Business and Finance

Kevin O’Leary has written a book so engaging and sympathetic that he risks losing his claim as the Mean One on the hit reality show Dragons’ Den.

In his autobiography Cold Hard Truth, he tells of a difficult Montreal childhood.

When he is 6, his parents undergo “a devastating, acrimonious split,” ending with his father’s early death from alcoholism.

At school, O’Leary discovers he is dyslexic — good with numbers but unable to read — until he enrolls in a revolutionary program that builds his other talents and self-confidence. More: Dragons’ Den star Arlene Dickinson on the art of persuasion

At university, he parlays an aptitude for winning handsomely at barroom shuffleboard into his first business, Special Event Television, featuring the talk show Don Cherry’s Grapevine, precursor to Coach’s Corner on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.

Then the real work begins. From his basement, O’Leary launches a computer software firm, which he builds it into The Learning Company, which he eventually sells to the Mattel toy corporation for $4.2 billion.

“Getting rich feels like joy,” O’Leary writes. “A hot burst in the heart.”

Now he runs the O’Leary Funds mutual fund company and appears in the television business shows Dragon’s Den, Lang & O’Leary Exchange on CBC News Network, and Shark Tank on ABC.

At a Toronto coffee shop this week, he spoke about his book. Here is an edited excerpt of his talk with Star business reporter John Goddard.

What does it take to get rich?

Real entrepreneurs who have had success tell me the same thing — they are not pursuing cash wealth. They are trying to be successful in their business and then one day they wake up and they’re rich.

That’s what happened to me. I was living and breathing The Learning Company. I was working 25 hours a day and I loved it.

I was running all over the world doing deals — and I mean everywhere. We had 3,000 employees. We owned the consumer educational software market in reading and math worldwide personal loans for bad credit. Every company like IBM and Apple, and every hardware manufacturer, wanted to do business with us. It was amazing.

I remember waking up one day and looking at the software we were selling to Mattel and saying, “Wow, where did all this come from? Look what we’ve created. Look at this beautiful thing.” (The Learning Company) was very big and very valuable.

Is it true that an entrepreneur must discard the idea of a balanced life?

Yes. If you are an entrepreneur, there is no such thing as balance.

There are periods of time when you need to be myopically, intensely, focused on your business and if you are successful — it may take five years, or three years or 10 years — you are free. You are wealthy. You can start a new business. You can be a philanthropist. You can do whatever you want.

It doesn’t mean that during your whole life you’re imbalanced. It just means that during that period your business will consume you.

What attracted you to Don Cherry?

I formed Special Event Television and I said, “This Don Cherry is a very gregarious guy, very interesting to watch. Let’s let him build his personality, make the show all about him and his dog, and see if people will watch. And it was a monster hit.

In the book, you say that Cherry “uses his opinions as a branding mechanism.” Did you adopt his idea for Dragons’ Den?

Don taught me the value of candour. He would say, “Look, that goalie is no good and here is why.” And he would list three reasons — the guy can’t take a low shot or whatever.

I thought, “Boy, that’s tough,” but people would perk up. And I thought, “Why can’t I apply that same approach to business? Why can’t I have candour in business, because that’s how I feel, too.

Don taught me that — candour and honesty. I believe that it’s important to be factual and honest with people and not to dress it up, just tell it the way it is.

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tossed a softball overhand with gusto Thursday, said his latest medical checks have been stellar and ridiculed rumors that his health might have taken a turn for the worse.

Chavez said he is bouncing back vigorously from chemotherapy and gaining weight more than three months after he had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his pelvic region. He declined to say what type of cancer he was diagnosed with.

“You want me to tell you more? What for?” Chavez said when asked about the cancer at a news conference. “Go to the hospital and ask any person who has cancer: … ‘What is it that you have? And what type is it?’ Isn’t there something morbid in that?”

“I had a tumor. Now, what do you want me to tell you? That I take the tumor and explain to you here what type of tumor it was and the causes?” Chavez said. “I’m not going to gratify you. A malignant tumor. What more do you all want? … I had it here, they extracted it.”

