Wal-Mart: The Real Story's Unfolding Overseas

My take is that Wal-Mart has failed in several places and has been very serious about taking losses quickly to concentrate on what's working. Not to mention the company continues to face challenges from Target(TGT Quote) for alpha-retailer status.

But whatever the case, what cannot happen, of course, is that reporters or investors ignore overseas sales outright. It renders an article as dated as The Business Press Maven's bathrobe, useless to the savvy investor. But dust these articles from The New York Post and Barron's for any mention of international sales (pro or con) and tell me if your CSI work leads to anything. Ironically, the Post article was even titled "Detail in the Retail."

Finally, this fun word on Warren Buffett, who often plays bridge with Bill Gates. Buffett said this week that he could not be distracted from a game by a naked woman. This is somewhat curious on a number of different levels, but I'm concentrating on this one: the fact that the two greatest businessmen of the past half century play bridge, not that old businessman standby poker.

Which do you play and why? What is it about bridge that attracts these guys? Anyhow, for a highly unscientific survey, please email me your thoughts and perceptions. As a poker player, I'm very curious.