(Reuters) – Members of Bernard Madoff’s family were hit with an expanded $ 255.3 million lawsuit, saying they should have caught the patriarch’s Ponzi scheme and must return the benefits to victims.

The family defendants are Madoff’s brother Peter, who was the Madoff firm’s chief compliance officer; son Andrew, who was co-director of trading; the estate of son Mark, who was also co-director of trading and committed suicide in December 2010; and niece Shana, a compliance officer.

Reuters: Top News

I have been an investor in Chesapeake Energy (CHK) for a number of years.  Aubrey McClendon is the ultimate wildcat gambler. He gambles with his finances and with the company itself. However, the SEC may finally be saying “guys, come on.”.  The shenanigans might just come to an end. This is the second major issue in the past few years with Aubrey.  Could get interesting, but I doubt it.  That is a well connected company with enough money and influence to cover things with a fine.  Aubrey might just be asked to ride off into the sunset this time.

Many wonder why McClendon has been allowed to slide for so long.  Here is a factoid that might allow you to put the pieces together:

• Katie Upton, Aubrey’s wife, is a (first?) cousin of US Congressman Fred Upton. Coincidentally, he is the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Ahh, the connected.  Makes you very sick if you dig too deep.  Put your head down, work hard, and live your life.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an informal inquiry into Chesapeake Energy Corp’s controversial program that granted Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon a share in each of the natural gas producer’s wells, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Reuters: Top News

Another studio boss derailed by a tent pole gone very, very, very wrong.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rich Ross, chairman of Walt Disney Co’s movie studio, stepped down after a two-year stint that included the release of “John Carter,” one of the biggest flops in recent Hollywood history.

Reuters: Top News

Recently, CNBC did a story on the “Most Promising Franchise Opportunities.” available. Here are the rankings:

1. Senior Care
2. Employment Services
3. Restoration Services
4. Business Coaching
5. Frozen Yogurt
6. Education Services
7. Fitness
8. Hair Salons
9. Maid & Personal Services
10. Fast Food
11. Pet Services

There are many opportunities within these industry segments. Some opportunities, however, are clearly better than others. With over 3,000 franchise opportunities available, I have developed a short list of favorites based on CNBC’s article. For my money, these are some of the best franchise opportunities available…base on a number of factors.

“My Favorite” Senior Care Franchise:

Franchise 500 member
Reasonable investment
Master franchise possibilities
Good margins and financials
Support and training
Industry growth is impressive
Semi-passive (if desired)

“My Favorite” Employment Services Franchise:

Franchise 500 member
Reasonable investment
Good margins and financials
Support and training
Growing industry

“My Favorite” Restoration Services Franchise:

Top 50 franchise satisfaction award
Reasonable investment
Good margins and financials
Franchise 500 member

“My Favorite” Frozen Yogurt Franchise:

Efficient business model
Master franchise possibilities
Good margins and financials
Great franchisor management team
Semi-passive (if desired)

“My Favorite” Pet Franchise:

Dog industry is growing
Good business model
Strong company history
Franchise 500 member
Strong and supportive franchisor

“My Favorite” Business Services Franchise:

Great business model
Mature industry with lots of customers
Master franchise possibilities
Low investment
Diverse products and services under 1 roof
Semi-passive (if desired)

Owning a franchise is about being in business for yourself, not by yourself. If this is the dream you are chasing, seriously consider what I believe to be some of the best franchise opportunities available. Remember that franchises offer protected territory. Your territory might be available today and gone tomorrow.

Go from having little control over your life to the kind of control that can really make a difference. What are you waiting for?

Scott Hill writes regularly for BobandScott.com. He is a franchise consultant and small business adviser. His franchise consultation is a free, no obligation service designed to help you  find out if franchising is right for you. He can be reached at 615.669.0688. The website is http://www.williamandhill.com

Sergey Brin and Larry Page have found a way to retain voting control at a $200+ billion company while keeping the shareholders happy.  Funny how huge profits will do that for a leader.

