes on those high-volatility days," says Eric Noll, head of transactions at Nasdaq, who scrutinized market moves last year. "But so does trading in every other security." In his view, ETF trading isn't driving the market -- it's responding to it. Noll asserts that ETF trading is probably improving markets by allowing sizable pools of risky investments to find new holders quickly.

Morningstar analyst Michael Rawson recently examined two of the most pilloried incarnations: leveraged and inverse ETFs (the latter use derivatives to profit from falling markets). If those funds cause volatility, Rawson theorized, their asset base should swell or shrink before the market's spikes and swoons. But his research showed that assets have stayed remarkably constant since 2009. For example, from Nov. 15 to Nov. 25, when the S&P 500 (SPX) fell seven consecutive days and posted a total loss of 8%, assets in inverse and leveraged ETFs remained at $34 billion. "That stability flies in the face of the volatility argument," he says.

So what's really driving the violent price moves? You can't discount the obvious: Investors are agitated -- and particularly prone to follow one another -- in the face of a weak U.S. recovery, the European debt crisis, and slowing Asian economies. Morningstar's Rawson offers a more prosaic explanation: company profits. In periods of higher earnings volatility (such as the past three years), stock volatility is considerably higher than in periods of stable earnings (as between 2003 and 2007). Such explanations are perhaps less satisfying than fingering ETFs -- but they may be more plausible.

The five biggest ETFs

1. SPDR S&P 500
Ticker: SPY
Assets: $95.4 billion

 2. SPDR Gold Trust
Ticker: GLD
Assets: $63.5 billion

3. Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF
Ticker: VWO
Assets: $41.7 billion

4. iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund
Ticker: EFA
Assets: $36.5 billion

5. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund
Ticker: EEM
Assets: $32.5 billion

This article is from the February 6, 2012 issue of Fortune.

Fortune has learned that Michael Moran is not expected to be a general partner on the next fund raised by Brockway Moran & Partners, the mid-market private equity fund he co-founded by Peter Brockway in 1998.

Sources did not give a reason for the move, but did add that Moran is expected to continue working on legacy portfolio and firm responsibilities.

Boca Raton, Fla.-based Brockway Moran raised $700 million for its MORE]]> Private equity firm losing its eponymous co-founder.

Fortune has learned that Michael Moran is not expected to be a general partner on the next fund raised by Brockway Moran & Partners, the mid-market private equity fund he co-founded by Peter Brockway in 1998.

Sources did not give a reason for the move, but did add that Moran is expected to continue working on legacy portfolio and firm responsibilities.

Boca Raton, Fla.-based Brockway Moran raised $700 million for its third fund in 2006, and is expected to begin raising Fund IV sometime this year. Recently-added portfolio companies include Crisis Prevention Institute and The Country Vintner.

Neither Moran not Brockway responded to requests for comment.

Update: Brockway Moran just issued a press release about the move. It includes the following quote from Moran: "As I transition in the future, I want to express my appreciation to my talented partners and colleagues and wish them continued success."

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FORTUNE -- Whispered in the halls of the World Economic Forum's elegant Congress Center this year: Where are the Chinese? For the first time since anyone can remember, China has not sent a high level official to this Alpine MORE]]> For the first time since anyone can remember, China has not sent a high level official to this Alpine gathering of the world's top leaders and business titans.

By Brian Dumaine, senior editor-at-large

FORTUNE -- Whispered in the halls of the World Economic Forum's elegant Congress Center this year: Where are the Chinese? For the first time since anyone can remember, China has not sent a high level official to this Alpine gathering of the world's top leaders and business titans.

Could it be that the Chinese economy is doing so well that Beijing felt no need to send a high-level entourage, one participant asked. Another speculated the Chinese held off because their government is in transition. Perhaps, but the explanation that makes the most sense came from the CEO of an Indian energy company. "You know," he said. "It's the Chinese New Year."

Last year, the mood at Davos was quite positive, as those gathered here felt that America was coming out of its slump, China had avoided a bursting bubble and Brazil, India, and the rest of the developing world were humming.

All that is still true, but the crisis in the Euro Zone has put a bit of a damper on last year's enthusiasm. The buzz this year is still optimistic but much more cautiously so.

