JBL: The Macau Shuffle

The "Cotai Strip," a 1.8-mile piece of reclaimed land between two of Macau's main islands, is going to be home to the $1.8 billion, 3,000-room Venetian. Some 12,000 hotel rooms are scheduled to be added by 2009, including the six-star Four Seasons.

The resurgent and booming economies in Asia are expected to fill these new forums. NBA exhibition games are being sought, and big-ticket rock concerts and theme parks are planned. This game has definitely started, but there is a lot of time left on the clock.

Macau is set to go back to China in 2037; this gives us more than 30 years to make money off of hotels and gambling in Macau until the bad guys take over. However, by then, I have a feeling the quasi-communistic country will embrace gambling, or at least the revenue.

Veri Bullish Sign

VeriSign (VRSN Quote) announced the doubling of its intended share-buyback this week up to $1 billion; that would represent approximately 1.8% of shares outstanding. VeriSign added to its existing secure-transaction business last week when it announced the acquisition of GeoTrust, a leading provider of SSL ("secure sockets layer" for you technophiles), for $125 million.

With the addition of M Qube and $3 a share in cash with no debt, VeriSign is set to capitalize on both secure transactions and enabling of content. I added to my shares of VeriSign this week.

Remember, being poor is bad, staying that way is stupid.