The Week’s Best Business Longreads: Business Beast’s Picks for Jan. 19, 2013

From Facebook’s new Google killer to the story of the SEC’s pursuit of America’s most successful hedge-fund manager, The Daily Beast brings you the best in business and finance journalism for the week of Jan. 19.

Facebook’s Bold, Compelling, and Scary Engine of Discovery: The Inside Story of Graph SearchSteven Levy, Wired

The story of how two ex-Googlers developed a search engine that will challenge Google, LinkedIn, Yelp, Match.com, and everyone else. How? By betting that people will trust their friends more than strangers

Buying 'Political Intelligence' Can Pay Off Big for Wall StreetBrody Mullins and Susan Pulliam, The Wall Street Journal

What’s the difference between “political intelligence” firms and newspapers? Wall Street’s $400 million–a-year investment into getting the inside scoop on what’s happening in Washington.

On the Trail of SAC Capital's Steven CohenSheelah Kolhatkar, Bloomberg Businessweek

Steven Cohen is perhaps the most successful hedge funder in the past 20 years. But will the SEC find out that his firm has been using a “black edge” to get two decades of amazing returns?

How a Leveraged Buyout Could Actually Turn Dell Into the Tech Success Story of the DecadeChristopher Mims, Quartz

Dell’s successes and failures have matched the ups-and-downs of the PC industry. Can it save itself by selling stripped “post-PCs” the size of thumb drives?

Mars Incorporated: A Pretty Sweet Place to WorkDavid Kaplan, Fortune

America’s two largest private companies are commodity conglomerates: Cargill and Koch Industries. The third? America’s friendliest candy company. An exclusive look into life on Mars.

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Matthew Zeitlin

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.