Chavez motioned to the area where he said the tumor was removed, indicating a vertical incision on his abdomen crossing his waist line. The president said he saw images of the tumor, which was about the size of a baseball, and he held up a baseball as he described the operation.

He reiterated that all of his medical checks have shown no sign of any resurgence of the cancer.

“My latest tests, all of them, have shown very positive results,” he said.

“Here I am. I’m not in my best shape,” Chavez acknowledged, saying that is to be expected after chemotherapy. But he also said he has been lifting weights and is recovering smoothly.

“I’m my own response. And the life I lead from now on, with the grace of God, will be the response, the new Chavez,” said the president, who is running for re-election in 2012.

Chavez dismissed a report in a U.S. newspaper, El Nuevo Herald of Miami, that cited anonymous sources saying he had been hospitalized and that his condition might be deteriorating. He read aloud portions of the report to journalists outside the doors of the presidential palace.

“They’ve got me on dialysis,” Chavez said with a laugh, denying it.

Chavez had been largely out of sight since returning from Cuba last week after a fourth round of chemotherapy that he has said would be his last.

He said in a telephone call broadcast on television earlier Thursday that he is taking steroids and other medicines as he recovers from the chemotherapy.

He said he is working at “half throttle” while the effects of the treatment pass.

“I’m going to completely get out of this soon,” Chavez said.

The 57-year-old leader said his body has coped well with chemotherapy and assured Venezuelans he will keep them informed.

“I would be the first … to communicate any difficulty in the process. None beyond the normal has come up,” Chavez said.

Chavez has provided regular updates on his condition since he announced in a prerecorded video aired June 30 that he had undergone surgery for cancer. He said later that the surgery to remove the tumor was performed June 20.

The president’s critics have complained that he has kept secret some key details about his illness.

Chavez said he has provided ample information. He reiterated that his tumor had been “encapsulated” when it was removed and it hadn’t affected his colon or organs.

“I had cancer, in a ball that was removed,” Chavez said, holding up the baseball.

Later, he pitched a softball to his foreign minister outside the palace, smiling and throwing his weight behind each toss.

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Asian stocks were mixed Wednesday as investors fearful of a debt implosion in Europe held onto hopes that the Federal Reserve will announce measures to jolt the U.S. economy.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was marginally higher at 8,721.98 after the Finance Ministry released trade data showing the country’s exports rose for the first time in six months. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.4 percent to 1,845.09.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.8 percent to 18,866.30. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200, swinging between gains and losses, was less than 0.1 percent up at 4,041.30. Benchmarks in New Zealand and Taiwan were higher. Those in Singapore and Malaysia fell.

On Wall Street, stocks rose on hopes the U.S. central bank would announce steps to boost the flagging economy. Many analysts believe the Fed will announce a new stimulus plan at the end of a two-day policy meeting Wednesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 0.1 percent at 11,408.66. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 0.2 percent to 1,202.09. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.9 percent to 2,590.24.

Meanwhile, debt-saddled Greece moved closer Tuesday to getting the vital bailout funds it needs to avoid a disastrous default on its debts after persuading international debt inspectors to return to Athens and resume reviewing its austerity program. Without the money, the country would default within weeks.

Greece has been depending on rescue loans from other eurozone countries and the IMF since May 2010, when its borrowing costs went through the roof following revelations Athens had been underreporting an alarmingly bloated budget deficit and public debt.

Greece is only one of several European countries that investors fear may be at risk of failing to pay their debts. On Monday night, the ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Italy’s credit rating by one notch. Italy has the second-biggest debt burden among countries that use the euro, after Greece.

If Greece or Italy were to default, European banks that have lent money to the countries could lose billions of dollars. That could hurt the European banking system and have repercussions for U.S. banks. Investors are concerned that a default in Europe could cause a lending crisis similar to what happened after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.

In energy trading, benchmark oil for October delivery was down 35 cents at $86.57 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude rose $1.11 to settle at $86.92 on Tuesday.

