Behind Richard Rainwater's fight for his life

• What's next at Yahoo? Layoffs

  by Patricia Sellers

  While rumors keep swirling about Yahoo (YHOO) merging with AOL (AOL) in a deal that would include private equity, don't hold your breath. A source close to Yahoo told me today that neither AOL nor private equity buyers have contacted the company to discuss a potential deal.

  Meanwhile, Yahoo news that should transpire sooner: layoffs. Sources tell me that Yahoo next week plans to announce 10% cuts in the MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Dec 6, 2010 2:48 PM ET
  Posted in: AOL, Carol Bartz, CEOs, Facebook, Google, Groupon, Microsoft, Postcards, private equity, Silicon Valley, technology, Yahoo

• How one big investor is "playing offense again"

  I interviewed Carlyle Group's Sandra Horbach, who heads the private equity giant's consumer and retail group, at the Women's Alternative Investment Summit in New York last week. I shared a few highlights, and since the session drew terrific audience feedback, it's worth giving you more of Horbach's smart talk about managing through the recession, investing into the recovery, and navigating a career in private equity, where few women dare MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Dec 8, 2009 3:21 PM ET
  Posted in: Brands, Carlyle Group, economy, Postcards, private equity, retail, Sandra Horbach

• Are we ready for good-time CEOs?

  by Patricia Sellers

  Have we really hit bottom? Sandra Horbach, who heads the consumer and retail group at private equity giant Carlyle Group, says we have.

  Horbach and I chatted on stage this morning at the Women's Alternative Investment Summit down on Wall Street. "Trailblazers Discuss the State of the Market," the organizers called our session, suggesting that we both have survived cycles and seen a lot. Yes, we have. Horbach, MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Dec 2, 2009 1:45 PM ET
  Posted in: Carlyle, CEOs, economy, finance, Lou Gerstner, Postcards, private equity, Sandra Horbach, Wall Street

• Power Point: You can't trade money for years

  "I would give up all the money I have if I could be 50. You can always make money."

  --David Rubenstein, managing director of the Carlyle Group, in the New York Times. One of America's more low-key buyout kings, Rubenstein celebrated his 60th birthday last month, prompting him to reflect that "I could be like the pharaohs and say, 'Bury me with my money.' Or I could start giving it away." MORE

  Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Oct 1, 2009 7:46 PM ET
  Posted in: Carlyle Group, David Rubenstein, finance, philanthropy, Postcards, Power Point, private equity

• Female consumers' optimism index

  The female economy is on my mind. That's the subject of an upcoming book, Women Want More, that I told you about in yesterday's post, "Why CEOs should do housework."

  A survey of 12,000 female consumers, by the Boston Consulting Group, was conducted to research the book by BCG marketing expert Michael Silverstein--as I was telling Tory Burch and our dinner companions last evening. The female economy is of interest to MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Aug 12, 2009 3:13 PM ET
  Posted in: Brands, Postcards, private equity, retail

• Blackstone boss shares his capitalist angst

  Blackstone Group (BX) CEO Steve Schwarzman is worried. Very worried.

  Last evening, at the firm's annual press dinner, the big boss of the buyout industry riffed about what he's been hearing as he has circled the globe. I was lucky enough to sit at his table -- and I asked him that question, in fact: So, Steve, how do you think the U.S. and its economic policies are being viewed abroad? MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Apr 15, 2009 1:48 PM ET
  Posted in: Blackstone, economy, finance, investing, Postcards, private equity, real estate, Steve Schwarzman, Wall Street, Washington

• Pepsi's former boss lands a new gig

  by Patricia Sellers

  Dawn Hudson spent more than a decade chasing stretch goals at PepsiCo (PEP). She headed sales and marketing at Frito-Lay, the consumer giant's snack unit. She led marketing at Pepsi-Cola North America and ascended to CEO of that $5.5 billion business.

  That job turned out to be Hudson's ceiling inside PepsiCo, where chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi has put her own stamp on the company. Hudson (who ranked as MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Mar 26, 2009 1:39 PM ET
  Posted in: boards, Brands, CEOs, Citigroup, consumer goods, Dawn Hudson, eBay, Erin Callan, FORTUNE MPWomen, headhunters, Indra Nooyi, Kraft, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, management, Meg Whitman, Morgan Stanley, P&G, PepsiCo, Personal Power, Postcards, Power Shift, private equity, Procter & Gamble, Sallie Krawcheck, sports, Susan Arnold, Wall Street, Zoe Cruz

• Guidance, good riddance!

  Guidance--the revenue and profit forecasts that companies divvy out to Wall Street analysts--is dying a slow death. Hooray for that!

  As a slew of big names--Wal-Mart (WMT), Costco (COST), Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO), among them--announced in the past two weeks that they would suspend or limit guidance because of economic uncertainty, analysts who follow these companies have reacted skeptically. Not giving 2009 guidance "hardly instills confidence in the business," Sanford MORE

  Patricia Sellers - Feb 6, 2009 3:25 PM ET
  Posted in: Bob Eckert, CEOs, consumer goods, Costco, earnings, GE, General Electric, guidance, investing, Jeff Immelt, Jim Kilts, Kraft, Leadership by Geoff Colvin, management, Mattel, Microsoft, Novartis, Postcards, private equity, retail, Silicon Valley, stock market, technology, Wal-Mart, Wall Street, Yahoo

• Power Point: Have faith in financials

  "We will end up with a bank, there is no doubt about that."

  -- Wilbur Ross, Chairman and CEO of WL Ross & Co. to cnnMoney.com. A major player in private equity, Ross said that although the government rescue of the banking system had delayed his company's purchase of a bank, it was inevitable. Last year the supersmart investor bought H&R Block's (HRB) subprime mortgage servicing unit, and also acquired bond MORE

  Jessica Shambora, Writer-Reporter - Jan 6, 2009 6:24 PM ET
  Posted in: assured guaranty, banks, CEOs, economy, finance, H&R Block, JP, JPMorgan Chase, Postcards, Power Point, private equity, Wilbur Ross