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Saturday, July 20, 2002 |
A REAL ESTATE OR HOUSING BUBBLE?
John Robb: "The gain in homes over the next decade will make your head spin." [Scripting News]
Andrew is liberal in some ways that I cannot begin to fathom, but in personal finance and money management, he's been rock solid for an awfully long time. Take a look at Andrew Tobias's notions. Here's an excerpt.
Andrew Tobias: I get The Van Eck-Tillman Real Estate And Bank Letter, billed as “Adrian Van Eck’s Confidential Letter On The One-Half of U.S. Wealth in Real Estate” ($90 a year, call 800-219-1333). From its June 6 letter:
From coast to coast, the American real estate bubble has been puffing up ever more dangerously in the past 30 days. My gosh, when I think about the several boom-and-bust cycles I have observed and reported on in the past 40 years, I wonder just how high this one can go and how much longer it can last before it begins to come apart. When it will end is still hidden from us mortals. But the fact that it will end and end badly cannot be in doubt or dispute.
8:58:25 AM 
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Friday, July 19, 2002 |
AN OPEN LETTER TO INVESTORS
BROOMFIELD, Colo., July 19, 2002 - The following statement can be attributed to James Q. Crowe, chief executive officer of Level 3 Communications, Inc.(Nasdaq:LVLT):
Read the statement. It clarifies this.
4:50:13 PM
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A DECENT SUMMARY OF AN EARNINGS CONFERENCE CALL
Although "backed by Warren Buffett" seems a bit of overstatement
Level 3 Posts Smaller Second - Quarter Loss. PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Level 3 Communications Inc. (LVLT.O), the high-speed communications company backed by investor Warren Buffett, on Thursday posted a smaller-than-expected second-quarter loss but warned it saw mixed signals for a rebound in sales. By Reuters. [New York Times: Technology]
9:34:23 AM
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Thursday, July 18, 2002 |
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Wednesday, July 17, 2002 |
WE MAY NOT BE WOWED BY THE DELIVERY, BUT THE WORDS RESONATE
He's done it again only better!
Greenspan Coins a New Phrase. The man who gave us "irrational exuberance" is back, with a phrase that sums up the late 1990's even better than that one did. "Infectious greed." By Floyd Norris. [New York Times: Business]
9:32:18 PM
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COULD A STORY BE MORE WRONG?
This story is so wrong. First, the headline makes one think Level 3 is either considering the adoption of or re-evaluating its existing stock option plan. The second sentence is correct. Level 3 has had (from its beginnings) an "outperform" stock option plan in which options have been expensed at the time of the award.
The latest press release simply clarifies the proxy. The bottom line involves connecting a few dots. Level 3 recently sold $500 million worth of convertible bonds to three institutions. The cash was earmarked for general corporate purposes including the acquisitions of assets while the telecom industry is going through consolidation. What better time to make sure you are able to retain the talent and know-how that is needed to ramp up the network with new customers and increased traffic!
The best way to use the mainstream press is with the Internet. Let a story headline direct you to a company's press release or announcement. Facts from the horses mouth are better than Associated Press news feeds.
Level 3 Looks at Stock - Option Plan. BROOMFIELD, Colo. (AP) -- Level 3 Communications Inc. wants to amend its stock-option plan to provide incentives for employees and owners. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: Technology]
8:48:15 AM
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Tuesday, July 16, 2002 |
FIGHTING OFF THE SALES SLUMP
For many small businesses, the summer months mean a sales slowdown. New prospects become hard to locate, and current deals become: "I'll have to think it over" or "I'll get back to you in a week or two." How do you handle that? Here are a few pointers, which can help. [John Henry on Business]
10:42:27 PM
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Monday, July 15, 2002 |
THE RAT RACE
can be defined in a variety of ways. We define it as:
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keeping up with the Jones's
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materialism as a path to happiness
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everyone knows we've got to get more
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climbing the corporate ladder to say you did it
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working all day and going home too tired to pursue your dreams
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letting the liberal media tell you how things really are
There's more, but that gives you the essence. One of the corporate myths has to do with measurement, compensation and 'getting results.' Nine out of ten organizations don't have metrics that really cause the results they seek. In fact, those metrics cause results that have to then be 'fixed.' Steven and Joel capture those notions with these posts!
