Briac

* Cyrus Santani: Citadel Broadcasting may have gone bankrupt, but this time the private equity sponsor isn't to blame. * Paul Kedrosky: The Zynga funding and Yelp rejection may indicate we're nearing a "Netscape moment" for tech IPOs. * ZeroHedge gets its hands on the Dollar General distribution letter from KKR, and considers it an obit for private equity's latest golden age. * The LA Times begins to shine some light on possible conflicts of interest between CalPERS, Al Villalobos and Pacific Corporate Group. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London rises early, European shares rise on energy and pharma, the Nikkei keeps climbing and Hong Kong shares rebound on banks * Jobless MBAs seek solace in support groups * Sequoia Capital plans to raise $1 billion for its first-ever consolidated fund (a new strategy we first reported on last October). Our understanding is that books have already been sent out, with a close scheduled in March. Most LPs I speak with say they're reserving judgment until after Sequoia's annual meeting, which takes place January 13-14 in Beijing. * Bilal Zuberi: Cleantech VC investment predictions for 2010 * peHUB never used to care much about Steve Cohen of SAC Capital, since hedge funds aren't what we do here. But considering that SAC last week agreed to participate in a take-private buyout of Airvana, we have newfound interest. So we're playing catchup, which means we should start at the beginning: This video of Cohen on a tabloid talkshow back in 1992, discussing his lack of fidelity (no, this is not a joke).

* The Year in Photos * Bill Burnham: Why VCs don't invest in early-stage consumer companies, and the consequences of this great abdication. * Latest investor letter from Howard Marks * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London rises early, European shares rebound, the Nikkei hits 8-week closing high and China shares jump on property. * Philanthropic dealmakers * Survey Says: M&A to increase 20%-30% in 2010 * Michael Corkery: It's a great time to buy a Saab * Sara Lacy: Not all entrepreneurs consider a billion dollar M&A exit to be a success. Some find it to be a "character flaw."

* Lucy Kellaway: "In 2010 the decline of the MBA will cut off the supply of bullshit at source. Pretentious ideas about business will be in retreat." * Paul Kedrosky: Having the soundest banks is for weenies * TechCrunch reports Google is in talks to buy Yelp for $500m * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London rises early, European shares climb on oil, the Nikkei slips 0.2% and both China and Hong Kong hit 3-week closing lows. * See what contaminants are in your drinking water (if you dare). * Mark Geimen: "If Americans dislike and distrust Wall Street as much as they claim they do, why do they keep pouring money into the markets?" * UBS lists its Top 10 surprises for 2010 (of course, if UBS is predicting them, how can they be surprises?) * Is Carl Icahn setting his sights on Take Two Interactive? Maybe he's just a huge Grand Theft Auto fan....

* Brad Feld: Beware the hockey stick in your budget * Jonathan Weil: 5 lessons for the next time banks come begging * Charlie Gasparino thinks Time Mag should have picked Volcker over Bernanke. I'd agree that Volcker has been -- and continues to be -- right more often, but Time's award is for the person with the most impact on the past year (for good or bad). Hard to argue that's Volcker, as even Charlie concedes that "he has no stroke inside the White House." * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, European shares slump on banks, the Nikkei slips and China shares hit 3-week low. * Mike Arrington on conference interaction etiquette * Martin Zwilling: 7 types of angel investors to avoid * Mark Suster: Great entrepreneurs need street smarts * Forget FarmVille. The hottest game among Silicon Valley's technorati involves a board, sheep and wheat.