Brin and Page have certainly earned the right to continue to lead this company. Not much good can come from a multi-layered organization where every layer has input into decisions of the company.  The organization where there is clear leadership, who will listen to feedback, and make their own decisions is generally going to operate best.

Obviously the leader cannot be just anyone. There is a special type.  Look at Bill Gates and then follow that up with Steve Ballmer.  Gates was the clear leader with a vision and an grip on the company.  The company flourished. Ballmer has had a bit of struggle in comparison.  Perhaps it is not a fair comparison.  It could be said that Gates rode off into the sunset due to the fact that his company was far behind in the future growth areas.  However, you cannot argue with the track record of Bill Gates. He dominated like Michael Jordan.

Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are also examples of the strong leader who retains that grip on the company.  It is amazing what Steve Jobs was able to do with Apple and Pixar.  Zuckerberg deserves a lot of credit, but the company is still very young.  He was brilliant enough to retain voting rights to shares that the company sold to investors such as Digital Sky Technologies (Yuri Millner).  He controls the voting rights to those shares.   By doing so, Mark has the final say and probably the initial say regarding product, design, and direction. In fact, many say that the Instagram deal was purely Mark Zuckerberg’s doing.  24 hours after receiving funding at a $500m valuation, Zuckerberg agreed to pay $1b.  Investors must have been celebrating that night. Mark probably owed someone a favor.  Done!

Larry and Sergey continue to innovate and bring new products to market.  Google could be an entirely different company in 10 years.  Search, as we know it, might not exist and the projects that Sergey is working on might just be the future of Google.  Google’s self driving car, Google Green/Energy, Google Glass (glasses). Time will tell.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc announced a stock split designed to preserve the control of co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin over the world’s No. 1 Web search engine, asking investors to trust their long-term vision.

Reuters: Top News

WASHINGTON — Bank of America is suing itself for foreclosure.

“It’s crazy,” housing data analyst Michael Olenick told HuffPost. “They shouldn’t be suing themselves.”

via Bank Of America Sues Itself In Unusual Foreclosure Case.

Source: www.techradar.com – Wednesday, April 11, 2012
The United States Department of Justice has issued a lawsuit against Apple and five of the world’s leading publishers over allegations of collusion to fix ebook prices . The suit claims the companies have conspired to ensure other retailers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble cannot lower prices. With Apple receiving 30 per cent commission per book sale, publishers are said to have given the iBooks store ‘favoured nation’ status, meaning no other outlet could sell at a lower price. New iPad 3 Apple new iPad 3 review Does the new iPad have an overheating problem? Best new iPad apps The publishing houses have often threatened the likes of Amazon’s Kindle store with the withdrawal of their titles, should the retailer seek to lower the notoriously high price of ebook titles. Apple is in on that, according to the lawsuit. Settlement The writ was issued against Apple, along with Macmillan, Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette, although the latter three have already agreed to a settlement with the US government. Apple, Macmillan and Penguin are all preparing to fight, whereas the others are most likely resigned to allowing Amazon to start trimming prices. US Attourney General Eric Holder says the alleged actions of Apple and the publishing houses have already cost consumers millions. In a statement to the media, he said: “Beginning in the summer of 2009, we allege that executives at the highest levels of the companies inc…

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What does the coast guard do when they find a ship adrift and cannot account for its owner?  Sink it!

Source: www.sfgate.com – Thursday, April 05, 2012
(04-05) 19:48 PDT OVER THE GULF OF ALASKA, (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says a Japanese vessel set adrift by last year’s tsunami has sunk in the Gulf of Alaska, ending its long, lonely voyage across the Pacific Ocean….