While some bankers think Europe has put the worst of the debt crisis behind it, there's still a lot of heavy hauling ahead. Prime Minister David Cameron today painted a somewhat bleak picture for the Euro Zone where, as he pointed out, growth is slowing and debt and unemployment are rising.

Cameron believes the European Union is in a crucial moment in its history and "bold" government action is needed to make the EU more competitive. "Tinkering won't cut it anymore," he said. Among his prescriptions: governments need to cut pension obligations, slice the corporate tax rate, and eliminate job-stifling regulations.

Now all Europe's leaders need to do is win over the EU's strong unions, which aren't likely to receive these prescriptions with an open heart.

Conventional wisdom is that Facebook will file for its IPO within the next few months. But, if so, someone should tell Sheryl Sandberg.

Sandberg is the social network's chief operating officer, and its second-most powerful executive after Mark Zuckerberg. She also was just announced as the keynote speaker at Harvard Business School's Class Day, which takes place on May 23.

It would be highly MORE]]> What Harvard's calendar may tell us about Facebook's IPO.

Conventional wisdom is that Facebook will file for its IPO within the next few months. But, if so, someone should tell Sheryl Sandberg.

Sandberg is the social network's chief operating officer, and its second-most powerful executive after Mark Zuckerberg. She also was just announced as the keynote speaker at Harvard Business School's Class Day, which takes place on May 23.

It would be highly unusual for Sandberg to give a public speech after her company has filed to go public, due to a variety of SEC-mandated quiet period restrictions. In theory, she could do so without mentioning anything about Facebook, but then why would HBS students want to hear from her? And we're not just talking restrictions on material items like revenue growth or earnings. Even certain qualitative assessments could run afoul of the quiet period police.

Earlier this week, there was speculation about an imminent Facebook IPO filing due to some changes to the ways in which its stock is being traded on secondary markets. CNBC reporter Kayla Tausche threw cold water on the rumor, writing:

The company's COO Sheryl Sandberg is scheduled to speak in Davos on Sunday, which makes it highly unlikely that Facebook will file before then.

Well, now we have Sandberg scheduled to speak on May 23. It's certainly possible that Facebook will file beforehand, and that Sandberg and HBS will figure out a way to make it all work out. But since all of us are just scavenging for breadcrumbs here, this particular announcement seemed to be worth mentioning...

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Jeff Clavier's SoftTechVC raises big new fund. 

One of Silicon Valley's busiest seed investors now has a lot more capital to plant.

SoftTechVC, a firm formed in 2004 by Jeff Clavier, today announced that it has closed its third fund with $55 million in capital commitments. That's above its $5 million target, and much more than the $15 million raised for SoftTech's second fund in 2007. It also MORE]]>

Jeff Clavier is all smiles

Jeff Clavier's SoftTechVC raises big new fund. 

One of Silicon Valley's busiest seed investors now has a lot more capital to plant.

SoftTechVC, a firm formed in 2004 by Jeff Clavier, today announced that it has closed its third fund with $55 million in capital commitments. That's above its $5 million target, and much more than the $15 million raised for SoftTech's second fund in 2007. It also means that SoftTech now will invest between $250,000 and $1 million as its first bite in each company (plus follow-on reserves), compared to its prior $100,000 to $250,000 target.

Clavier says that SoftTech's first two funds were anchored by another local VC fund, but that the new vehicle represents a complete "reset" of the firm's limited partner base. New backers include StepStone Group, affiliates of AMG National Trust Bank, Cendana Capital and Industry Ventures.

SoftTech so far has invested just under 20% of Fund III, into companies like Fab.com, FitBit and OneTrueFan.

Clavier took on Charles Hudson as a venture partner at the end of 2010, and also added some support staff. He says that he has begun discussions with prospective third partners -- preferably someone with an entrepreneurial background -- but that no final decisions have been made.

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When venture capital firm Accel Partners opened a New York City office last January, it did so without any permanent New York City staff. Instead, the early plan was to use a rotating case of Accel investors from other offices -- including Jim Breyer and Theresia Gouw Ranzetta. A sort of professional flophouse, if you will.

But Accel now has a permanent rep in New York City: David Eisenberg, MORE]]> David Eisenberg joins Accel Partners.

When venture capital firm Accel Partners opened a New York City office last January, it did so without any permanent New York City staff. Instead, the early plan was to use a rotating case of Accel investors from other offices -- including Jim Breyer and Theresia Gouw Ranzetta. A sort of professional flophouse, if you will.

