Russell Communications

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Facebook, for its first post-IPO act--not counting CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s marriage to his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan, on Saturday--acquired social gifting startup Karma for an undisclosed amount. The company doesn’t have the name recognition as Instagram, or hopefully, that deal’s price point.

Folks considering asset protection in any of the nine states (AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI) that have Community Property laws nbsp;are often mystified and confused by what it all means.

Donald Trump is a relic of a past era. But so many marriages end in Youre fired that many believe his unsolicited advice to Mark Zuckerberg on the topic of prenuptial agreements holds a fresh new relevance. Heres Ray Martin at CBS: blockquoteSo who should consider getting a prenup? You should if you have children from a previous marriage, above-average income, or significant income from unique talents or patents.

Mark Zuckerbergnbsp;married longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan on Saturday, a day after taking Facebook public. The wedding was reportedly a surprise to most of the 100 guests, who were told they were going to a surprise graduation party for Chan; she graduated from medical school at the University of California, San Francisco last week. The couple, who have been dating for nine years, were college sweethearts at Harvard.

Pity the poor person who decided to skip Priscilla Chans med school graduation party. They missed out on the social media worlds wedding of the year.

What a week! First an unprecedented IPO, then marriage. Yes, Facebooks Zuckerberg Marries His Longtime Girlfriend Priscilla Chan. And California marriages are, well different, as California divorce lawyers--aka “family lawyers”--will tell you.

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin caused a stir recently by moving to Singapore and renouncing his U.S. citizenship. In so doing he halved the income tax rate on his future income, from 39.6% in the U.S. to 20% in Singapore. He eliminated tax on his future capital gains ─the U.S. taxes capital gains at 15%, but Singapore dropped its capital gains tax effective February 15, 2008. He also will avoid estate tax at his death. The top rate of U.S. estate tax—which would apply to a large estate such as Saverin’s—increases to 55% on January 1, 2013. Singapore has no estate tax.

Facebook co-foundernbsp;Eduardo Saverins wealth and expatriation make him an ideal candidate to host a new reality show:nbsp;America’snbsp;Nextnbsp;Top Tax Lawyer. Sure, there are lawyer shows, but not aboutnbsp;taxnbsp;lawyers. They tried anbsp;shownbsp;aboutnbsp;Mitch McDeerenbsp;ofnbsp;John Grishams The Firm--remembernbsp;Tom Cruisenbsp;in the movie?

No matter how old you are, does anyone really care what kind of sponge they use to wash their dishes? And if youre a young person, going out more more than staying home, creating preference in such a low-interest category is even harder to scrub, so to speak. Well, its this very sponge conundrum that makes this idea for Scotch-Brite, so bright. Teaming with a local restaurant, Scotch Brite allowed patrons to wash their dishes (and try a Scotch-Brite sponge) in lieu of paying their bill. Check out the Wash Your Bill case study here:

Ever heard of the band “Five Cool What?” No? I am not surprised. When opportunity knocked, rather than busting open the door, they first asked, “What do you want?”

Since 2008 the majority of U.S. patents have been awarded to non-residents.nbsp; This pattern marks a renewed contribution of foreign inventors in recent years.nbsp; After reaching a high of 48 percent in the late 1980s, the share of patents awarded to foreigners dipped slightly until the early 2000s when it began to increase again.

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I know two former presidents of a corporation that had a bigger payday than Mark Zuckerbergs Facebook this week.nbsp; They are both over 70.nbsp; Don Collins lives in HUD housing in Knoxville.nbsp; Tom Cahill lives in a gentrified barn on the Mendocino Coast.nbsp; Ive stayed with both of them.nbsp; Toms setting is much more beautiful, but Don has the advantage of indoor plumbing, which, trust me, I appreciate much more now that I am over 60.nbsp; Their lifestyle will not be changing, but they are probably feeling more satisfaction than the Facebook founder.nbsp;

As someone who has grown tech businesses outside of Silicon Valley, I can directly appreciate the ‘planting a tulip in the desert’ scenario that can occur when a viable idea is incubated in the wrong place. nbsp;My first tech business, started in Austin way back in 1997 was a real challenge. While the technical aspects of it were difficult enough, my business partner