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LIFE ---
A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2" in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full. Theyagreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Ofcourse, the sand filled up everything else. He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "Yes".
The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table andproceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar - effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
"Now", said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your partner, your health, your children - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, would make you thank God."
"The pebbles are the other things that matter - like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else. The small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks."
"The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal."
"Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers!"
Zack's.com 1/29/2003
Medicis Pharmaceutical Corporation (NYSE:MRX) is an independent pharmaceutical company focusing exclusively on the treatment of dermatological conditions. Medicis offers prescription, over-the-counter and physician-dispensed dermatology products. The company has a solid stable of core brands that performed extremely well in the second quarter of fiscal 2003. In that quarter, MRX reported earnings of 55 cents per diluted share on net revenues of $59.5 million. The earnings result surpassed the year-ago total of 47 cents while revenue improved from $53 million. MRX said that it remains focused on expanding sales of its core brands, while pursuing interesting business development opportunities and supplementing its research and development pipeline with additional therapies to benefit to its universe of physicians.
A soldier's advice..... Always watch your back - lol.
I don't know what they hope the sabre rattling will do..... maybe they think there is an outside chance that he will go into exile and solve the problem but that seems unlikely. I think you are looking at Feburary 5th as the date they will throw down the gauntlet at the UN when Powell presents the US case with specifics. It will be another 4 to 6 weeks before we have all the forces in place to act so they will probably set the next inspectors report date as a do or die point. If I remember correctly that is near the end of Feburary.
I guess you didn't listen to the entire speech.
The Bucs played an excellent game. They did everything right and the Raiders didn't.
You know what Yogi Berra said........
I would like the Bucs to win but the Raiders are going to make them earn it.
OT: Minddoc7 - "Interestingly, the US was not inclined to take part in it (WWII) until manipulated by others ( i.e. England )."???
Did you miss reading about Pearl Harbor?
The Difference Between The Liberal and Conservative "Debate" Over The War On Terrorism:
Question: You're walking down a deserted street with your wife and two small children. Suddenly, a dangerous looking man with a huge knife comes around the corner and is running at you while screaming obscenities. In your hand is a Glock .40 and you are an expert shot. You have mere seconds before he reaches you and your family. What do you do?
___________________________________________________________
Liberal Answer:
Well, that's not enough information to answer the question! Does the man look poor or oppressed? Have I ever done anything to him that is inspiring him to attack? Could we run away? What does my wife think? What about the kids? Could I possibly swing the gun like a club and knock the knife out of his hand? What does the law say about this situation? Is it possible he'd be happy with just killing me? Does he definitely want to kill me or would he just be content to wound me? If I were to grab his knees and hold on, could my family get away while he was stabbing me? This is all so confusing! I need to debate this with some friends for a few days to try to come to a conclusion.
__________________________________________________________
Conservative Answer:
BANG!
Whoever wrote that thing you posted doesn't know much about history. Lincoln had two secretaries..... John Nicolay and John Hay who later became Secretary of State under McKinley. Marilyn Monroe died more than a year before Kennedy was assinated. It is possible to find those kinds of loose associations between almost any two people. Silly.
They only beat expectations by a penny but considering the enviroment, that is pretty good. Cash flow has increased. Things are looking pretty rosy for MRX.
Medicis posts higher second-quarter earnings
January 22, 2003 4:25:00 PM ET
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Jan 22 (Reuters) - Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. (MRX) on Wednesday reported higher quarterly earnings due to strong prescription growth in the company's key dermatology medicines.
Scottsdale, Arizona-based Medicis reported income of $15.3 million, or 55 cents per share, for its fiscal second quarter, compared with $14.8 million, or 47 cents a share excluding a charge a year ago.
That exceeded expectations of Wall Street analysts who, on average, were looking for 54 cents per share, according to a survey by Thomson First Call.
Medicis said revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was $59.5 million, compared to the $53 million it reported in the same period a year ago.
Medicis boosted its outlook for 2003 revenues to $245 million, up from a previous guidance of $244 million.
It also hiked its prediction for full year 2003 earnings-per-share to $2.27, compared to a $2.26 prior outlook. (Reporting by Bill Berkrot and Kim Dixon, New York Health Desk; Reuters Messaging: bill.berkrot.reuters.com@reuters.net. phone 646 223-6030) REUTERS
EDT Learning Releases ASP Version of LearnLinc; New Pricing Model Provides Customers with More Options
January 22, 2003 1:06:00 PM ET
PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 22, 2003--EDT Learning, Inc. EDT announced today the release of an ASP version of its award-winning software, LearnLinc(R). This ASP version of its virtual classroom and Web conferencing software provides its customers with even more options. Traditionally, LearnLinc customers could only purchase the software and install it on their own network. While large corporations like JPMorgan, EDS and Aetna benefited greatly, smaller organizations without their own IT infrastructure or capital budgets often choose to license Web conferencing software. In response to customer demand of this mid-market and in order to broaden LearnLinc's reach, EDT Learning now offers both purchase and license options.
Commenting on the announcement, James M. Powers, Jr., EDT Learning's president and chief executive officer, said, "Our LearnLinc customers have long appreciated the rich feature set that LearnLinc has to offer. For many years, LearnLinc has been recognized as the most comprehensive and powerful virtual classroom software in the training marketplace. With this ASP version, we expect to capture our share of the Web conferencing and customer support markets, providing customers with a lower initial investment. With the tightening of corporate training budgets, we have seen more requests for a smaller investment with longer commitments, so we have adjusted accordingly. What is so exciting about this new ASP version is that, although more affordable, it still provides the same rich feature set as our traditional client-server version of LearnLinc."
LearnLinc will now be available for licensing for a monthly fee and will provide the same feature set as other Web conferencing companies in the industry. The acquisition of LearnLinc by EDT Learning from Mentergy, Inc. was closed in December 2002 and provided EDT Learning with comprehensive online training software rivaling the likes of WebEx and Placeware.
About EDT Learning, Inc.
Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, EDT Learning is a leading provider of comprehensive e-Learning business solutions for corporate clients. EDT Learning's comprehensive e-Learning software and services enable organizations to produce effective e-Learning programs from conception to implementation to completion without the risk associated with integrating multiple vendors.
