Free Republic

In the aftermath of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th biggest bank in the country, many are left wondering what went wrong. Both current and former employees have stated that the bank’s support of remote work is a contributing factor. Axios reports that current and former employees of Silicon Valley bank have mentioned the bank’s support of remote work as a contributing factor to its recent collapse. SVB stood out in the banking sector for its commitment to remote work. “If our time working remotely has taught us anything, it’s that we can trust our employees to...

Silicon Valley Bank, which was shuttered by US regulators yesterday, has been operating in Ireland since 2012. SVB’s lending to Irish technology and life science companies reached $226 million by the end of 2018. The bank then said it would lend an additional $300 million to Irish firms by 2024, as part of a collaboration with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF). However, ISIF has said it has no role in providing loans issued by Silicon Valley Bank to Irish technology businesses. “Certainly, Silicon Valley Bank were an important bank for this sector; there’s no doubt about that,” Brian Fennelly,...

While accusing presidential candidate Mitt Romney of cutting a swath through American industry during his time as a private equity executive, the White House was working with another private equity firm with long-standing Washington ties to save jobs in the Northeast, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal.

Silicon Valley venture capitalists, who have applauded the Obama administration's science, energy and health care initiatives, are growing increasingly anxious that the president and Congress will subject their industry to both closer scrutiny and higher taxation. Obama's budget plan already signals changes in tax policy. And new fears were raised by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's statement Thursday that advisers to venture capital funds, private equity firms and hedge funds should for the first time be required to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and file reports to enable the government to assess whether the funds "individually or collectively pose...

Stars keep lining up for Proposition 87, a ballot measure that seeks to tax California's oil production to help finance alternative fuel development. The Yes on Prop. 87 campaign started airing a television commercial Monday featuring Bill Clinton that's cobbled together from a speech he gave at a rally in support of the initiative last week at UCLA. Clinton, a popular figure in heavily Democratic California, now joins a list of other big names who have come out in support of the measure. Actress Geena Davis appeared with Clinton at Friday's rally, and Julia Roberts stumped for the initiative at...

CHICAGO, April 14 (UPI) -- The number of new wireless companies funded by venture capitalists is rising, indicating that a "pre-dot-com" boom level of confidence has returned to the market, experts tell United Press International's Wireless World. A new survey from the firm Datamonitor, based in London, indicates that VC investment in IT totaled $3 billion during the first quarter of 2006. By Gene Koprowski

With the Ansari X Prize won and the recent passage of the first legislation aimed at regulating commercial suborbital space flight, more space entrepreneurs than ever seem to be making their mark on the media and the Internet. The new flood of innovation and enthusiasm is certainly a welcome sign of things to come. However, it can be so easy for the unwary to be blindsided by glossy pamphlets and lavishly illustrated web sites, that one can overlook key business fundamentals—or the lack thereof. Imagination and creativity are necessary ingredients, but by themselves are insufficient indicators of space business viability....

JOSEPH 'BANANAS' BONANNO, who has died aged 97, was a megalomaniac Mafia Don; in the 1970s he aspired to become capo di tutti capi."Joe Bananas" was a constant frustration to both the FBI and his fellow Mafiosi. Though known to be a serious criminal since the 1930s - when he was tried and acquitted of supplying guns to Al Capone - he was convicted only once, in 1940, for refusing to pay overtime to the girls in a garment factory; and his ambition several times threatened the pax Romana of the Mafia clans.He plotted to assassinate the Godfather Don Carlo...