The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is excited to announce some favorite books in the 14th Annual Top-10 Summer Reading List for Business Leaders for 2017, as recommended by faculty members. (1) The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds By Michael Lewis (2016)

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Why would someone fork over a couple of million dollars just to sit down for a meal with Warren Buffett?

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Four of the top five companies in Barron's 2017 listing of the most-respected publicly traded firms in the United States share a common trait. They're technology companies.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Colgate-Palmolive CEO Ian Cook earlier this month signaled interest in selling the company for $100 a share, suggesting a strong possibility that a friendly deal for the company could be struck reasonably soon, says clinical professor of finance David Kass

Ten undergraduates and three professors cleared their busy springtime schedules to travel to Omaha, Nebraska, last weekend to attend the 2017 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholder's meeting and listen to Warren Buffett, also known as the “Oracle of Omaha.” The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business Finance professors David Kass, Elinda Kiss and Julie Pavlovsky led the group for the 3-day excursion.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Health insurance – not the U.S. tax code – is "crippling our business around the world," Warren Buffett said during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting on May 6, 2017, in Omaha.

The prestigious Joseph Wikler Memorial Finance Case Competition continued for the fourteenth year on April 28, 2017, with a solid participation of finance students and what Finance Fellows Faculty Champion and Professor Sue White called the most challenging case yet.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Like Jay Z, Apple is heavy roll, heavy dough. The tech giant reported this week that its cash stockpile grew to a staggering $256.8 billion at the end of the first quarter, up from $233 billion a year earlier. Apple isn't alone in accumulating wealth abroad.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – A lot of chatter this week has been about Apple's whopping quarter-trillion-dollar cash stockpile. But Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is also sitting on a lot of money. The company, which has a history of making marquis acquisitions, has some $86 billion on hand. 

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Gillette is shaving its prices by as much as 20 percent and focusing on its less-expensive products to compete with cheaper rivals, such as Dollar Shave Club. And the move is rattling investors, according to The Wall Street Journal.