David Einhorn's Special Roast
After striking out in his bid to buy a big piece of the New York Mets, David Einhorn is swinging for the fences with his high-profile bet that Green Mountain Coffee Roasters is overvalued. In a ponderous 30-minute, 110-slide presentation at the recent Value Investing Congress in New York, the founder of hedge fund Greenlight Capital put his reputation on the line when he criticized the coffee maker for its lack of transparency, questionable accounting and low-growth prospects as its distinctive but expensive K-Cups come off patent and face an onslaught of competition. “There is a lot of questionable behavior here,” Einhorn told his audience. After the presentation the coffee maker’s stock dropped 10 percent that day and 27 percent for the week. —Stephen Taub
Unemployment’s a Royal Concern
Regional unemployment and the Arab Spring were focal points for Jordan’s King Abdullah II during his keynote speech at the special-edition World Economic Forum in Amman last month. “Our region stands today at the gates to the future,” said the king at the opening of the WEF’s summit on economic growth and job creation in the Arab world. The region needs to generate 85 million new jobs to resolve the Middle East’s unemployment problem, he said, stressing the importance of a sound government in creating jobs: “Let’s be clear: Political reform is economic reform. For businesses to invest and expand with confidence, they need a predictable, level playing field; transparency and accountability; [and] the rule of law.” —Farah Halime ....