In London, Brent crude for November delivery was up 9 cents at $110.63 on the ICE Futures exchange.

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Forecasters say a tropical storm warning has been issued for Bermuda as Jose moves over the Atlantic Ocean.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Jose was about 115 miles (185 kilometers) south-southwest of Bermuda on Sunday morning with maximum sustained winds of about 40 mph (64 kph). The storm was moving north at about 16 mph (26 kph).

Jose is not expected to change much in strength Sunday and should weaken on Monday paperless payday loans.

Forecasters say tropical storm conditions are expected on Bermuda later this morning. Jose could bring as much as 1 to 3 inches of rain to Bermuda, but projections currently show the center of the storm remaining offshore.

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Supporters of President Hugo Chavez shaved their heads in solidarity with their leader’s struggle against cancer on Sunday as hundreds prayed and sang at a televised event.

Barbers shaved off the hair of several men and at least one woman while the crowd swayed to a religious song. Chavez, bald from chemotherapy, smiled, clapped with the music and waved to the crowd.

Those attending included a group of six from the Dominican Republic who shaved their heads outside the Venezuelan Embassy in their country on Friday. Chavez greeted the Dominicans with hugs and stood arm-in-arm with them.

Pro-Chavez lawmaker Robert Serra said in a message on Twitter that “Venezuelan young people and priests cut their hair… in solidarity.”

Young men with close-cropped hair stood in the crowd as shouts of “Hallelujah!” and “Amen!” rose at the end of a song.

Leidy Jimenez, one of the Dominicans, told state television that their decision to shave their heads was “a gesture of love and of strength for the president.”

Chavez blew a kiss to the crowd, and listened as a priest, a minister and others spoke. “Long live Hugo Chavez!,” one Dominican man told the crowd.

Chavez praised the Christian group from the Dominican Republic in a newspaper column Saturday, saying “may God bless you.” The Dominicans arrived in Venezuela on Saturday night to meet with the president.

Chavez also said in his column that tests show his body has been responding well to chemotherapy. He said he was preparing for a “possible” new round of chemotherapy and that all of his hair had fallen out as a result of the treatment.

Chavez returned from his latest round of chemotherapy in Cuba on Aug. 14.

He underwent surgery in Cuba in June that removed a cancerous tumor from his pelvic region. He has not specified where the tumor was located. He has said the chemotherapy aims to ensure no malignant cells reappear.

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U.S. stock futures rose Monday, following Wall Street’s wildest week since the 2008 financial crisis. Asian and European markets were also higher after Japan said its economy shrank at just a 1.3 percent annual rate last quarter. Economists expected the country’s earthquake in March to lead to a drop of more than double that.

There was also a major acquisition in the technology sector and a deal in the energy sector as well.

Google Inc. is buying wireless phone maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. for $12.5 billion in cash. It is by far the technology company’s biggest acquisition. That sent shares of Motorola up 60 percent, but there was a sell-off in Google shares, which fell nearly 3 percent.

In the energy sector, offshore driller Transocean Ltd. said it would buy Aker Drilling of Norway for $1.43 billion in cash.

Companies across the United States are sitting on a record amount of cash that they have built up since the recession ended. Analysts have been waiting for them to use some of that cash on acquisitions, dividend increases and stock buybacks.

The growing cash hoard has been the result of stronger profits for companies cheap payday advance. They have kept costs low by being slow to hire. Revenue is growing, particularly to overseas customers. For the 460 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported second-quarter results so far, total earnings are up 12 percent from a year ago.

Lowe’s Cos., the second-largest home improvement retailer, said its net income was roughly flat last quarter on a 1 percent rise in revenue.

About 90 minutes ahead of the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 50 points, or 0.4 percent, to 11,300. S&P 500 futures rose 6.50, or 0.6 percent, to 1,183.30. Nasdaq 100 futures rose 6.50, or 0.3 percent, to 2,184. Futures don’t always accurately predict how markets will open.

