Blog Posts by Tim Sprinkle

Don’t be fooled: The marijuana business is hard work. 

Sure, the drug is now legal for adult use in the states of Washington and Colorado, and is available on a medicinal basis in 15 others, but that hasn’t made things much easier for the small-business owners that grow and sell the herb.

In fact, their jobs are only getting tougher. Increased competition, spiraling costs and continued regulatory uncertainty are just a few of the problems that dispensary owners now face. Add to that the fact that cannabis prices have fallen by as much as 75 percent in the past three years, and you’ve got a market that’s ripe for upheaval. 

A young plant in one of the grow rooms at the 3DMMC medical marijuana dispensary. (Photo by Siemond Chan)

“Looking back, I probably wouldn’t do it again,” says Toni Fox, owner of the 3DMMC medical marijuana dispensary in Denver, Colo. “I’m operating on margins where I’m basically breaking even every month. I have to make $1,000 a day to cover my overhead at this facility, and I see between 25 and 30 people a day and that’s about what my average sale is, so on a

When Ean Seeb and his business partners founded Denver Relief, their medical marijuana dispensary in downtown Denver’s Baker neighborhood in 2008, it was strictly a bare-bones effort. No fancy interior decor, no proprietary strains or products, no state-of-the-art grow house. Their inventory at the time was as limited as their personal bank accounts.

After all, as a cannabis business they did not have access to traditional bank loans and had to literally bootstrap their way up the hard way, borrowing seed money from friends, family and employees and building out the operation one step at a time.

“Denver Relief started with $4,000 and a half pound of pot,” Seeb jokes now, referring to the business’s meager beginnings, but it has since grown into a mini marijuana empire that’s one of the best known and most established of its kind in Colorado. In addition to its 1,500-square-foot dispensary, Denver Relief now offers cannabis business

By Alex J. Pollock

“As the titans of Wall Street banks gathered…one common worry emerged: who is going to take over when we leave?” says a recent Reuters report on the self-important Davos meetings. Such a worry is a remarkable example of the illusion of one’s own inexpendability. In fact, we are all expendable. “After you’ve gone,” as an old banking colleague used to say, “we will all miss you for at least two weeks.”

“Some of the most ambitious minds in finance are leaving the industry,” Reuters goes on. Well, one of the essential elements in the success of market economies is the movement of the factors of production, including labor and human capital, among competing uses and sectors. It has often been not unreasonably argued that the American economy made an overcommitment of resources to financial activities, as it obviously did to housing—the two being closely tied together in the great 21st century bubble.

The Best and the Brightest

During the bubble years, among these most

It’s hard to deny the appeal of investing in legal cannabis. After all, how often do you get the chance to participate in a bona fide gold rush, with an ever-shifting market, few established players and consumer demand that is all but waiting to explode?

The recent, historical approval of marijuana for recreational use in Colorado and Washington state adds a brand-new element to the business. For investors, the smell of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is in the air. And who doesn’t want to add “drug kingpin” to their resume?

“Cannabis is really already a structured and mature market, it just exists in the black market,” says Derek Peterson, CEO of Terra Tech (TRTC), a startup that manufactures hydroponic growing systems. “It’s moving to the white market, or at least the gray market, but we still didn’t have to make the market, it already exists. We’re just taking it out of the hands of the cartels and putting it in the hands of legitimate business.”

And the upside potential is huge.

The last 12 months have been a mixed bag for the corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market.

According to M&A analysis publication Mergermarket, global M&A activity was down 2.7% in 2012 and saw the lowest deal values across the board since 2010. In the U.S., the overall market fell 4.7% for the year with $768.9 billion worth of deals, while private equity buyouts slipped 13.3% to a two-year low.

But things turned up big time in the second half of the year. Global deals volume spiked 45.6% in the fourth quarter vs. the same period a year ago and jumped 39.5% quarter-to-quarter following Q3, while the strong yen-USD exchange rate facilitated a 218.4% surge in Japan-based deals in the U.S. Both Asia-Pacific and the emerging markets saw M&A volume increase in 2012, up 2.5% and 5%, respectively.

All of this bodes well for the year ahead.

“Cautious confidence is gaining among M&A practitioners for 2013,” said Giovanni Amodeo, global editor-in-chief for Mergermarket. “While a full

Is your home’s value higher today than it was 12 months ago?

For much of the country, the answer is “yes.” According to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index, the national composite selling price was up 3.6% in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago, and it was 2.2% higher than the second quarter of this year. Home prices were up 0.3% in September, making it the sixth consecutive month with an increase, and positive monthly returns were seen in 13 of the 20 cities S&P tracks.

And October is lining up for more of the same, according to data from the National Association of Realtors, released in late November. Its index of pending home sales rose 5.2%, exceeding most estimates  and setting up for a potentially stellar sales season in spring 2013.

"With six months of consistently rising home prices, it is safe to say that we are now in the midst of a recovery in the housing market,” David M. Blitzer, chairman

Is $250 too much to spend on a pair of Air Jordans?

Even when they look like ... this?

Nike (NKE) is betting that shoppers will step up and take the plunge on its latest Air Jordan model -- the new Air Jordan XX8 -- despite the "stealth" look and black zippered overshoes that are more reminiscent of banker's spats than high-top sneakers. Yes, that black sleeve zips up over all of the neon green, and the wearer's ankles, when it's game time.

It's a look that, even Nike admits, isn't for everyone.

"The reality is Nike is never going to tell us to just be safe because that's not Nike," Jordan brand president Larry Miller told ESPN at the Air Jordan XX8 launch this week in New York City. "The goal is to get the brand to be hot today and not just the products that were sold in the past."

And early reviews have not been positive. USA Today called the style "absolutely hideous," while Yahoo! Sports pointed out that, despite the zip up overshoe, the XX8 is "not a rain shoe." MSN simply

Software giant Microsoft (MSFT) took some lumps on Friday, when NPD Group reported that sales of its new Windows 8 tablets were "almost nonexistent" and that early November sales of Windows PCs in general fell a whopping 21% in the last year. The news came after it was reported on Thursday that Microsoft had cut supply orders for its new Surface tablet in half, presumably due to less-than-impressive early sales results.

What's more, the launch of Windows 8, the company's latest update to its industry-leading operating system, on October 22, clearly did not provide that boost that Microsoft and its investors had hoped for. "It hasn't made the market any worse, but it hasn't stimulated things either," NPD analyst Stephen Baker told The New York Times.

Microsoft's stock price fell by as much as 1.5% in intraday trading Friday, ending down 1.2% at $26.61. Is the House That Gates Built finally in real trouble? Here's what the analysts are saying.

Brian White, Topeka Capital Markets: "The