But Accel now has a permanent rep in New York City: David Eisenberg, who has joined Accel as an entrepreneur-in-residence. He previously was the first non-engineering employee at TellApart, and before that he was the first employee at Accel portfolio company Bonobos.

Here is his full bio, which was just posted on the Accel website:

Dave joined Accel as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence in January 2012. Most recently, he was responsible for product marketing, product management and enterprise sales at TellApart. 

Dave has had the unique experience of joining two venture-backed startups in their earliest days. At TellApart, he was the first non-engineering employee. During his two years there, he sourced and closed deals with many of TellApart's largest clients, including Bed, Bath & Beyond, American Eagle, Hautelook and One Kings Lane. During his tenure he also conceived of and oversaw the development of TellApart's Flash Sale Retargeting application, one of the company's most successful product releases. 

Prior to TellApart, Dave was the first employee at Bonobos, where he served as Chief of Staff from 2008-2010. He reported to the CEO and oversaw many different departments during his tenure, starting as the first customer service ninja and later running marketing. He was one of the first marketers to use Facebook for direct response customer acquisition and led a successful retargeting program well before retargeting became a "must-buy" for online retailers. 

Prior to Bonobos, Dave worked at Bain & Company in their New York office. Dave has a bachelor's in psychology from Harvard and is an active angel investor withRed Swan Ventures, where he serves as a General Partner. 

The Blackstone Group (BX) has quietly formed a strategic partnership with San Francisco-based private equity firm Francisco Partners, Fortune has learned. The move is intended to revitalize Blackstone's technology private equity practice, which has experienced a number of personnel departures over the past two years.

Here's my understanding of how it will work: Blackstone will kick smaller tech opportunities over to Francisco, which currently is MORE]]> Blackstone Group teams up with Francisco Partners.

The Blackstone Group (BX) has quietly formed a strategic partnership with San Francisco-based private equity firm Francisco Partners, Fortune has learned. The move is intended to revitalize Blackstone's technology private equity practice, which has experienced a number of personnel departures over the past two years.

Here's my understanding of how it will work: Blackstone will kick smaller tech opportunities over to Francisco, which currently is investing out of a $2 billion fund closed in 2009. If Francisco identifies larger tech opportunities, it will work on them with Blackstone – likely taking a minority position while Blackstone writes the big check.

As of yesterday, neither firm had informed its limited partners of the arrangement.

There was talk last month that Blackstone was among several private equity firms circling Yahoo (YHOO), but sources now say that its only remaining involvement could be through a sale of The Weather Channel, which Yahoo would use as part of a cash-rich split with its Asian partners Alibaba and Softbank Corp.

Last year, Blackstone lost tech-focused investors Chip Schorr, Ted Coons and Clayton Albertson to other firms.

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Celgene Corp. (Nasdaq: CELG) has agreed to acquire Avila Therapeutics Inc., a Waltham, Mass.—based developer of targeted covalent drugs that treat diseases through protein silencing. The deal is valued at $350 million in cash, plus up to another $195 million in earn-outs. Avila shareholders include Abingworth, MORE]]> Amgen (Nasdaq: AMGN) has agreed to acquire Micromet Inc. (Nasdaq:MITI) for approximately $1.16 billion in cash, or $11 per share (33% premium to yesterday's closing price). www.amgen.com

Celgene Corp. (Nasdaq: CELG) has agreed to acquire Avila Therapeutics Inc., a Waltham, Mass.–based developer of targeted covalent drugs that treat diseases through protein silencing. The deal is valued at $350 million in cash, plus up to another $195 million in earn-outs. Avila shareholders include Abingworth, Advent Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, Novartis Venture Funds and Polaris Venture Partners. www.celgene.com

CIC Partners has sold its stake in Legends Hospitality Management, a provider of hospitality, merchandising and premium ticketing services that was founded by CIC, the New York Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys and Goldman Sachs. The buyer is Checketts Partners Investment Fund, and Dave Checketts will take over as Legends chairman and CEO. The prior CEO, CIC Partners exec Michael Rawlings, was recently elected the mayor of Dallas. No financial terms were disclosed. www.cicpartners.com

Illumina (Nasdaq: ILMN) has adopted a shareholder rights plan, following a $5.7 billion hostile takeover bid from Switzerland's Roche Holdings. www.illumina.com

Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE) has agreed to acquire the Senseo coffee systems assets of Philips Electronics NV for €170 million. Sara Lee previously co-owned Senseo with Philips. www.saralee.com

Thoratec Corp. (Nasdaq: THOR) said its second-largest shareholder has withdrawn calls for the company to hire an investment bank to help explore strategic alternatives. The cardiac-device maker has a current market cap of approximately $1.85 billion. www.thoratec.com

US Airways Group (NYSE: LCC) confirmed to Bloomberg that it is considering an offer for bankrupt American Airlines. www.usair.com

United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX) said that it is planning to sell select "non-core" assets prior to acquiring Goodrich Corp. (NYSE: GR) for $16.5 billion. No specific assets were identified. It also plans to raise new equity ($4 billion) and debt financing.

Get yesterday's M&A news

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26

Advantage Partners has agreed to acquire listed Japanese homebuilder Yasuragi for approximately $166 million, and take the company private. The 627 yen per share bid represents a 60.8% premium to Thursday's closing price. www.advantagepartners.com

Associated Brands, a Mississauga, Ontario-based maker of private-label MORE]]> Arsenal Capital Partners has acquired Fluoro-Seal Holdings LLC, a Houston, Texas–based provider of plastic barrier, adhesion and surface enhancement products and services. No financial terms were disclosed. www.fluoroseal.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26

Advantage Partners has agreed to acquire listed Japanese homebuilder Yasuragi for approximately $166 million, and take the company private. The 627 yen per share bid represents a 60.8% premium to Thursday's closing price. www.advantagepartners.com

Associated Brands, a Mississauga, Ontario-based maker of private-label dry packaged foods, has acquired Soluble Products, a Lakewood, N.J.-based manufacturer of powder supplements for weight management and sports nutrition. No financial terms were disclosed. Associated Brands is a portfolio company of Torquest Partners. www.associatedbrands.com

AVI-SPL, an audio-visual communications provider backed by Silver Lake Sumeru, has acquired Informata Communications, a provider of video managed services. No financial terms were disclosed. www.iformata.com
Axum Capital Partners has acquired a controlling position in Wild Wing Café, a Mount Pleasant, S.C.-based 32-unit restaurant chain. No pricing terms were disclosed. Fifth Third Bank provided debt financing for the transaction. www.axum-partners.com

Novaria Group, a Fort Worth, Texas-based aerospace platform sponsored by Satori Capital, has acquired Fitz Manufacturing Industries, a North Richland Hills, Texas-based provider of precision aerospace components. No financial terms were disclosed. www.novariagroup.com

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House Party Inc., a New York-based social media marketing company for community events, has raised $5.3 million in Series C MORE]]> HelloWallet, a Washington, D.C.-based personal finance website, has raised $12 million in Series B funding. Morningstar Inc. led the round with a $6.75 million investment, and was joined by TD Fund ($4m) and undisclosed return backers. The company previously raised $3.6 million from Grotech Ventures and Jean and Steve Case. www.hellowallet.com

House Party Inc., a New York-based social media marketing company for community events, has raised $5.3 million in Series C funding led by Acadia Woods Partners. www.houseparty.com

Cozi, a Seattle-based online and mobile family calendar and organizer, has raised $3 million in new Series C funding. No investor information was disclosed. The company previously raised over $13 million Gannett Co. and Benaroya Capital. www.cozi.com

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26

BeachMint, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based social commerce company for celebrity–curated direct-to-consumer products, has raised $35 million in new VC funding. Accel Partners led the round, and was joined by Goldman Sachs, New World Ventures, Millennium Technology Value Partners and undisclosed return backers. The company previously raised over $38 million from Scale Venture Partners, Lightbank, New Enterprise Associates, Trinity Ventures and Anthem Ventures. www.beachmint.com

Skyfire Labs, a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of mobile video optimization and cloud solutions, has raised $8 million in Series C funding. Verizon Investments was joined by return backers Matrix Partners, Trinity Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners. www.skyfire.com

S.E.A. Medical Systems Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based developer of safety and management technologies for IV medicine, has raised $3 million in Series B funding from JK&B Capital. www.seamedical.com

