news blog from Roslyn

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Madoff daughter-in-law: "I'd spit in his face"

If she saw her father-in-law, who is serving a 150-year prison sentence, Mack told "20/20" reporter Chris Cuomo: "I'd spit in his face."Mark Madoff committed suicide last December, exactly two years to the day after his father was arrested for orchestrating the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history.In the interview Mack also revealed a jailhouse letter she had received from Madoff after his son's death. The network will release more segments of the interview on its Web site on Thursday.The interview will air on "20/20" on Friday. Mack, whose autobiography "The End of Normal: A Wife's Anguish, A Widow's New Life" will be published on October 20, will also appear on "Good Morning America" next week.

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UPDATE 1-Wealth managers pick Apple over RIM devices

* Mobile devices key for clients, wealth managers sayBy Ashley LauNEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Wealth managers prefer using Apple (AAPL.O) products for business rather than Research in Motion's (RIMM.O) BlackBerry devices, a survey by Aite Group showed on Thursday.Of 402 financial advisers polled, 45 percent said they would choose an Apple iPhone or iPad, while 14 percent would pick a BlackBerry.The research firm, which focuses on financial services, conducted the survey in March, well before the recent RIM outage which left large pockets of BlackBerry users around the world without access to email and other functions."I'm not surprised that Apple had made inroads, but I am surprised that the statistic was that weighted against the BlackBerry," said Phil Michaels, head of business development at Aegis Capital Corp.Michaels said about 90 percent of the advisers at his company use BlackBerry smartphones because of the ease of key functions and integrated calendar availability."I always thought BlackBerrys were still preferred on the business side and Apple was more preferred on the individual user side - the creative, non-business side," he said.The study found that using mobile devices was increasingly important to advisers, many of whom service clients with hand-held devices who have access to online brokerage services.Nearly half the advisers surveyed said having access to business applications was an "important" or "very important" part of their technology strategy for 2011.

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Carlyle, Cerberus, Platinum eye Cooper Standard-sources

* Cooper has been valued at over $1.5 bln-sourcesBy Soyoung KimNEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Carlyle Group, Cerberus Capital Management and Platinum Equity are among the private equity firms interested in buying U.S. auto parts maker Cooper Standard , but tough financing markets make a deal uncertain, people familiar with the matter said.Cooper Standard, which has hired JPMorgan Chase and Lazard Ltd to explore a sale, is in the second round of the auction, which has been moving slowly in a volatile financing market, one of the people said.While financing remains relatively cheap for companies with strong credit ratings, buyout deals typically need leveraged loans and high-yield bonds -- the riskier form of lending that carries some of the highest interest rates and often is the first financing to be withdrawn when credit tightens.Representatives for Carlyle, Cerberus and Platinum Equity all declined to comment. Cooper was not immediately available for comment.Wall Street banks are becoming more selective about what financing deals they commit to or are stiffening lending terms, making buyout deals like Cooper Standard more costly for buyers and therefore limiting their ability to pay.The company emerged from bankruptcy in May of 2010 under the control of a handful of hedge funds, including Silver Point Capital and Oak Hill Advisors. The Novi, Michigan-based company, which makes body sealing systems and fluid handling systems for the automotive industry, could be valued at more than $1.5 billion, several people told Reuters previously.Meanwhile, Carlyle is also bidding for another auto parts supplier TI Automotive, which competes with Cooper Standard in the fluid system segment and has been considering a sale since early this year, people familiar with the matter said on Sept. 29. Bain Capital and London-based buyout firm Pamplona Capital Management are the other remaining bidders for TI Automotive, the people said at that time.TI Automotive and Cooper Standard are the world's two largest suppliers of systems that control, sense and deliver fluids and vapors in vehicles. But TI has greater exposure to the fast-growing Asian markets, drawing roughly a quarter of its revenue from China and other Asian markets.

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Mobile sales are helping eBay, but is it enough?

eBay said Wednesday that the value of goods sold in the U.S. through its mobile applications surged 133% to $100 million during the month before Christmas. Globally, the growth was even stronger: Up 166% to $230 million worth of goods. That is good news from one angle. eBay is having success using mobile devices to sell goods during the busiest retailing period of the year. But it obscures another fact: Mobile sales may be a growing market, but it’s a tiny portion of eBay’s overall sales. And overall sales don’t appear to be growing nearly as fast. eBay’s Gross Merchandise Volume (the total value of all goods sold through eBay) was $48.3 billion in 2009, excluding car sales, and that figure is likely to top $50 billion in 2010. The $230 million GMV of mobile sales is equal to only 0.5% of eBay’s total GMV last year. Put another way, the volume of goods sold through mobile devices during the holiday season is about 6 percent of the average volume of goods sold each month on eBay. Overall, eBay’s holiday business grew but not as fast as other online retailers. According to ChannelAdvisor, a software company working with online retailers, eBay’s holiday business increased 11% during the busy Thanksgiving weekend, lagging the 68% growth rate for Amazon and the overall e-commerce growth rate of 27%. eBay has a chance to use the growing popularity of its mobile apps to boost that growth rate in coming years. But if it wants to grow as fast as the rest of the e-commerce industry does during the Christmas season, it needs to find some additional incentives.