There may finally be a glimmer of light for our battling billionaire, James Packer.
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Rudy Giuliani as Secretary of State?
Sources say former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani has emerged as a leading candidate to be US secretary of state for President-elect Donald Trump.
Billionaire casino moguls Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn have joined the inaugural committee and help raise the tens of millions of dollars needed to pull off the January 20 event.
Carl Icahn and and Phil Ruffin are other committee members with casino interests.
"We will get our first casino owner in the White House," a spokesman for the Adelsons told Bloomberg.
Packer's people at Crown have yet to return calls to say whether he will join this political rat pack.
The casino moguls may be needed to help Trump attract musicians who provide the traditional inauguration entertainment – no easy feat given they almost universally support Hillary Clinton.
HOPE YOU ARE ROARING YOUR WAY TO THE POLLS STILL! https://t.co/tNQit6ZIA6
— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) November 8, 2016
What a pity Packer is not with Mariah Carey any more, it would have made him an automatic starter for the committee as he plans his latest multi-billion-dollar gamble in Las Vegas.
He announced plans for the $US2 billion Alon Las Vegas in 2014 and it counts Donald Trump's Trump International Hotel as a neighbour.
Bravo
The float of Bravura Solutions on Wednesday was always going to be a fun one to watch in the post-Dick Smith environment.
Its private equity owners, Ironbridge Capital, was asking new investors to pay roughly twice what it paid to take the financial software group private just 3 years ago – and they did.
On Wednesday they got to watch the stock plunge 24 per cent from its float price of $1.45 to a low of $1.10 – before recovering some ground.
At least investors did not pay $2.17 a share, which was the top of the initial price range set by Macquaries and Goldman Sachs last month when the float was announced.
That would have really hurt.
If investors read their history books, they would have noted that Bravura floated at $1.12 a share in 2006 and was privatised by Ironbridge in 2013 at 28c a share.
Big Wreck
And to think we were expecting that next week's Woolworths shareholder meeting was going to be a bit of a snooze-fest for the new chief executive, Brad Banducci, and his chairman, Gordon Cairns.
Closing that multi-billion-dollar dog of a hardware business, Masters, was so last financial year and the market has its eyes on the horizon, after all.
And what is now looming on the horizon as the continuing train wreck that is its Big W, after the latest boss walked away after just 10 months in the job.
CBD can't wait to hear how Banducci explains why Sally Macdonald was not planning to hang around for the three to five years that a turnaround would take.
Leaving to pursue other opportunities would have been a lot less painful. Woolies had bunkered down behind the statement and would not say how long before she leaves the Bella Vista offices for the last time, or how long exactly she had been planning to hang around.
At least you can't accuse Woolworths of not throwing enough talent at the problem.
Let's go through the roll call of CEOs who have looked after Big W since 2014.
Julie Coates retired that year to be replaced by British retail executive, Alistair McGeorge.
"We're going to be the No. 1 choice for Australian families in general merchandise," McGeorge said in a challenge to his rivals – Kmart boss Guy Russo and Target managing director Stuart Machin.
He lasted until August last year when he retired for health reasons which coincided with a complaint from an unnamed employee about his behaviour in the workplace.
Woolies veteran Penny Winn filled in at Big W – ahead of her own retirement from the retailer – until Macdonald was appointed early this year.
Macdonald will hand over to David Walker as "acting CEO".
Walker is acting as undertaker to Woolies' Masters disaster.
"We look forward to continuing the momentum of change at Big W, with a continued focus on Big W's long term success," said Banducci.
The laughter you can hear in the background is from Guy Russo who now heads both Target and Kmart for Wesfarmers.
Got a tip? ckruger@fairfaxmedia.com.au
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