The Company's unique combination of software products in tandem with EDT's ability to produce award-winning custom content enables the Company to deliver a larger array of solutions than any other single e-Learning provider. Some of these products include:
-- LearnLinc(TM)- a Web conferencing and online training software providing a live virtual classroom using the Internet;
-- i-Canvas(TM)- a training development software tool that produces Web-based and CD-Rom-based courses and software simulations;
-- Learning Manager(TM)- a learning management system (LMS) that administers, tracks and reports training progress. Learning Manager can also be upgraded with a suite of workforce performance management software tools that help organizations find the right internal people for the right jobs; provide employees with tools to match their career objectives with internal job opportunities; and enable supervisors to establish goals and provide job performance feedback to employees; and
-- The Executive Training Library - a library of training content on business-specific topics such as innovation, leadership and communication, co-developed with respected names in business such as the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and Gary Hamel's Strategos Institute.
Each of the Company's products independently wins awards for best-of-breed technology, but they also operate as an integrated system. The products also integrate easily with third party, industry-compliant technologies.
About LearnLinc(R)
EDT's virtual classroom software won first place at the Synchronous e-Learning Shootout held at Online Learning's conference in the fall of 2002. LearnLinc was voted number one in the head-to-head competition, winning over such other notable companies as WebEx, PlaceWare, and Interwise. LearnLinc, one of the first live virtual classroom software products on the market, provides its customers with one of the most comprehensive feature sets available today. You can obtain additional information about the LearnLinc software at www.EDTLearning.com/LearnLinc. LearnLinc's award-winning feature set includes:
-- Multiple party application sharing;
-- One- or two-way streaming video;
-- Full-featured whiteboard, Text Chat and Question the Presenter;
-- Audio and video clips, animation, simulations, learning exercises, and tests results;
-- Recording and playback of sessions;
-- Testing with automatic grading and database reporting; and
-- Screen capturing of any student desktop that can be shared with the rest of the class.
More Company information is available at www.edtlearning.com.
OT: For those who are interested in a reality check.....
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/P39076.asp
TEXT-S&P comments on Rockwell Automation
January 22, 2003 11:21:00 AM ET
(The following statement was released by the rating agency)
NEW YORK, Jan 22 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings on Rockwell Automation Inc. (ROK)(A/Stable/A-1) were unaffected by the company's fiscal 2003 (year-end Sept. 30) first-quarter earnings report. Operating earnings were $94 million, compared with $80 million in the same quarter of 2002, driven by improved performance at Control Systems with margins of 10.9%, compared with 9.3% in 2002. The company continues to face an uncertain economic environment and reported year over year declines in sales and operating income in its other business segments. However, leading market positions and management's conservative financial policies should enable the company to maintain a credit profile appropriate for the current ratings. Cash from operations was $104 million up from $87 million in 2002's first quarter and Rockwell expects to generate around 20% earnings growth for fiscal 2003, if end markets continue to be stable. REUTERS
OT: EZ.....
Nothing exciting from MOT but being in the black 2 quarters in a row is progress. I wish HRCT could say the same. Note below that MOT has provided a breakdown of revenues and profits(loss) for each major operating unit..... what a novel idea - maybe HRCT could do the same.
CHICAGO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Wireless technology giant Motorola Inc. (MOT), whose operations range from making wireless telephones and semiconductors to two-way radios and cable television settop boxes, reported a fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday.
Following is a breakdown of each of Motorola's major units:
* The Personal Communications Segment, or the wireless phone business, posted fourth-quarter sales of $3.3 billion, up 11 percent. Orders fell 3 percent to $2.1 billion.
The unit posted operating earnings of $294 million compared with $121 million a year ago. Excluding special items, the segment reported operating earnings of $301 million, compared to operating earnings of $208 million in the year-ago quarter.
The company attributed the higher results on improvements in cost structure, customer relationships and product portfolio.
* Semiconductor Products Segment sales rose 15 percent to $1.3 billion while orders rose 18 percent to $1.2 billion. The segment had an operating gain of $18 million compared with a loss of $798 million a year ago. Excluding special items, the segment reported operating earnings of $9 million versus a loss of $284 million, helped by a higher gross margin and lower operating expenses.
* The company's Global Telecom Solutions Segment, or wireless infrastructure business, saw sales in the quarter fall 11 percent to $1.2 billion. Orders fell 3 percent to $1.1 billion.
The segment posted an operating loss of $22 million, compared with an operating loss of $334 million in the year-ago quarter. Excluding special items, the segment reported operating earnings of $3 million, compared with an operating loss of $109 million in the year-ago quarter.
Motorola attributed the unit's improvement in operating earnings, excluding special items, on a better gross margin and significantly lower costs.
* Motorola's Commercial, Government and Industrial Systems Segment, which includes its two-way radio business, saw sales fall 2 percent to $1.2 billion, while orders declined 5 percent to $1.1 billion, hurt by large system procurement delays by government customers.
The segment reported operating earnings of $189 million, compared with $26 million in the year-ago quarter. Excluding special items, the segment reported operating earnings of $170 million, compared with $181 million in the year-ago quarter.
* The company's Broadband Communications Segment, or cable settop business, saw sales fall 16 percent to $489 million and orders fall 33 percent to $353 million, hurt in part by the ongoing decline in cable equipment purchases.
The unit had operating earnings of $33 million, compared with an operating loss of $7 million in the year-ago quarter. Excluding special items, the segment reported operating earnings of $65 million, compared with $78 million in the year-ago quarter. REUTERS
Taro to License Four Branded Pharmaceutical Product Lines from Medicis
Wednesday January 15, 4:06 pm ET
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. and HAWTHORNE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 15, 2003--Medicis (NYSE:MRX - News) and Taro Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq/NMS:TARO - News) today announced that Taro North America has entered into a license and optional purchase agreement with Medicis for four branded prescription product lines for sale in the United States and Puerto Rico. The license agreement is effective immediately and extends through June 1, 2004, after which Taro may purchase the product lines, which are used primarily in dermatology and pediatrics. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Under terms of the agreement, Taro is licensing from Medicis the following four brands: TOPICORT® (desoximetasone), a topical corticosteroid used for inflammatory skin diseases; A/T/S® (erythromycin), a topical antibiotic used in the treatment of acne; OVIDE® (malathion), a pediculicide used in the treatment of head lice; and PRIMSOL® (trimethoprim HCl), an antibiotic oral solution for children with acute otitis media, or middle ear infections.
"We are pleased to have reached agreement with Taro for the license and possible sale of several of the Company's non-strategic brands," said Jonah Shacknai, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Medicis. "While OVIDE® provided the Company with an early presence in the pediatric market, it represents only a small portion of our total product revenues. This transaction with Taro will allow our sales and marketing organization to focus on the expansion of our core dermatologic, pediatric and podiatric brands which have the greatest potential for future growth."