Last week, the Dow rose or fell by at least 400 points for four days straight. It was the first time that had ever happened. The S&P 500 index also rose or fell by 4 percent for four straight days. It’s the first time that happened since November 2008, at the depths of the financial crisis.

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ask the expert

Nick Lombardi, manager, risk services practice Brown Smith Wallace LLC

314-983-1323

nlombardi@bswllc.com

Are solar panels a good investment for a business in the St. Louis area?

The answer today is a resounding “Maybe.”

Not long ago, the response would have been a hushed, “Not really, but you might pursue them to be seen as ‘green.’”

The combination of higher tax incentives, lower installation costs, greater efficiency and rising utility rates are boosting the advantages of solar electricity. Around the world, there is a massive upsurge in solar panel manufacturing capability and installations. The industry is now well established and truly competitive.

So how to assess an investment in solar panels?

They tend to hold their value, have a long life of more than 20 years and provide a monthly cash stream with almost no maintenance cost.

Unlike most other business investments, they are a long-term and low-risk investment. While it is fair to expect a reasonable return on a solar energy investment, it is not fair to expect the return demanded of higher-risk projects.

Solar electric projects should be evaluated using a discounted cash flow analysis covering at least 10 years. The analysis should consider the initial installation cost, energy revenue, capacity revenue, tax incentives, rebates, depreciation, maintenance cost, marginal tax rate and internal cost of capital. A great source to help with the incentives and rebates is www.dsireusa.org.

The installing contractor should provide an estimate of monthly revenue along with guarantees of minimum performance. A business that lacks the expertise to validate such information might seek outside help to verify it and help with paperwork and tax issues.

An independent verification of system performance is also a good idea should a business decide to install a solar energy system.

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Financial ministers from the Group of Seven economies plan urgent talks on world market stability as Middle Eastern markets tumbled Sunday in the first sign of investor fallout from a historic U.S. credit downgrade.

Deputy finance ministers agreed Sunday on a conference call among the higher-level ministers likely to be held before Asian markets open Monday morning, Kyodo News agency reported.

The countries are concerned Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating late Friday would significantly rattle consumer and business confidence and financial markets.

The leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the U.S. and Japan are also expected to discuss the eurozone sovereign debt concerns.

Japan’s Senior Vice Finance Minister Fumihiko Igarashi hinted Sunday that Tokyo would intervene in the currency market if excessive fluctuations continue.

It already intervened Thursday to weaken the yen, which Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said was to protect the country’s economic recovery from an earthquake and tsunami in March.

“It’s not over yet. We will act again i we see speculative moves,” Igarashi said on a talk show Sunday on public broadcaster NHK, referring to a possibility for more rounds of yen-selling intervention.

Many economists see the world’s big central banks as the last line of defense at this moment in the crisis, after policymakers in Europe and the U.S. have failed to agree on the kind of shock-and-awe moves that many investors demand.

In the eurozone, the summer recess of national parliaments is delaying the implementation of crucial changes to the currency union’s bailout fund that could help save Italy and Spain from expensive bailouts.

Many investors have also been calling on the U payday advance.S. Federal Reserve to start pumping money into the American economy again to help underpin the slowing economic recovery.

Both Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn on Friday called for coordination between G-7 countries, saying the crisis has to be tackled on a global level.

In the United States, credit rating agency S&P said it would strip the U.S. of its sterling AAA credit rating for the first time and move it down one notch, to AA+.

“Our initial sense is that the S&P decision will do nothing to calm jangled nerves at the beginning of the week,” Russell Jones, of Australia’s Westpac Institutional Bank, wrote in a report Sunday. “Treasury yields are initially likely to move higher, perhaps sharply so, and risk assets will also suffer further losses.”

Still, he added that Treasury weakness was unlikely to last long for various factors, including that the U.S. still retains its top credit rating with Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings.

Some economists say the real danger won’t be higher interest rates but that the downgrade will reinforce doubts in the American economy and its leaders.

