Monday’s Headlines: Warren Buffett’s Advice to Business Students

Several times a year, Warren Buffett hosts business students from all over the world to offer his insights on investing, business and life, as detailed by the Wall Street Journal. More than 200 schools have requested to send students, and some have waited years for a slot. Each occasion consists of 20 students from eight universities, and The Oracle requires that at least a third be women. The students spend two hours asking Buffett any question they choose (some are of rather personal nature) at his Omaha offices, joining him for lunch at his favorite restaurant, followed by getting their picture taken with the investor.

During a recent session, Buffett told students:

• “There are seven billion people in the world and everyone has their own ticket," he said, adding that only five out of every 100 people are born in the United States. "Would you want to give up your ticket and pick another from a hundred? If you don't want to play that game, you're saying you're among the luckiest 1 percent of humanity.”
• Surround yourself with people who are better than you.
• Be the kind of employee you would like to hire.
• “The stock market is there to serve you and not to instruct you.”

Other News:

Job vacancies at London’s financial services companies more than doubled last month as medium-sized banks and fund managers sought staff. [Businessweek]

The Dow surged on Friday to its highest closing since 2008, on the back of stronger-than-expected employment data. [NY Times]

Goldman cuts CEO Lloyd Blankfein bonus by 44 percent. [Financial Times]

CNA Financial reported a 37 percent decline in profits on wider operating loss in its life and group products. [WSJ]

Lazard’s Q4 earnings dropped 99 percent on its core deal-making businesses. [DealBook]

BofA may sell off all its office properties, save for those in Charlotte, N.C. and at One Bryant Park in Manhattan. [Bloomberg]

Wall Street banks are considering subleasing or selling 600,000 square feet of office space in addition to two million square feet already slated for evacuation. [WSJ]

SS&C Technologies has emerged as a rival bidder for GlobeOp Financial Services, despite an existing deal with TPG Capital. [Reuters]

Technology company M&A volume in 2012 is expected to exceed last year’s. [Businessweek]

British money management firm CQS is creating the CQS ABS Alpha Fund to trade mortgage-backed securities. [Bloomberg]

JPMorgan Chase, BofA and Wells Fargo were sued by the NY attorney general for improper use of a mortgage database. [Bloomberg]

Bankers find the end of the bonus boom more terrifying than the financial crash. [New York Magazine]

Citi plans to issue credit cards on its own in China. [Financial Times]