"The products licensed from Medicis, together with KERASAL® and U-CORT®, previously acquired in the U.S., and DERMOVATE® and TIAMOL®, previously acquired in Canada, represent the beginning of Taro's marketing of proprietary products in North America," said Barrie Levitt, M.D., Chairman of Taro.
About Medicis
Medicis is the leading independent specialty pharmaceutical company in the United States focusing primarily on the treatment of dermatological, pediatric and podiatric conditions. Medicis has leading prescription products in a number of therapeutic categories, including acne, asthma, eczema, fungal infections, hyperpigmentation, photoaging, psoriasis, rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis and skin and skin-structure infections. The Company's products have earned wide acceptance by both physicians and patients due to their clinical effectiveness, high quality and cosmetic elegance.
The Company's products include the prescription brands DYNACIN® (minocycline HCl), LOPROX® (ciclopirox), LUSTRA® (hydroquinone), LUSTRA-AF® (hydroquinone) with sunscreen, ALUSTRA® (hydroquinone) with retinol, OMNICEF® (cefdinir), ORAPRED® (prednisolone sodium phosphate), PLEXION® Cleanser (sodium sulfacetamide/sulfur), PLEXION TS® (sodium sulfacetamide/sulfur), PLEXION SCT® (sodium sulfacetamide/sulfur), TRIAZ® (benzoyl peroxide), LIDEX® (fluocinonide), and SYNALAR® (fluocinolone acetonide); the over-the-counter brand ESOTERICA®; and BUPHENYL® (sodium phenylbutyrate), a prescription product indicated in the treatment of Urea Cycle Disorder. For more information about Medicis, please visit the Company's website at www.medicis.com.
Medicis Guidance
Previously released fiscal 2003 revenue and earnings guidance provided by Medicis in the first quarter fiscal 2003 press release remains unchanged. Medicis expects any financial impact of the license agreement with Taro to be immaterial, and therefore does not anticipate any adjustments to its previously provided guidance for fiscal year 2003.
Intel ramps up for Pentium 4 assembly in China
January 15, 2003 02:45:00 AM ET
By Doug Young
HONG KONG, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Semiconductor giant Intel Corp (INTC) is set to begin its first CPU assembly in China this year at a newly upgraded US$500 million plant, even as the company announced plans for a major cut in capital spending in 2003, its Asia-Pacific chief said on Wednesday.
The Shanghai plant where the assembly and testing of Pentium 4 central processing units (CPUs) will take place has undergone a US$300 million overhaul in the last few years in preparation for the shift, said Jason Chen, Intel Asia-Pacific's general manager.
"Our plan is to start test and assembly for Pentium 4 this year," Chen told Reuters in a phone interview.
"This will be our first time assembling CPUs in China...Our plan is to start later this year, and our progress is on track."
He did not say how many units would be produced initially.
The brisk investment level in China contrasts with Intel's scaled-back capital expenditure plans for 2003, which were announced on Tuesday in the United States when the company reported its fourth-quarter results.
Intel said it plans to scale back its 2003 capital spending by as much as 25 percent company-wide, to US$3.5 billion to US$3.9 billion compared with US$4.7 billion in 2002.
Chen would not comment on individual capital spending plans for Asia, saying the company does not pubicly disclose its such plans for its individual regions.
He said Intel's Asia-Pacific region accounted for 38 percent of company revenues for the three months ended December 31 -- the fourth consecutive quarter the region has been Intel's best revenue generator.
FLASH MEMORY ORIGINS
The Shanghai plant where Pentium 4 assembly will take place was set up in 1996 with an initial investment of US$100 million, and originally produced flash memory units.
Intel later invested another US$100 million and upgraded to chipset production. The most recent upgrade will bring Intel's total investment in the facility to US$500 million by the end of this year, Chen said.
Elsewhere in the region, Intel has similar assembly plants in the Phillipines and Malaysia.
The upgrade of its Shanghai plant to CPU assembly status reflects Intel's growing relationship with China, where its customer base has expanded rapidly in recent years.
Intel's China-based customer list is a who's who of the country's up-and-coming computer and telecom gear makers, many of which are just starting to try and expand beyond their traditional Chinese markets.
Intel's customers include two of China's top computer makers, Legend Group Ltd and Founder Group Corp, Chen said.
In telecommunications, the company works closely with TCL , Motorola's (MOT) China ventures and Zhongxing Telecom (ZTE) , Datang Telecom & Tech Co and privately held Huawei.
"We have a long-term in-depth relationship with the local industry, and those are just the hardware manufactureres," Chen said. "We work with the software industry as well, including about 14 Linux companies in China and system integrators." REUTERS
Since we started discussing MRX on this board it has gone from $40.33 per share to $52.30. Interesting to note that they are sitting on $600 million in cash. Kind of unusual for a small company to have over $21 per share in cash.
The article noted that they have an authorization to use up to $75 million for a share buyback but that doesn't seem like the best use at this point since the share price is up and they don't have that many outstanding shares in the first place.
I guess they are holding the cash in case an opportunity for a good acquisition comes along.
Investor's Business Daily
Drug Maker Goes Where The Big Boys Don't
Monday January 13, 10:38 am ET
By Marilyn Alva
Prescription drugs and creams for acne, head lice and foot fungus aren't at the top of the list for most pharmaceutical companies. The same goes for pediatric medications.
Sales of individual medications in those areas aren't high enough to warrant the same kind of attention big drug companies place on heart drugs and other blockbusters, industry analysts say.
In fact, sales of any one dermatology drug rarely exceed $200 million a year.
Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. (NYSE:MRX - News) likes it that way, since it specializes in the two under-the-radar drug segments.
"(Dermatology and pediatric drugs) are crumbs to the big pharmas, but they are a feast for Medicis," said David Steinberg, analyst with Deutsche Bank Securities. "Medicis has capitalized on niche opportunities as big pharma players move on to multibillion dollar drugs."
The company has built a solid reputation in dermatology with eight core products. Its top selling drug, Dynacin, treats acne. Its second biggest, Loprox, is an anti-fungal agent.
Medicis' 2001 acquisition of Ascent Pediatrics Inc. moved it into the pediatric segment with Orapred, a liquid steroid for asthma. The $60 million purchase proved a good fit. Ascent's 75 sales reps help cross-sell dermatology products to pediatricians.
Pediatric sales generate 23% of Medicis' revenue. Company officials would like to see it hit 50%.
"It would require some new product introductions," said Chief Executive Jonah Shacknai.
He says total sales of all drugs in the combined two markets add up to more than $10 billion a year.
Compared with the drug industry's multibillion dollar behemoths, Medicis looks like a small spot on the surface.
