* Don Dodge: We are not in a seed stage bubble (Shai Goldman agrees)
* Preliminary data: Best year for M&A since 2007, with global deals topping $2.2 trillion
* He’s back: HFM returns to talk with n+1, including some reflections on his Diary of a Very Bad Year.
* Morning Call: U.S. futures signal mixed open, London rises early, European shares fall on debt concerns and the Nikkei flattens.
* Marshall Kirkpatrick: Delicious’s data policy is like setting a museum on fire
* Mark Boslet: SharesPost soon will let startups sell equity stakes directly to buyers
* Mark Mobius: The next great frontier markets are Nigeria, Vietnam and Kazakhstan
* It’s a deal: The tax compromise gets passed in the dead of night. Next stop is Obama’s desk. Here’s the list of who voted how.
* Groupon is raising new funding at a valuation lower than the $6 billion offered by Google. That’s a big reason why Groupon should have taken the $6 billion offered by Google (FTC concerns or not).
* Advice time: What to do when you’re drunk at your partner’s holiday party
* SIFMA boss Tim Ryan discusses the impact of financial reform on deal-making