955 Dreams, developer of the Band of the Day iPhone app, has raised $3.25 million in seed funding, according to TechCrunch. Backers include 500 Startups, CrunchFund, m8 Capital, Felicis Ventures and Kapor Capital. www.955dreams.com

Drchrono, a Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of solutions for simplifying a medical practice's revenue stream, has raised $2.8 million in funding led by Yuri Milner. Google's Matt Cutts also participated. www.drchrono.com

MC10 Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based company that takes "high-performance electronics out-of-the-box and into new products that blur the lines between user and device," has raised $2 million in new VC funding from Aberdare Ventures. www.mc10inc.com

ModeWalk, a Burlingame, Calif.-based immersive by-city online shopping experience for luxury goods, has raised over $1.8 million in Series A funding led by Merus Capital. www.modewalk.com

Murfie, a Madison, Wis.–based online digital music marketplace, has raised $1.4 million in first-round funding. DaneVest Tech Fund led the round, and was joined by individual angels like Barry Silbert (SecondMarket). www.murfie.com

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FORTUNE -- Bank of America has set some lofty cost-cutting and revenue-enhancing goals, but it remains unclear how it is going to achieve them. The bank has yet to post any measurable declines MORE]]> Bank of America has been in perpetual damage control mode since the 2008 financial crisis. But it's now crunch time. The bank can't just cut its way to profitability; it needs to grow its revenues too.

By Cyrus Sanati, contributor

FORTUNE -- Bank of America has set some lofty cost-cutting and revenue-enhancing goals, but it remains unclear how it is going to achieve them. The bank has yet to post any measurable declines in operating costs, despite it already entering the second phase of its self-induced cost-cutting bonanza. Meanwhile, the firm has seen its top line shrink quarter-after-quarter with no relief in sight. Brian Moynihan, Bank of America's chief executive, will need to show investors some results quickly.

Bank of America's stock has rallied in the last month on optimism that the company can turn things around this year. Nevertheless, it is still trading below where it was in August when solvency rumors caused its shares to tank. At the time, a cash infusion by Warren Buffett and a debt exchange helped boost the firm's capital cushion to levels that placated nervous investors concerned about the billions of dollars of bad mortgages on its books. At the same time, the bank had assembled a task force of executives and consultants charged with cutting the fat and streamlining the bank's disparate operational silos.

The cost-cutting undertaking, which the company calls Project New BAC, would be implemented in two phases. The first phase would target cuts in the retail banking, credit card and back office while the second would target the investment bank and the front office. The first phase had a target of $5 billion in net expense reductions to be achieved by the end of 2014, while the second phase had a target of less than $5 billion on a little longer time frame. News reports say that Phase II will be targeted at $3 billion in cuts, but Bank of America (BAC) has yet to confirm that number, saying just that it will be less than the cuts achieved in Phase 1 of the project.

But the bank has been cryptic as to what specifically it will cut. It has said that it wanted to slash 30,000 of its 280,000-strong workforce as part of the first phase, but noted that it would achieve that goal over several years, with the majority of the cuts coming from normal attrition and by not filling vacated roles. Beyond that, it was normal synergy stuff, like combining data centers and consolidating operations.

The second phase of the plan started up in October and is expected to continue through March of this year. The bank has been even more enigmatic about what it plans to cut on this end, saying only that it will target those operations not covered in Phase 1. Reducing banker pay should be top on this list. There is talk that the bank is set to announce a 25% pay cut across the board for employees in its investment banking unit, but the bank would not confirm those reports.

Top line challenge

So how is the New BAC doing on the cost cutting front? The company gave pink slips to 7,000 employees, closed 13 branches and started combining their data networks in the fourth quarter. But instead of falling, operating expenses at the bank actually rose by a whopping $1.8 billion in the fourth quarter compared to the previous quarter to $18.8 billion. Most of the extra costs were lumped under a obscure line item called "other expenses." The increase in costs might have been excusable if operating profits were up, but they weren't, they were actually down, way down. The bank posted a $32 million operating loss for the quarter compared with a gain of $6.9 billion in the previous quarter. A number of one-time gains brought it into the black.

It might be unfair to judge the New BAC so early in the process, but first impressions count for a lot. Bank of America is expected to post significant cost cuts down the road as it begins to pare down its special mortgage assistance unit. But it is unclear when the bank will be able to do that as customers continue to need help with their troubled mortgages.