Its revenue totaled only $213 million in fiscal 2002, which ended in June. Officials expect that number to hit $244.7 million this fiscal year.
Still, Medicis is one of the top players in the field of dermatology, Shacknai says. The firm has tried to muscle its way to the top by growing its sales force, spending more on research and development and buying new products and technologies.
Something's working. Medicis posted $58.5 million in first-quarter sales, up 28% from the prior year. Prescription volumes for its eight core brands gained 49%, while new prescriptions grew 69%. Earnings were up 23% to 54 cents a share.
Medicis has met or topped earnings expectations 35 straight quarters, says analyst Donald Ellis of Thomas Weisel Partners.
"For a long period of time, (this company) has underpromised and overperformed," he said.
Analysts polled by First Call expect Medicis' full-year earnings to rise 15% to $2.25 a share.
To help it achieve its growth goals, company execs pledge to introduce at least one new product a year.
CEO Shacknai says 12 products are in various stages of development, including some that are awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
Drugs in the pipeline address both dermatology and pediatric markets. That's about all Medicis officials are willing to say. Unlike other drug firms, it keeps a lid on details.
"We anticipate from our current portfolio that product launches will take us out past 2006," Shacknai said.
One product outside the official pipeline - and the least certain to hit the market - is a psoriasis drug in development with partner Corixa Corp.
In late spring, results of a phase two clinical trial should show whether the drug, named PVAC, works well enough to advance further in the regulatory process, Shacknai says.
With nearly $600 million in cash, Medicis has plenty of money on hand to make acquisitions, analysts note. Perhaps too much.
"They have a very large cash horde relative to their ($1.4 billion) capitalization," Steinberg said. "So they have about $21 a share in cash, which is unusual. The wild card is when will they use it and how will they use it? We just don't know."
Shacknai says the company could conceivably use the cash to acquire companies, product licenses and new technologies. But he seems to be in no hurry.
"We are not the sort of company to make stupid acquisitions because there is money burning a hole in our pocket," he said. "We have the discipline to resist short-term opportunities that will not contribute on a long-term basis to our franchise."
Although it has bought several products and technologies, Medicis has acquired just two companies in 14 years.
Some of the cash could be used to buy back shares, Shacknai says. Medicis has done that in the past and has authorization to purchase $75 million in stock.
Another wild card is the threat of generic drugs taking business away from Medicis' brand-name medicines, Steinberg says.
The molecule behind Loprox went off patent last year, so the drug could meet up with copycat rivals. None have shown up, perhaps because government hurdles are tougher for topical drugs than for pills, Steinberg says.
Medicis still has patent protection on a Loprox gel. It also has patents pending for other Loprox-related lines.
As Shacknai points out, generics didn't do a lot of damage to Dynacin.
"Dynacin became the leading brand in the category despite vast generic competition, as many as 10 at one point," he said.
OT: MOT has been a busy little bee this morning......
UPDATE 1-Motorola to buy rest of Next Level for $30 mln
January 13, 2003 11:26:00 AM ET
In CHICAGO story headlined "UPDATE 1-Motorola to buy rest of Next Level for $30 mln," please read in 12th paragraph ... Next Level said last January it would cut one-third of its work force ... instead of ... Next level said on Friday ... Corrects timing of announcement.
A corrected version follows. (Adds Motorola comments in paragraph 7, background, stock action, byline; changes dateline, previous SCHAUMBURG, Ill.)
By Ben Klayman
CHICAGO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Motorola Inc. (MOT), the No. 2 maker of wireless telephones, on Monday said it plans to make a $30 million tender offer for the outstanding shares of its Next Level Communications Inc. (NXTV) subsidiary.
In a move to protect its investment, Motorola said it plans to offer $1.04 for each share of Next Level, a provider of high-speed Internet access to telephone carriers using existing copper phone lines. The value of Motorola's stake in Next Level has declined almost 99 percent since its acquisition.
Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, expects to commence the offer as soon as practicable, and the deal does not require approval of the Next Level board. Motorola expects the deal to close in the first quarter.
Motorola, which owns a 74 percent stake in Next Level, said its offer represents a 14 percent premium over Next Level's closing stock price on Friday, and a 29 percent premium over its average closing price for the past 90 trading days. Next Level shares ended Friday at 91 cents on the Nasdaq market.
Shares of Next Level rose about 20 percent, or 18 cents, to $1.09 early Monday on Nasdaq.
Motorola said it would provide its Rohnert Park, California-based subsidiary with the financing and resources necessary to continue deploying high-speed Internet access platforms.
"Next Level will avoid the escalating costs and management time spent reassuring customers and suppliers of Next Level's financial viability, seeking additional financing sources and remaining publicly traded," Don McLellan, Motorola's corporate vice president of mergers and acquisitions, said in a statement.
Motorola, also said that it planned to increase Next level's exposure in international markets. The offer provides a premium for a stock with an uncertain value, Motorola said
The deal also would improve Next Level's finances at a time when analysts see a significant funding gap this year, Motorola said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. Next Level may need significant funding through 2004 and its operating costs have topped sales nine of the last 10 quarters.
Motorola acquired shares of Next Level through its acquisition of General Instrument Corp., its cable television set-top business, in January 2000.
In December 2000, Motorola began providing capital to Next Level to support its operations and since that time has provided over $175 million in funding and $30 million in financial guarantees.
Next Level said last January it would cut one-third of its work force, or 120 jobs, and report lower-than-expected fourth-quarter sales. It has been hit, like many suppliers, by the telecom spending slowdown.
Motorola said the offer is conditioned upon it owning at least 90 percent of Next level. It said any shares not acquired in the tender are expected to be purchased in a subsequent transaction at the same price.
Next Level, when acquired, will be part of Motorola's Broadband Communications Sector, or high-speed Internet business, Motorola said.
OT: *General Motors Help Line*
General Motors doesn't have a help line for people who don't know how to
drive, because people don't buy cars like they buy computers, but
imagine if they did....
----------------------
Help Line: "General Motors Help Line, how can I help you?"
Customer: "I got in my car and closed the door and nothing happened!"
Help Line: "Did you put the key in the ignition slot and turn it?"
Customer: "What's an ignition?"
Help Line: "It's a starter motor that draws current from your battery
and turns over the engine."
Customer: "Ignition? Motor? Battery? Engine? How come I have to know
all these technical terms just to use my car?"
---------------------------
Help Line: "General Motors Help Line, how can I help you?"
Customer: "My car ran fine for a week and now it won't go anywhere!"
Help Line: "Is the gas tank empty?"
Customer: "Huh? How do I know?"