* Mark Solon: A startup's 12 days of Christmas * 10 industries that will lose the most jobs over the next decade * David Leonhardt: If healthcare reform fails, America's innovation gap will grow * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher as all eyes are on the Fed, London rises early, European shares extend gains, the Nikkei hits 7-week closing high and China shares slip. * Man returns library book due in 1910 (yes, you read that correctly) * Morgan Stanley: Mobile Internet will be twice the size of desktop Internet * How Kellogg screwed up the Famous Amos brand, and what Wally Amos is trying to do about it. * Uplifting news for healthcare-focused VCs: "Big pharma faces a patent cliff in 2012 when around $90 billion in revenue could be lost to generics... Vaccine development is gaining a lot of attention because it has an attractive adjacency to many pharmaceutical companies’ existing R&D, manufacturing capacity, regulatory expertise, and customer base."

* Teaching the government to love garbage * Withered Palm: The fall of a (PE-backed) technology giant * An inside view of Wilson Sonsini's fabled investment fund * Steve Rattner plans to write a book about the auto bailout. Wonder if he'll settle with Cuomo -- thus allowing his former partners to get on with their lives -- before publication... * Morning Call: U.S. futures point lower, London falls early, European shares rise on miners, the Nikkei slips on yen worries and both China and Hong Kong shares sink. * Why everyone read Paul Samuelson * Andrew Ross Sorkin: Wall Street honchos show Obama who's boss * RPM Ventures looks to marry high-tech innovation with Midwestern manufacturing

* The influencers of Silicon Valley * Felix Salmon: Drug money and the financial crisis * Chris Douvos: Have your LPs tuned you out after one too many mistakes? Perhaps the solution is to be more like Captain Asoh. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher after Dubai bailout, London rises early, European shares climb, the Nikkei trims losses and both China and Hong Kong shares rebound. * Hedge fund compensation is on the rise * What you get by selling millions of tasty burritos * David Lerner: University entrepreneurship 2.0 * Harvard Law School's M&A course recently discussed private equity transactions with three M&A practitioners and Leo Strine Jr. You can get the video by going here.

* Omaha on the Hudson? Henry Kravis wants to make KKR more like Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway. * Proposed U.S. "Fat Cat" tax may hit foreign funds * AT&T asks customers in NYC and San Francisco to cut data usage. How is Luke Wilson going to explain that away? * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher ahead of retail sales data, London rises early, European shares extend rebound, the Nikkei climbs and China shares dip. * Valérie Demont: To be or not to be a public company * Marshall Kirkpatrick: Why Facebook changed its privacy strategy * A look at where all the Madoff scandal's key players are today, one year after Bernie got arrested. * WaPo: "The wanderlust that helped define the American character has been reined in by the recession and the collapse in housing prices, according to a new study showing fewer Americans changing residences than at any time since World War II."

* Henry Blodget: How to know you've hired a killer team * Jeremy Shoemaker's worst ideas of 2009 * Why do rich, fat men get all the girls? It's science. * Morning Call: U.S. futures up ahead of weekly jobs data, London rises early on banks, European shares bounce back, the Nikkei falls 1.4%, Indian shares slip and China shares rise. * Q&A with Sandra Horbach, head of The Carlyle Group's consumer and retail practice * Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy argue for global regulation of global finance (they do not, however, rate front-page billing... apparently that's just for Rupe) * Thomas Friedman has the right counterargument to climate change skeptics and denialists (there is, by the way, a difference between the two -- the former is reasonable and the latter is blinded by "us vs. them" partisanship).

* Paul Kedrosky: Contrarianism is the new consensus * Kristi Oloffson: Is a college degree worth less in today's market? * Paul Volcker's favorite financial innovation on the past 25 years? The ATM. * eBay email directives: Feign surprise if Craigslist execs react negatively to eBay plans to launch a competing classifieds site. How come? Because eBay sits on the Craigslist board. * Morning Call: U.S. futures point higher, London rises early, European shares pare losses, the Nikkei falls on debt concerns and China shares drop on banks. * Treasury suspends TCW's $1 billion toxic asset fund, following the ouster of TCW chief investment officer Jeffrey Gundlach.* Arguing against the idea of a "transaction tax" * Nearly half of all European private equity deals this year have been bolt-on acquisitions for existing portfolio companies.