Measurement Dysfunction. "As a result, workers began doing just about anything to get customers off the phone" Boy, does that sound familiar. "If you're in a helpdesk or call center, for example, and you're measuring your people on the number of calls they're taking, that's what they're going to do - take calls. [16-Jan]
Today, Joel writes about the oft-seen but (mostly) un-planned-for effect that measurements can have upon individuals' and organizations' performance. We call it "getting just what you measure," and too often the measurements are the only thing looked at by mid-level management. This "metric of the month" leaves employees feeling powerless to really do what's best for the customer; when they do they get 'dinged' by their manager for making the weekly stats look bad. Beat that horse too often and he'll just give up on the customer entirely.
What? You don't want your customers given up on? The trick is to find the measurements that really encourage the behaviour you want... not just the ones that are easiest for "the system" to give you (like number of calls taken, or time per call). [Steven's Weblog]
9:18:16 PM
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HERE'S ANOTHER REASON THAT TELECOM COLLAPSE AND REBIRTH IS INEVITABLE
Few people debate the fact that all of us use the phone at home, in business and on-the-go more than we did even ten years ago. Few people argue with the notion that we will be using one or more of these to an even greater degree in the future. We probably won't stop at Blockbuster, but we may 'order' a movie feed from Blockbuster. Those same phone calls may become video calls. Demand for bandwidth is a given!
The industry is facing the death throws of a 100-year old legacy, copper-based network. This centrally-planned, government subsidized relic is currently operated by a relative handful of monopolists or executives from the monopolists' ranks. Their rule is coming to an end. Some of them don't even know it.
Replacing that old network and its kings and lords will be a modern, continuously upgradable fiber optic network that passes IP packets end-to-end. Running that network will be a group of people who understand Moore's Law, rapid time-to-market and the concept of price-elasticity-of-demand. They're anything but monopolists!
I had an experience similar to the one mentioned below when one of our daughters phoned home from Boston while dancing with the Boston Ballet for a month or two. Little did we know we were facing a $700+ bill until after it arrived. We had done our homework in advance, fortunately, had documentation for the rates we had been quoted and got adjustments made to the bill. The relief was not easy to get nor was it immediate, but in an age of $0.045 per minute long distance rates, $700+ was not going to be paid!
Other than the airline industry, where you can be arrested for inquiring about the sobriety of the pilots, no industry treats its customers the way the telecom industry has. Better times are on their way, though!
SprintPCS Nightmare. I'm broke. I barely have enough money to get by through the next month. And my "royalty" check I received this weekend was only 36.00 - I was expecting 1000.00. Still, I can manage. I can manage...until today. Don't worry... [Burningbird]
5:36:49 PM
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OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVING INVESTOR CONFIDENCE
No surprises, please
The week ahead: Big-name earnings. Investors will turn their eye to corporate earnings this week, after a string of financial scandals that rocked Wall Street and individual investors. [CNET News.com]
8:11:22 AM
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Sunday, July 14, 2002 |
SYMPATHY IS HARD TO MUSTER
But, desperation can be an ugly thing
Silicon Valley Without Trimmings. Having already gone from boom to bust, many dot-commers are coming to something worse. Now, in Silicon Valley, a part of the dot-com class is being defined by what it needs to return. By John Markoff and Matt Richtel. [New York Times: Business]
9:33:21 PM
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THE BANKS DIDN'T FREEZE THE CASH
on Friday, but they meet again on Tuesday with the court. This company's stockholders won't see a dime. Worldcom will be faced with deciding what business(es) it wants to emerge from bankruptcy with. Otherwise, the creditors and the court are likely to break the business into pieces and sell them in an attempt to recover some of the money. The company's sales in 2001 totaled $21.3 billion. That's a fair amount of telecom market share to throw up for grabs.
Court Won't Freeze WorldCom Assets [Wall Street Journal]
5:45:26 PM
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© Copyright 2002 Steve Pilgrim.
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