Photo: Petty Officer 2nd Class Charly Hengen / AP

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Groupon Shares Plummet 17%

Yesterday, Groupon Shares Plummeted 17% after the coupon company delivered an earnings restatement. According to the company, they did not set aside enough money for customer returns. Since it’s gone public, the company has also been forced twice, by the SEC to address accounting concerns and it’s stock is off 52 week high of $31.44.

I don’t make a practice in life of say, “I told you so” but this time I believe it’s appropriate. While I have not been publicly telling the world my thoughts on Groupon, I certainly have witnesses to how I feel about this company.

While the business is generating massive revenue, I hate the business model. I absolutely hate this business model. First of all, they got their start by offering great deals to the consumer at the expense of the business. When you create a business model where it’s a win-win-lose for the three participants and the “product” is the loser, you are eventually going to have problems.

Loser Business Model
Why is the business or “product” the loser? Back when they started, the business owners they worked with had to offer a impressive deal (50-70% off) so they would get customers like you and me to buy the Groupon. Sounds great right? For us and Groupon, the deals are magical. For the business owner, the deals are pathetic. Here’s why: First, the business owner gets coupon customers. This type of customer is the wrong customer for business owners. If the business creates a coupon based business, no one will ever pay full price for anything. Think of your favorite restaurants or think of the best restaurants in town. When’s the last time these restaurants gave out coupons? Secondly, Groupon not only had the business give to 50-70% off, Groupon took half of the Groupon dollars generated. So if Groupon offered a 50% off $30 worth of merchandise at a store, the Groupon was priced at $15. Groupon took $7.50 so the business owner generated $7.50 for every $30 worth of merchandise. Please tell me businesses you know who can survive on taking in $7.50 for every $30 out the door? Third, Groupon probably doesn’t get many repeat customers. How can they? No business can survive consistently losing that kind of money. Don’t believe me? Comb the internet. There are lots of stories about business owners who sold thousands of dollars worth of Groupons in 24 hours only to realize how much money they were about to lose. Fourth, if you bought a Groupon, and didn’t use it, Groupon kept the money generated further adding to their “profits.” Lastly or fifth (how many reasons do we need?!), Groupon did all this a midst the worlds 2nd worst economic downturn of the last 100 years. Taking advantage of desperate business owners is not likely to happen very much longer as we come out of this bad economy. The result is, Groupon will have to give average deals which will keep you and me from buying as many and businesses, enjoying a better economic environment will not use Groupon as much. In other words, unless you need a massage or lasik surgery, Groupon is in trouble.

Frankly, I don’t know what the splits are between the business owners and Groupon these days. I’ve completely sworn off the company. I don’t care what the deal is, I’m not using Groupon. My guess is they have all sorts of games they play. Some customers probably get better deals than others. The more desparate the business owner for traffic, the more Groupon probably takes. I’d love to know how many Groupon customers repeat and also how many Groupon customers over the years have gone out of business. It’s probably allot.

I’m sure there are a lot of good people at Groupon. But it’s a bad business model when Groupon, as a company makes money by taking advantage of the customer. This is an “I told you so” moment for me because I’ve been, for a long time, talking about how they take advantage of their customer. I also think it’s a bad stock to own. Stay away and invest in a company where everyone wins. There are lots of companies like that.

Tim Tebow girlfriend talk seems to be very popular these days. I really wonder how much of it is true. Last night, I watched the 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards. At the beginning of the show, Blake Shelton commented on a date between Tim Tebow and Taylor Swift. As I had heard nothing about this “event” I Googled it and found there has been talk on it for about a month. I’m almost proud not to have known about it or any of the other possible mates for Mr. Tebow. But, since I’m on the subject, here is what I’ve found regarding possible girlfriends for the New York Jet quarterback.

1. Tim Tebow and Lindsay Vonn
2. Tim Tebow and Lucy Pinder
3. Tim Tebow and Dianna Agron
4. Tim Tebow and Erin Drewes

While we’ve got better things to do than speculate on Tim Tebow’s girlfriends, can you imagine the hype it will get know that he’s in New York City?