Help Line: "There's a little gauge on the front panel with a needle and
markings from 'E' to 'F'. Where is the needle pointing?"
Customer: "It's pointing to 'E'. What does that mean?"
Help Line: "It means you have to visit a gasoline vendor and purchase
some more gasoline. You can install it yourself or pay the vendor to
install it for you."
Customer: "What? I paid $12,000 for this car! Now you tell me that I
have to keep buying more components? I want a car that comes with
everything built in!"
---------------------------
Help Line: "General Motors Help Line, how can I help you?"
Customer: "Your cars are horrible!"
Help Line: "What's wrong?"
Customer: "It crashed, that's what wrong!"
Help Line: "What were you doing?"
Customer: "I wanted to run faster, so I pushed the accelerator pedal all
the way to the floor. It worked for a while and then it crashed and it
won't start now!”
Help Line: "It's your responsibility if you misuse the product. What do
you expect us to do about it?"
Customer: "I want you to send me one of the latest version that doesn't
crash any more!"
---------------------------
Help Line: "General Motors Help Line, how can I help you?"
Customer: "Hi, I just bought my first car, and I chose your car because
it has automatic transmission, cruise control, power steering, power
brakes, and power door locks."
Help Line: "Thanks for buying our car. How can I help you?"
Customer: "How do I work it?"
Help Line: "Do you know how to drive?"
Customer: "Do I know how to what?"
Help Line: "Do you know how to drive?"
Customer: "I'm not a technical person. I just want to go places in my
car!"
Rockwell raises first quarter outlook by 30 pct
January 09, 2003 4:52:00 PM ET
MILWAUKEE, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Rockwell Automation Inc. (ROK), a maker of industrial automation equipment, on Thursday raised its fiscal first-quarter earnings target by about 30 percent, citing higher than expected sales.
For the quarter ended December 31, 2002, the Milwaukee-based company said it expects earnings of 21 cents to 22 cents a share, up from its previous estimate of 16 cents to 18 cents.
Wall Street analysts on average expected a profit of 17 cents a share, according to research firm Thomson First Call.
Rockwell said the improvement was the result of higher than expected sales in December in its control systems business.
The company said it will report first-quarter financial results Jan. 21. REUTERS
OT: BIZFEATURE-A new order of business at annual meetings
January 09, 2003 2:02:00 PM ET
By Paul Thomasch
NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The days of corporate annual meetings as upbeat affairs with athletes and movie stars paraded around the room and executives pointing to sky-high stock prices are fading memories.
This year, as both springtime and annual meeting season approaches, shareholders and executives will gather in hotels, convention halls and even high school gyms to meet, greet and exchange pleasantries. Or in some cases, unpleasantries.
"These are serious times for boards and directors," said Ric Marshall, chief executive of The Corporate Library, a specialized investment research company. "Companies are going to be under the microscope from every side."
Even freebies -- and some company literature -- are falling out of fashion with the economic downturn. Last year, EMC Corp. (EMC), a data storage company, decided not to hand out its glossy annual reports at its meeting, choosing instead to give out 16-page pamphlets.
"There is a sense the good times have passed," said Scott Klinger, co-director of corporate accountability at Responsible Wealth, a Boston-based shareholder activist group.
Klinger attends about a half dozen meetings each year and sees investors "beginning to ask a lot more challenging questions" after three years of stock market declines.
Not only did the stock market drop again last year -- the blue-chips lost about 17 percent -- but the public was fed a steady diet of scandals ranging from accounting frauds to conflicts of interest and oversized compensation packages.
Typically, though, the working part of these meetings is dry, parliamentary procedure such as passing resolutions and counting shareholder votes. And the boilerplate corporate update from the chief executive doesn't provide nearly as much excitement as a fiery lecture from the occasional irked shareholder or special interest group.
DO THE TWIST
Among the issues that will be brought up at meetings this year are proposals calling for more analyst independence at Morgan Stanley (MWD), Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEH) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), according to the Investor Responsibility Research Center, based in Washington, D.C.
Religious groups, unions and state pension funds are also calling on companies including Dow Chemical Co. (DOW), Weyerhaeuser Co. (WY) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) to separate the jobs of chief executive and chairman, said IRRC director of governance research Carol Bowie.
Stock options and compensation are also high on the agenda, Bowie said. She said she "suspects there will be attention paid to these issues" with "boards looking to get back into good graces of the small investor."
Whether that will lead to real reform is another matter, most experts said.
Better times are likely to be had at the annual meeting of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), known for attracting many of its most devoted investors and employees. Held in the Bud Walton Arena on the campus of the University of Arkansas, the company's meetings have long been part revival meeting, part pep rally and part Hollywood extravaganza.
How rowdy is the event? The most recent one had supermodel Cindy Crawford lead a cheer spelling out the company's name, which involved a call for bottom shaking and twisting when the cheer arrived at the hyphen in Wal-Mart's name.
While Wal-Mart paid for 3,400 of its workers to fly, drive or catch a bus to the meeting, others are less accommodating.
Farmer Bros. Co. (FARM), an investment company that started out as a food service specialist, held its most recent meeting the day after Christmas.
UNPRECEDENTED SCALE
Other companies have ventured far from their headquarters -- and their shareholders -- for annual meetings.
Take Gap Inc. (GPS), which is based in San Francisco but has held meetings in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and near its distribution centers in Gallatin, Tennessee, and Fishkill, New York.
Qwest Communications International Inc. (Q), based in Denver, held its meeting last year in Dublin, Ohio; Morgan Stanley last year moved its event from the New York City area to London, where a spokesman said it had a "slightly smaller" attendance.
"We wanted to demonstrate we had a global shareholder base and a global employee base," the spokesman said. This year's meeting, however, will be held in the United States.
In some cases, Klinger said, companies have moved meetings to "places that are harder to reach, under the ruse of moving meetings closer to shareholders."
At Tyco International Ltd's (TYC) 2002 meeting, held at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess in Bermuda, only 48 people attended, including its auditors and 11 board members. The meeting lasted 40 minutes.
In spite of a truckload of scandals and the indictment of former Chairman Dennis Kozlowski, Tyco's turnout this year may not be any bigger. But others likely will, experts said.
"Shareholders on every level -- both the big institutions and individual shareholders -- are going to be really watching what's going on this year," Marshall said.
