Strictly Business

From Business Today:

It's got to be nice when a long-term investment turns into a bonanza. Softbank, the Buffalo-based investment vehicle headed by Jordan Levy has had two such winners recently. Last week it sold its share of KIT digital Inc., a global provider of cloud-based video management services based in Prague, Czech Republic. And on Sunday, the sale of the Huffington Post to AOL for $315 million was a high-profile success for the local firm. Softbank was the first institutional investor in the online magazine headed by liberal pundit Arianna Huffington. Levy wasn't saying how much Softbank made on the deal, but he did call it "a great day."

The local real estate market continues on its stable, secure course. Home sales were almost identical to December a year ago. Given all the turmoil in the national real estate market, results like that sound absolutely stellar. There were 743 homes sold in December 2010, compared to 744 the year before. And the average price topped $136,000, up from about $127,000 a year earlier.

National Fuel Gas Co. is having so much success in the Marcellus shale region of Pennsylvania that it is opening an office near Pittsburgh and moving a bunch of jobs down there. The company has not said how many jobs will be moved from its Amherst headquarters, but we're assuming the people will be given the option to move. And in this economy of slow job growth, we're betting a few people will be packing up.

Who is getting hired, promoted and honored?

 Arianna Huffington interview...