But Bank of America can't just cut its way to profitability; it needs to grow its revenues too. This is where things get a bit hairy. New regulations have cost the firm billions in revenue, which will never return. The Durbin Amendment, which reduces the bank's take from debit card transaction, is costing it $500 million a quarter in lost revenue. The Volcker Rule, which bars depository banks from engaging in proprietary trading and limits investments in hedge funds and private equity ventures, is slated to cost the bank a large sum of cash in the coming years.

Bank of America's earnings have also been hit very hard from the sharp decrease in net interest income. Low interest rates, instituted by the US Federal Reserve, have squeezed margins on the firm's loan business. Things won't get any better on this front until at least the middle of 2013, which is the earliest the Fed said it would consider raising rates. Until then, the bank's net interest margins will be severely depressed.

Despite the gloomy outlook, Bank of America management continues to plug on. A Bank of America spokesman told Fortune one way the bank hopes to grow its revenue is by cross selling various financial products across business lines. For example, the bank will try to incentivize its Bank of America checking account customers to open a brokerage account with Merrill Lynch through giveaways and freebies. The bank wants to create a seamless platform so its customers can manage their mortgage, checking, savings and brokerage accounts in one place. They believe this will be a major draw for clients and will increase client retention.

Similar financial supermarket models have been tried in the past and failed to yield positive results for the bottom line. The bank also said that it wanted build out its investment banking business abroad. There is a lot of money potentially locked up in places like Latin America and the Middle East where capital markets are booming. But bankers aren't cheap, so Bank of America might find that it will need to spend more, considerably more, if it plans on growing this business.

Bank of America has been in perpetual damage control mode since the 2008 financial crisis. But it's now crunch time. The bank is done selling off assets, so it can't count on those big-ticket sales to pad the firm's bottom line next quarter. It needs to find innovative solutions and invest in growth areas. So far, the firm has been successful in grabbing market share from the other banks in some key areas, like mergers and acquisitions. It will need to be far more aggressive in other areas if it hopes to stay in the black, or else it might find itself needing another big loan from a wily billionaire.

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Everyone seems to have an opinion about Solyndra, the solar panel maker that went bankrupt last summer after burning through more than $1.5 billion of public and private financing. But not everyone is entitled to their own facts.

This brings us to conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, who yesterday wrote a column titled "Obama's Green Robber Barons." She's got some pretty broad syndication, so it's worth rebutting MORE]]> Obama's friends aren't "sitting pretty" Solyndra.

Everyone seems to have an opinion about Solyndra, the solar panel maker that went bankrupt last summer after burning through more than $1.5 billion of public and private financing. But not everyone is entitled to their own facts.

This brings us to conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, who yesterday wrote a column titled "Obama's Green Robber Barons." She's got some pretty broad syndication, so it's worth rebutting one of her major claims:

In the wake of the half-billion-dollar Solyndra stimulus bust... billionaire Democratic donor and frequent White House guest George Kaiser, whose nonprofit foundation was Solyndra's biggest investor, is still sitting pretty. He and the other private investors of Solyndra will recoup their losses ahead of taxpayers.

This goes to one of the most fundamental misunderstandings about Solyndra, and is a grossly irresponsible claim.

Solyndra began life by raising venture capital from private sources. Among those was Argonaut Private Equity, the Kaiser-affiliated nonprofit to which Malkin referred. In total, the company raised nearly $1 billion in equity funding from these investors -- including approximately $270 million from Argonaut. That money is now gone. Written off. Never to be seen again.

Those investors will not "recoup their losses ahead of taxpayers," who are on the hook for a subsequent $527 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy (the actual loan was $535 million, but Solyndra didn't call all of it down).

What Malkin likely is referring to is a $75 million loan that Solyndra received after the DoE loan, from Argonaut and another existing Solyndra investor called Madrone Capital Partners (which is affiliated with Wal-mart heir Rob Walton). This loan does indeed have seniority to the DoE loan -- because it came later -- but it's but a fraction of what Argonaut had already invested. Even if the entire $75 million loan gets repaid, Argonaut would still lose its original $270 million equity investment. How on earth is that "sitting pretty?"

If you want to argue that Solyndra was an example of crony capitalism, then make that case. But don't pretend that the company's investors somehow got rich while taxpayers got screwed. It just didn't happen that way.

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