by Andy Brudtkuhl on January 25, 2006
Traffic.com is set to give its IPO. Its shares were sold through a dutch auction in the same fashion Google’s was 17 months ago. This is all beside the point of this post.
Traffic.com has not shown a profit in its existence since 1998. Also it has publicly stated that although it is trying to raise money by selling shares it will continue to lose money for the next couple years. Now this does not mean that a bubble is starting nor does it add to the speculation. But it should be added to your notes as you track round two. I would tag it as bubbilicious.
Traffic.com’s stock rises in trading debut
the bubbilicious series:
get in line for the next bubble, before it bursts | read | july 2005
more bubble talk | read | january 2006
gym = new vc’s | read | january 2006
bubbilicious | read | january 2006
by Andy Brudtkuhl on January 24, 2006
by Andy Brudtkuhl on January 24, 2006
“Last month, the 32-year-old celebrity co-founders of Google each sold more than $160 million worth of their company’s stock.”
Apparently it was not a bad month for Sergey and Larry.
“Since the search giant went public in August 2004, Brin has sold about 6.5 million shares at a market value of $1.68 billion. Page has sold about 5.8 million shares at a market value of $1.4 billion…”
Apparently it has not been a bad 17 months for Sergey and Larry.
“Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, who was brought in to run the company before it went public, has sold more than 2.1 million shares, worth more than $502 million.”
Looks like Schmidt is also doing swell.
But, the big three have decided to keep their $1 salaries.
Google co-founders cash in | CNET News.com
Technorati Tags: google, business
by Andy Brudtkuhl on January 24, 2006
Micro$oft has announced it will be spending $120,000,000 in an advertising campaign to make itself appear to be a small company. This is so ridiculous I do not even think it needs commentary.
A message to Microsoft — To become small in the eyes of consumers you need to try a couple things:
1. Listen to consumers rather than telling them. In this instance, listen to what your consumers want and you will appear smaller. The last thing you should do to appear smaller is tell consumers that you are smaller. You’ve changed nothing.
2. Don’t screw people — Licensing, Validation, Authentication, Activation, Product Keys, Serial Numbers, Updates, Hotfixes, Patches, etc. Provide software and services in an easy manner to help people instead of trying to squeeze every penny out of them.
3. Take the $120M and use it to do the above. We are not ready to listen to a giant telling us they are not a giant.
UPDATE: I thought of a #4 – Use the $120M to rebrand like intel and at&t. Don’t tell us you are different, prove it.
Article from The Register
Technorati Tags: business, microsoft
by Andy Brudtkuhl on January 23, 2006
Disney may be adding jobs this week. But not the kind of jobs you think. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers, also happens to be the Chairman and CEO of Pixar Animation Studios and owns 50.6 percent of the shares in the company. Rumors are that Pixar is going to get nabbed by Disney making Jobs the majority shareholder of Disney with about a six percent stake in the company. He would take over for the former CEO Micheal Eisner who owns around two percent of the shares. There is no definitive word on the price tag of Pixar, but their market value is $6.7 billion.
The irony of the situation is the squabbles Jobs and Eisner have had in the past over the partnership of Pixar and Disney. Should this deal go through, not only would Jobs own more of the company than the former CEO, but in all likelyhood he would become a member of the Disney Board of Directors.
Business aside, how will this deal affect Apple, and ultimately the digital media business as a whole? Well Disney owns ABC and ESPN. These broadcasting companies coincidentally have exclusive digital media distribution deals with Apple over Apple’s iTunes. With Steve on Disney’s board he could influence the company in several directions that were not possible with Eisner as CEO.
This would be great for Apple but will also give precedence to broadcasting via digital mediums. Competition will get fierce over the next year and could get to the point of SEC involvement (complete speculation on my part). But look at what’s going on:
1. MTV/VH1 + Microsoft = Urge
2. Google Video has CBS, NBA, and Sony BMG Music
3. Yahoo has started its own production agency
4. Apple has content from ABC, NBC, and ESPN
Om and Niall were right. The next year will be the year of video. This time around the next wave will not be heralded in by the grassroots like blogging and podcasting. GYM will not let the people carry video over the internet to the mainstream but the people will definitely be the drivers. Hold on for the ride, it should be fun.