"I think there will be a new level of activism when we actually get to the general meetings, but even just the proxy filings are going to look and feel different this year than they ever have before on a scale that's unheard of," he said. REUTERS
andi - Hartcourt Education isn't doing anything at the moment. They are no longer involved in the Cal State program and the e-learning isn't active.
oldog2000 - Actually WMT currently has one more store than Carrefour in China. Both operations are expanding rapidly there but WMT is far and away China's largest single export customer; over $6 billion annually. The article didn't mention Carrrefour because it wasn't about Carrefour or retailing in China. China is currently a very small part of WMT's revenues but I am sure they are hoping to increase that figure significantly.
Carrefour has had a few problems with the PRC government....
The French hypermarket chain Carrefour has signed an agreement with the State Economic and Trade Commission that will allow it to resume supermarket openings after a suspension of six months, the Financial Times said.
The suspension followed a demand from the central government to reor-ganise its holdings because Carrefour's 27 stores in China had been built by agreement with local governments rather than the central government in Beijing.
OT: Interesting Time Magazine article with comments on doing business in and with China.
Can Wal-Mart Get Any Bigger?
(Yes, a lot bigger... Here's how)
By BILL SAPORITO
Sunday, Jan. 05, 2003
The aisles are clean, the store is brightly lit, and "associates" in red polo shirts provide friendly service to customers who flock there for the low prices and the wide range of products offered. Throughout the store the image of a kindly old man appears in posters and photographs. His slogans and philosophy have been internalized by all employees, and they can tell you the story of his long march from humble rural roots to become a great leader.
And by the way, would you like us to skin that frog for you?
Welcome to Wal-Mart in China, where the late Sam Walton has a new image: the Mao of retailing. There, as in Walton's home state of Arkansas, having the right merchandise is paramount. So the store in Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong, is crowded with tanks of crabs, fish, frogs and shrimp, which can be taken home wiggling or be expertly gutted and cleaned on the spot. Wal-Mart's push into China?and Brazil and Germany and deeper into California and New York?offers a hint of why the world's largest retailer seems unfazed by this stinker of a holiday shopping season. Wal-Mart's sales in stores open at least a year were up only about 3% compared with the same period last year?at the low end of its expectations. But many other retailers were hurt much worse. Wal-Mart just keeps gaining market share, not only from bankrupt discounter Kmart but also from grocers like Kroger, drugstore chains like CVS and electronics sellers like RadioShack. Wal-Mart is mounting an audacious expansion that could double its sales within just five years, to $480 billion. Some of that growth will come in new markets abroad, where 1,200 stores in nine countries already account for about 16% of the chain's total sales. But even more growth will be won as the chain insinuates itself into more U.S. neighborhoods and invades more product categories.
If you think Wal-Mart already sells just about everything, think again. Think PCs, ceiling fans, more fashionable clothing, gasoline and even cars.
"Their goal is to have a 30% share of every major business they are in," says Linda Kristiansen, a retail analyst for UBS Warburg Equity Research.
If there's no Wal-Mart store near you, just wait. If you shop at Wal-Mart, expect your store to get bigger or a new store to open even closer. The chain plans to expand from 3,400 U.S. locations today?half of them in the South?to a nationwide network approaching 5,000 stores in five years.
Wal-Mart has 1,300 Supercenters, many of them converted from standard discount stores, offering everything from hardware to groceries and drugs. In some areas, it is placing these 180,000-sq.-ft. monsters as close as 5 miles apart. And in the spaces between, it's tormenting local grocery and convenience stores with Neighborhood Markets (call 'em Small-Marts). Wal-Mart is building its first urban Supercenter, in downtown Dallas. And without fanfare it is testing used-car sales alongside one of its Houston stores. "It's surprising how much room we have for growth," says Robson Walton, 58, Sam's son and the company's nonexecutive chairman. "I'm not trying to be flippant," adds Lee Scott, 52, Wal-Mart's ceo. "But simply put, our long-term strategy is to be where we're not." Yet for Wal-Mart to get where it isn't is going to be a lot harder than it was to get where it is. Even with sales expected to grow to about $240 billion for the fiscal year that ends Jan. 31, price wars in its grocery business narrowed Wal-Mart's profit margin to its lowest level in four years. The company plans to fatten profits by becoming more of a producer and even designer of its goods, especially clothing. It's making blouses in China and towels in India that it intends to sell everywhere from Berlin to Beijing and Boston. But fashion is a notoriously fickle business.
And by diving deeper into the manufacturing of more of its products, Wal-Mart is braving a path that has brought grief to some of history's biggest retailers, such as A&P and Sears. Wal-Mart's centralization of power at its headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., could produce agitation among the managers of its stores, who have traditionally been granted considerable independence in stocking what locals want. And consumers get bored by one-size-fits-all merchandise. Says Ira Kalish, an analyst for consultancy Retail Forward, in a mostly bullish report on Wal-Mart: "Excessive size could breed bureaucracy as well as failures in the areas of merchandising and customer relations."
Whether?and how?Wal-Mart meets these challenges will be of vital importance to its customers, its 1.3 million worldwide employees, the owners of its widely held stock and even the U.S. economy. According to an independent study by McKinsey & Co., Wal-Mart's efficiency gains were the source of 25% of the entire U.S. economy's productivity improvement from 1995 to 1999. "When you become No. 1 and as big as we are, business has a tendency to complicate if you don't do things to force yourself to keep it simple," says Tom Coughlin, head of Wal-Mart's store operations. As simple as keeping the right products in stock?a huge problem for Kmart. And maintaining a smooth checkout system. "We call it Take the Money," says Coughlin. What's the point of low prices if consumers can't pay for their items quickly? Wal-Mart's operating mantra has been "a store at a time," meaning that no one can manage thousands of stores; it has to be done locally. Long before it was fashionable, Wal-Mart pushed responsibility and information to the lowest ranks. Managers of departments such as sporting goods or women's apparel still get detailed reports of sales and profits in their areas, and they have a say in which products are stocked. Store managers can still buy locally and ask headquarters to adjust inventory of company brands that it has asked them to stock. Coughlin says Wal-Mart will not stray far from the locals-know-best model, even as more information and merchandise flows through Bentonville. At headquarters, management focuses on the top 20% and bottom 20% of its stores, as measured by sales and profitability. It wants to know who has been naughty and who has been nice and why. The rest are largely on their own.
Sam Walton used to visit all his stores using a propeller-driven plane. Now it takes a fleet of 20 jets just to keep management in touch. Its headquarters force, 10,000 strong, lately includes a group of artists whose sole function is to design logos and labels and fulfill other graphic needs. That's quite an indulgence for a company so comically cheap that it still puts tin coin boxes next to its coffee pots, demanding 10(cent) a pop.