Middle East markets, open Sunday through Thursday, were the first to react to the downgrade. Dubai’s main market index was down more than 4 percent at midday, and other Gulf markets also opened sharply lower.

China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, on Saturday demanded that the United States tighten its belt and overcome its “addiction to debt.”

Japan’s Nikkei index lost ground in the past week due to debt crisis developments.

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Several alleged victims of tabloid phone hacking in Britain will soon file lawsuits against a second newspaper group, Piers Morgan’s former employer Trinity Mirror PLC, their lawyer said Friday.

Mark Lewis said the claims would be filed in “a few weeks,” but would not disclose identities of his clients or say precisely when the papers would be presented at court.

Lewis represents the family of Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl abducted and murdered by a pedophile in 2002. The revelation a month ago that her voicemail messages had been accessed by the News of the World tabloid while she was still missing outraged British opinion, and triggered a crisis for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

The phone hacking scandal centers on allegations that journalists eavesdropped on private phone messages, bribed police for information and hacked email accounts.

So far the crisis has centered on Murdoch’s media empire, leading him to shut down the News of the World and abandon a bid to take over British Sky Broadcasting. Several former executives of the newspaper have been arrested by police investigating the eavesdropping.

But there have also been allegations of hacking by other newspapers. This week Paul McCartney’s ex-wife, Heather Mills, claimed in a BBC interview that she was hacked by a Trinity Mirror journalist in 2001.

McCartney said Thursday that he planned to contact police over the claim.

“I will be talking to them about that,” McCartney told the U.S. television journalists by videolink from Cincinnati, Ohio.

The BBC did not identify the journalist cited by Mills, but said it was not CNN celebrity interviewer Piers Morgan, who was editor of the group’s flagship tabloid, the Daily Mirror, between 1995 and 2004.

Morgan has repeatedly denied ordering anyone to spy on voicemails or knowingly publishing stories obtained through hacking.

But in an article published by the Daily Mail in 2006, Morgan said that he had been played a tape of a message McCartney had left on Mills’ cell phone in the wake of one of their fights.

“It was heartbreaking,” Morgan wrote. “He sounded lonely, miserable and desperate, and even sang ‘We Can Work It Out’ into the answerphone.”

Questions over how Morgan came to hear the message have led several British lawmakers to call on him to return to the U.K. and explain himself.

Lawmaker John Whittingdale, chairman of a parliamentary committee that is investigating hacking by the News of the World, said Thursday that Morgan “absolutely should” come to Britain to answer questions.

Whittingdale said “there is evidence to suggest that other newspapers were involved in phone hacking” _ and that police should investigate.

Both Trinity Mirror and the publisher of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, eager to stop the scandal spreading to them, have announced reviews of editorial procedures in the wake of the revelations about the scale of wrongdoing at the News of the World.

Meanwhile, an activist who hit Murdoch with a shaving foam pie as the mogul testified to British lawmakers last month had his jail sentence reduced on appeal Friday.

Jonathan May-Bowles was sentenced Tuesday for assaulting the 80-year-old media tycoon as he gave evidence to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

A judge rejected May-Bowles attempt to overturn the sentence, but reduced it Friday to four weeks.

A lawyer for May-Bowles, 26, argued that the attack was in the tradition of comics “from Laurel and Hardy and the Three Stooges to Monty Python.” Defense attorney Piers Marquis said the foam pie had been a “staple of slapstick comedy” for years.

But Judge Anthony Pitts said there had been nothing funny about the attack.

“It was intended, it seems to us, to cause fear and it must have caused fear,” the judge said.

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Frazier Moore and Noaki Schwartz in Los Angeles and David Stringer and Raphael G. Satter in London contributed to this report.

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Furniture Brands International Inc. swung to a loss in the second quarter as higher advertising spending offset gains made from increased sales.

The Clayton-based maker of residential furniture reported a loss of $6.6 million, or 12 cents a share, compared to a profit of $4 no credit check payday loans.2 million, or 9 cents a share, a year earlier. Net sales rose 2.3 percent to $296 million.

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