Categories
Stocks

Sinovac: benefit from H1N1 vaccines

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Last Updated on September 22, 2009 by stlplace

(Update 22Sept09) Sold all my SVA shares. The stock is trading at bubble price and it is very speculative. Initially I made some money, but I gave it all back and then lost some. So the lesson here is don’t overpay for “hot” stocks.

(Update 14Sept09) Sansar Capital (Sanjay Motwani), the hedge fund who is also the largest shareholder of Sinavac, sold a bunch following the run up of the stock. See SEC 13G filing here. He still holds 1,238,042 shares (2.9% of all outstanding shares) according to this Sept 10 report. He has twice more on June 30 report SANSAR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC 2,953,503 6.89 $11,666,336 30-Jun-09 (Source: yahoo finance)

(Original) When I was a little kid, village doctors will come and give free vaccinations. Because I was scared of the pinch of needle, I would ask my grandma shut the door (not open) and begin to hide when I heard doctor is coming. Things changed after I started attending school, I will be quitely taking the shot when the doctor comes to class giving vaccinations, as I was the president of the class (have to make an example of myself).

vaccination pic
(Source: PrisonPlanet: notice the number of death from H1N1 has risen since the July)

Vaccinations are a wonderful thing. As I read from HowVaccinesWorks, many lives have been saved, and many more illness have been prevented. I am glad to learn this is still free to children in China (according to Wang Jianshuo).

Categories
Business

Healthcare reform: some good things about US hospitals

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Last Updated on September 6, 2009 by stlplace

Went to St. John’s Mercy hospital last week, accompanying my wife for the baby ultrasound thing. I am familar with St. John’s because I went there couple times before (once was I hurt myself during roller blade skating, and I had to get two stitches there).

As I said in my previous healthcare reform post, 10 years ago I was amazed by the good conditions of University of Missouri hospital (Columbia) because it’s clean and it’s just not like hospital (my impression of hospital back in China, read Went to Children’s Hospital – Refugee Camp from Wang Jianshuo and you will know. More recently he wrote Hospital is Badly Needed). This time I had similar feeling about St. John’s. Now they got Wifi so theoretically we can work from hospital cafeteria. I even told my wife does they have openings.

Categories
Software development

The eBay Skype deal

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Last Updated on September 4, 2009 by stlplace

eBay agreed to sell a majority stake of Skype to a consortium of private investors lead by Silver Lake Partners. (WSJ: EBay CEO: Skype Investors “Confident” of Work-Around Software, get it from Google if necessary).

Silver lake is not new to me. Because they bought Seagate, and my former employer (hint: a major CAD/PLM software company) and made money from both (WSJ: Silver Lake’s Skype Deal Resembles Its Seagate Investment). See more of their investments here.