Wal-Mart's Supercenters are able to underprice their supermarket competitors about 15%, according to analyst Kalish, in part because they are more efficient but also because the discount giant uses nonunion labor. Wal-Mart matches the union pay rate in union markets, but the average wage at Wal-Mart nationally is less than $10 an hour before bonuses. The two most frequent complaints made by Wal-Mart employees to Time?low wages and morale-killing store managers?recently factored into a labor case the company lost in Oregon. A jury found Wal-Mart guilty of requiring associates to work unpaid overtime?even locking them inside stores. The company plans to appeal the verdict and says workers were locked into stores only late at night, for security reasons. Some 40 other lawsuits are pending, most of which similarly accuse Wal-Mart of requiring hourly employees to work "off the clock." Since September 2001, Wal-Mart also has been the defendant in 28 complaints brought by the National Labor Relations Board (NIRB) over alleged antiunion activities, including firing employees suspected of being friendly to organized labor. "The company is dragging wages and benefit levels back to 19th century standards," says John Sweeney, president of the afl-cio, which is sponsoring an organizing effort at the company's stores.
That campaign has borne little fruit, in part because Wal-Mart's wages are competitive with those paid by rivals such as Kmart and Target. Wal-Mart offers health benefits, and its stock plan has been a wealth builder for many lower-level employees, at least until the market crashed. Still, Wal-Mart is regarded as offering ample opportunities for advancement. Charlyn Jarrells Porter, who heads the Wal-Mart division that deals with personnel issues, says two-thirds of its managers come from the ranks of store associates, which is what Wal-Mart calls all employees. This year the company will enroll 5,500 people in its management-training program. "If the jobs are so bad," she asks," why are so many people working for Wal-Mart?" The company denies any of the wrongdoing alleged in the lawsuits and NIRB complaints and insists that managers who violate policy are disciplined. Being viewed as a good place to work is vital to Wal-Mart, because it will need to add some 800,000 employees in the U.S. alone over the next five years.
As it tries to leverage its size overseas, Wal-Mart may find it difficult to export one of its biggest advantages. Its expertise in managing high-volume inventory and supply networks doesn't work as well in Europe and Asia, where the highway systems aren't as good and stores typically are smaller. So Wal-Mart has to become better at buying, reaching further back into the supply chain to purchase at the factory such products as hardware and apparel that it now obtains from outside vendors and importers. "We realized that, as we continue to expand internationally, the need to leverage international and domestic buying power was key, and the only way to do it effectively is to do it ourselves," says Ken Eaton, who heads global procurement. The idea is to buy goods universally for all stores where feasible, so the 20 locations in Brazil can get the same price as the 3,400 Wal-Marts in the U.S. The company ended its relationship last year with its longtime outside-buying organization and hired hundreds of that firm's employees to start rounding up fruit and salmon from South America and $6 billion a year in goods from China?everything from clothing to televisions to fans. Wal-Mart has opened 21 offices around the world to oversee its factories.
By becoming contractor, importer and wholesaler, Wal-Mart expects not only to save money on the buy but also to cut down on inventory by speeding up the supply lines. Wal-Mart gets most of its towels from India, and today it reorders once a month. If one pattern gets hot and sells out early, sales are lost. In going direct, however, Wal-Mart will make the factories in India part of its Retail Link system. That allows vendors like Sara Lee (Hanes underwear, Bryan bacon) to dip into Wal-Mart's computers and track sales and replenish supplies constantly. By the same token, Wal-Mart will be held more responsible for these factories' social and environmental policies. As the folks at Nike can tell you, this carries its own risks.
Wal-Mart figures to take 20% of the cost out of procurement over the next five years and improve gross-profit margins by nine percentage points worldwide on general merchandise it buys directly. In retailing, this figure is astonishing. Think about that $6 billion worth of goods from China. Multiply by .09. Take to bank. Global sourcing can provide the ammunition Wal-Mart will need to wage price wars against such powerful retailers as France's Carrefour, Holland's Royal Ahold and Germany's Makro. Each of these European companies got to foreign markets long before Wal-Mart did. At ASDA, the British chain Wal-Mart bought in mid-1999, the company was selling men's jeans for about $24 after paying $14 per yd. for 50,000 yds. of material to make them. Then the buy was moved to Bentonville, and the conversation went something like, "We'd like 6 million yds., please.
Now what's your price?" Try $4.77 per yd. As a result, ASDA slashed its retail prices in half and upped its annual jeans sales to 1 million, from 174,000. ASDA is acquiring some 2,000 products from Wal-Mart's global network and has become Britain's leading seller of kids' clothes. The traffic is not all one way. ASDA's George brand of apparel is one of the most popular private-label lines in Britain, and Wal-Mart recently launched it in the U.S. "We're selling apparel anyway," says Claire Watts, Wal-Mart's fashion boss. "Would it kill us to be a little more up to date?" Designers from ASDA and from Wal-Mart headquarters now go on trend-spotting trips together, an exercise associated more with hip brands like Nike, and one that sounds perilously outside Wal-Mart's core competency. Watts insists that her group isn't trying to move Wal-Mart into haute couture. The focus is fashion basics at low prices.
When the team creates a new blouse, all the product specifications?colors, patterns, fabrics?are controlled by Watts' designers in Bentonville. Then Eaton's group tells the factories what and how much to make. No samples have to be made and sent back and forth across oceans because the company uses high-end computer color rendition and printing. Changes can be made quickly. The motive is speed as much as price. From the factories, garments can be sent to Newcastle, England, or New Castle, Del.?and therein lies the trap. This kind of centralization always makes sense in the beginning, when cost savings are easy and the staff is lean. But history shows that the buying organization eventually becomes bloated, as it did for Kmart, and tries to force merchandise through the system whether or not local managers and their customers want it.
Wal-Mart's expansion has gone well in Mexico, where it is the country's largest retailer. And the company just completed a deal to crack the Japanese market by acquiring 34% of Seiyu, a well-positioned but struggling retailer. But Wal-Mart has stumbled badly in some countries, particularly Germany. "We could write a training manual about our experiences in Germany," Scott says. "We really did more things wrong than right." There, Wal-Mart faces tough competition from well-established chains, especially among grocers. The German managers Wal-Mart brought on board through two mergers resisted American help. "We've been trying to get the Germans culturalized; we bring them to Bentonville," says John Menzer, head of the international division. But Bentonville also had to learn a few things about Berlin. German shoppers found Wal-Mart's door greeters appalling, and they regarded the ever helpful clerks as an intrusion on their private space.
