No End in Sight to Job Losses; 663,000 More Cut in March

The American economy surrendered 663,000 more jobs in March as the unemployment rate surged to 8.5 percent, its highest level since 1983, the government reported Friday.

The latest snapshot of accelerating decline in the national job market lifted to 5.1 million the number of jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007. More than two million jobs have disappeared over the first three months alone.

The full-text article by Peter S. Goodman and Jack Healy is available at The New York Times, 4.3.2009.

The Forgotten Rich

The Senate budget debate began this week against a backdrop of war and recession, rising unemployment and surging foreclosures, runaway health care costs and diminishing insurance coverage — to name just a few of the nation’s big problems. But for Senator Blanche Lincoln, Democrat of Arkansas, and Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, the most pressing issue is clear: America’s wealthiest families need help. Now.

The two senators plan to propose an amendment to deeply cut estate taxes for the fraction of the top 1 percent of the population still subject to those levies.

The proverbial millionaires next door — the plumbers, contractors and accountants who amass substantial wealth through hard work and modest living — are not the intended beneficiaries of the proposed cut. The Obama budget already takes care of them, because it retains today’s law, which imposes the estate tax only on couples with property worth more than $7 million, or individuals with property worth more than $3.5 million. That means 99.8 percent of estates will never — ever — pay a penny of estate tax.

The full-text of this editorial is available at The New York Times, 4.1.2009.

Private-Equity Fund-Raising: It Is Like 2003 All Over Again

Private-equity fund-raising in the first three months of the year dropped to its lowest level in more than five years, while the number of buyout firms abandoning plans to raise fresh capital is slowly on the rise, according to new research, as investor appetite begins to mirror the flagging deal market.

A total of $45.9 billion was raised for the final closes of 71 private-equity funds in the first quarter, according to industry data provider Private Equity Intelligence. This is the lowest quarterly figure since the final three months of 2003, when $34 billion was raised. Roughly $125 billion was raised in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Funds focused on the U.S. were the most popular, with $23 billion raised across 39 funds, making them the biggest group in terms of both number and value. Seventeen European funds attracted $20.2 billion, while the same amount targeting investments in Asia and the rest of the world raised $2.7 billion.

The full text of this blog entry by Oliver Smiddy, of Financial News, is available at the Wall Street Journal's blog, Deal Journal, 4.1.2009.

Even Fewer Profits for Venture Capitalists

The bad news for venture capitalists continues, especially when it comes to delivering profits.

Venture capitalists — who invest in private companies with the aim of profiting later when those startups get sold or go public — have seen the businesses of their portfolio companies suffer in the recession, their fund-raising get hurt by the gyrating stock markets, and have experienced a big hit to their profits. That’s because IPOs and mergers and acquisitions of startups have been scant.

The first quarter of 2009 was particularly horrible in this regard. According to new data out Wednesday, not a single venture-backed company went public in the three months that ended Tuesday. In fact, no venture-backed company has gone public in the last eight months as the market has see-sawed.

M&A exits fared just a little better, according to VentureSource, a research firm owned by News Corp., which also publishes The Wall Street Journal. Just 68 venture-backed companies were involved in an M&A event in the first quarter, generating $3.2 billion. That’s down 65% from $9.1 billion produced a year earlier and is the lowest quarterly total since 2003.

The full-text of this blog entry by Pui-wing Tam is available at the Wall Street Journal's Blog - Digit: Technology News and Insights, 4.1.2009.

Special Report: The World's Billionaires

The richest people in the world have gotten poorer, just like the rest of us. This year the world's billionaires have an average net worth of $3 billion, down 23% in 12 months. The world now has 793 billionaires, down from 1,125 a year ago. After slipping in recent years, the U.S. is regaining its dominance as a repository of wealth.

Americans account for 44% of the money and 45% of the list's slots, up seven and three percentage points from last year, respectively. Bill Gates lost $18 billion but regained his title as the world's richest man. Warren Buffett, last year's No. 1, saw his fortune decline $25 billion as shares of Berkshire Hathaway fell nearly 50% in 12 months. Mexican telecom titan Carlos Slim Helú maintains his spot in the top three but lost $25 billion.

The full-text article by Luisa Kroll, Matthew Miller and Tatiana Serafin is available at Forbes Magazine, 3.11.2009.

Special Report: 48 Heroes Of Philanthropy

They're making generous, sometimes innovative, contributions in Asia and elsewhere.

The global financial crisis is hammering fortunes all over Asia, but the past year was still a good one for philanthropy as tycoons and more modest donors tried to maintain their charity commitments. Many opened up their checkbooks to help the victims of the Sichuan earthquake and the Myanmar cyclone in May. Many more donated to health, education, cultural and other causes.

The full-text article by John Koppisch is available at Forbes Magazine, 3.4.2009.

Creative Giving: Extreme Fundraising

Endurance sports, personal blogs and personal (often disease related) charities have merged into a new form of extreme fundraising. Dance-a-thons and charity auctions are too tame. These athletes pedal across continents and row across oceans for a cause.

Both charities and for-profit software companies such as Blackbaud (nasdaq: BLKB - news - people ) and Active Network are capitalizing on the trend, offering ready-made personal fundraising sites with blogs, payment capability and more. Blackbaud estimates online fundraising has hauled in $3 billion in donations worldwide over the past seven years, with the pace accelerating over the past year.

The full-text article by Steven Bertoni is available at Forbes Magazine, 3.25.2009.