From Wal-Mart's point of view, it's the Chinese who have turned out to be the best capitalists. At the store in Shenzhen, local managers hold Ping-Pong tourneys, stage fashion shows and have clerks hawk products like paper towels in front of a large display. And that's just on Tuesday. The store even has its own fight song ("My heart is filled with pride .. I long to tell you how deep my love for Wal-Mart is ..."). Wal-Mart is increasing this year, from 25 to 40, the number of stores in China. The company introduced the Walton Institute, a program to teach local managers the master's Three Basic Beliefs (respect for the individual, service to our customers, and to strive for excellence), the 10-Foot Rule (always greet a customer when she gets within 10 feet of you), the Sundown Rule (any employee or customer request must be addressed before sundown) and other cultural foundations. In China's three main cities, according to a McKinsey study, increasing wealth will support 250 Supercenters among the competing retailers, each selling $24 million to $36 million annually. That's good. But a U.S. Supercenter sells four times as much.
Walking into a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Fort Worth, Texas, CEO Scott recalls that when Wal-Mart was an underdog, "you could really go after a competitor." Now the company no longer shows comparison-shopping baskets to demonstrate that Wal-Mart has lower prices than competitors. "It just looks like we're picking on people," he says.
To be sure, Wal-Mart has to keep finding new people to pick on. Over the past two years, Kmart filed for bankruptcy, and Ames and Bradlees, once East Coast powerhouses, closed up shop. Wal-Mart is quickly adding scalps in the grocery industry too, the venerable Grand Union among them. Safeway, Albertsons and SuperValu have all slashed their earnings estimates in the past few weeks. Before getting into groceries, starting in 1986, Wal-Mart figured that a typical store needed a potential customer base of at least 150,000 people. But add groceries, and more of the available shoppers show up; each store needs a smaller area to support it. So Wal-Mart can situate Supercenters less than 5 miles apart in many suburban areas. It is also deploying a cut-down grocery-convenience store called the Neighborhood Market between the superstores. At the same time, Wal-Mart is adding merchandise categories, such as gasoline, Linux computers and flat-screen TVs, in which it can take prices down significantly. There's no escape. ceo Although Wal-Mart's stores may look identical, the company is pinning some of its growth prospects on the idea that what goes into them won't be. Wal-Mart's next competitive weapon is advanced data mining, which it will use to forecast, replenish and merchandise on a micro scale. By analyzing years' worth of sales data?and then cranking in variables such as the weather and school schedules?the system could predict the optimal number of cases of Gatorade, in what flavors and sizes, a store in Laredo, Texas, should have on hand the Friday before Labor Day. Then, if the weather forecast suddenly called for temperatures 5 degrees hotter than last year, the delivery truck would automatically show up with more.
The company calls the program the "store of the community." The principle is as old as shopping: customers differ significantly depending on where they live, what they earn and other factors. But the differences are far subtler than anyone ever imagined. The company has been analyzing every purchase made over the past 10 years, looking at the relationships between the items people buy and hundreds of other variables such as time of day and price. The data miners are constantly searching for exploitable relationships?say, between sales of cameras and atlases. Consider: a slow-selling line of chicken pieces was slated for discontinuation at Sam's Clubs. But the software noticed that the customers who did buy the product were huge spenders on other merchandise. So the item wasn't necessarily a loser if it helped keep those customers coming. One can think of Wal-Mart as a huge pipe organ with thousands of stops that executives constantly pull and push. Early on the day after Thanksgiving 2001, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, the system was reporting slow sales of a boxed computer-and-printer combo for which merchandisers had had high hopes. But one location was bucking the trend. A quick call from headquarters determined that the store manager had cut open one of the stacked cartons so shoppers could see they got both machines for one price. Soon a message went to all other stores: open a box. Sales began to move immediately.
Sell a buck. Save a buck. Repeat. It's that cycle of high-powered logistics engineering and nickel-squeezing huckstering that remains retailing's most potent weapon. UBS's Kristiansen sees no reason why Wal-Mart, which has trounced the Dow over the past five years, will not sustain 15% earnings growth. Scott, who earns less than most other Fortune 500 ceos, was leaving a store not long ago when he stopped to chat with one of the many senior citizens who work as greeters. They are a fearless lot, and the old gent teased the boss with a question: "Did you give everyone a big raise?" Scott returned a look of mock horror. "Are you kidding me?" he said. "This is Wal-Mart!"
Whew! I thought you might be using the royal "we." As long as you are not practicing the "Parade Wave" we should be ok.
Hmmmmm. I don't read RB anymore but I bet that post will drive Phloyd into a phrenzy of phrantic posting - lol.
OT: It should have been a holding call instead of pass interference but you never know if things would have turned out differently. There will always be bad calls and Miami made a lot of mistakes. Good game to watch though.
OT: Mighty Miami has fallen to also ran status.......
Kind of like the Yankees.... lol.
OT: All in all..... a good day.
"We all have the same info..Which is not much of anything at this point 'n time.."
Well, I can't argue with that.
What did you find inaccurate? Was it this statement?
"See at 7 cents it would be a good speculative potential winner if it were drawing new investors to it. The company has simply kept all of us recycled bears/bulls in it. Most are upside down and have average down by putting much more money into an investment like this than advisible(sp)..."
Or this one?
"As for the elephant...who knows? It had less of an investor base than HRCT up until the restrictied distribution. Which pretty much bothers me, even if it doesn't anyone else."
The rest of his post consisted of questions I have never seen anyone come up with any answers for. The two assertions he made are pretty much uncontestable except for whether or not it is inadvisable to put more money in and average down which is a matter of personal opinion. The second sentence of the second paragraph pretty much states that the feeling he gets is his is own. Is it just that you don't agree with the feeling he has as a result of the small ETLK investor base?
I just reread TFN's post and couldn't find anything inaccurate in it.
"If a graduating MBA were to ask me, "How do I get rich in a hurry?" I would not respond with quotations from Ben Franklin or Horatio Alger, but would, instead, hold my nose with one hand and point with the other toward Wall Street."
- Warren Buffet
He could buy the entire float with the first weeks interest on his winnings. For some reason I don't think he will be doing that.......
I am moving to Hurricane, W. Va. I don't think they have 315 people living in the whole town.
COMMONNAME - GTCI has fully disclosed the information on the company in their SEC filings. The most recent 10Q was filed on December 19, 2002. The filing shows no revenues for 2002 and lots of losses.
The following is an excerpt from the filing:
The accompanying interim unaudited financial statements have been prepared in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles, which contemplate continuation of the Company as a going concern. However, the Company has no established source of revenue, has experienced net operating losses of $19,082,814 since inception, has a working capital deficit of $1,670,633 and has negative cash flow from operations. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern.
Gar..... Neat card!