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Final 2004 Settlement Dates
For trades on Canadian stock markets, the last trading day in 2004 (whereby the trade will settle on December 31st) is December 24th.
For trades on US stock markets, the last trading day in 2004 (whereby the trade will settle on December 31st) is December 28th.
Merry Christmas All!
Blake
FYI: Restrictions from ISPS
(You tweaked my interest.. so I figured I would just recap..)
Ted Rogers & Co
In addition, you are prohibited from running servers for mail, http, ftp, irc, and dhcp, and multi-user interactive forums.
Bell Sympatico
Running and/or hosting Server Applications including but not limited to HTTP, FTP, POP, SMTP, Proxy/SOCKS, NNTP,)
Telus
You are not permitted to operate an e-mail, web, news or other similar server through a TELUS Internet Services account, except where such use is expressly permitted under your service plan.
(I would think the business account))
Telus is very loose on their wording overall. Took a little longer to zoom in on this.
All are saying the same thing...
Oddly, Telus is the only ISP (from above) that actually limits the GB/month (10 or 20GB/mth?). Rogers (previously Shaw) never had a cap and Bell removed theirs a couple of years ago.
Again being behind a firewall I don't believe they can "see" my HTTP server.
Cheers and Happy Holidays All!
What can I say? A little joke from our past.. and some bilingual to boot -- I am here to please everyone!!
B
Je me souviens!
Interestingly there are a lot of "pre-boxing day sales" going on here in the Great White North. Brick and Bay (I thought they are related... but not 100% sure). I tend to find most things are cheaper between Jan 15 and March. I wouldn't be surprised to see a bumb holiday season for the retailers. Somehow I end up buying the crap when the sales are at the lowest. I remember my brother laughing that in 1990 I was buying my first TV, CD and Tape tech - plus I bought a car earlier. He wondered if I was out helping everyone during the recession.
Anyways, we shall see. Personally, I may be on the road on Dec 26th, but no way no how, have I ever gone to any BS Boxing Day sale. Find the sales odd. If they happened before - well I never read about them.
For Christmas this year, I am looking to get a Gamecube for my sons (ok ok.. me.. but then if it weally was for me.. I would get an Xbox or PS2..). When I play Halo (like the 6th time ) - my 2yr old says "Lalo". Anyways.. before it was Cowboy and "Native Americans" (PC) but now its Master Chief against the Flood... (HA!). I chuckled when my son came home from school "daddy we were playing Halo at recess".
I saw mommy kissing rudolph......
Warm and Holiday Cheers to all from your neighborhood SoB!
Yes. My dad asks how can Rogers be showing PPV movies and TMN show movies that are not protected by Macrovision?
As soon as you play a DVD and try to record it, Macrovision kicks in. My brother was able to add a switch to an old JVC - automatic gain control (or AGC). The AGC "sees" the levels change and tries to compensate - the tendency is that the picture gets darker and darker. With the switch, nothing changes. Problem is, nowadays just try and find the blasted control - part of a chip (IC ) most likely.
But you can copy the PPV/Movies without a problem. As I told him, they are probably broadcasting a copy that does not have the Macrovision installed.
I would prefer to rent from Blockbuster - whip out the PC DVD Macrovision/Copy Protection disabler then copy the disk. In theory.
Criminal is the new HD formats of DVDs coming out - the units apparently will not be backwards compatible. So lets all re-buy our DVD's again? (F-THAT!)
I remember years ago there was a throw away DVD created -- called "DIVX". In theory you rent the DVD from the store - it allows you to watch it X times then you throw it out. You wouldn't have to return it (no late fees). Well it died in combat - the players were special but played DVDs too. Now the only remains is the "DIVX" format for video encoding.
Late fees.. I noticed at Blockbuster, they went from a few days to a whopping 7 days for most movies (not the old crap - but not the new new). Why? To give you the chance to watch it over and over and over right? Of course not, the tendency to forget to return it increases as time goes on. The fees are how they make the big money. Rogers gave me a coupon to rent a movie a month for free. Same 7 days.. and yes, I almost forgot it a few times (and that was from a stale library too).
Then Rogers told me - (A) We give you basically NO coupons in the mail or (B) you can download and print the same quantity you had before.
Yes - and they created PDF coupons with RED background - so that I can waste ink instead of a simple box coupon. F-THAT!
From Elder's Book "The only thing free is the cheese in a mouse trap."
Season's Greetings
From the Blakes..
Interesting. Well our visions of newsgroup differ quite a bit. Sure I can get help with my ATI card or Asus motherboard. That is the text side of the groups and that is good to have. But I have found MANY forums throughout the land of late that basically negate all that newsgroup stuff -- and they all have the requirement to at least Register, whereas with a newsgroup I can post a message as "KD" and back it up with a message from "SOB" - and it is the same person.
My definition of a newsgroup purely surrounds the binaries (Outlook Express is sufficient for text, but sucks with the multi-part binaries; educate yourself and visit newzbin.com). Movies; Music; videos; books; applications etc etc. Name it.. you'll probably find it. Buyer beware; make sure you have a great and updated virus checker. With Kazaa -- you SEARCH for something YOU want. With Newsgroups, you can ask, but typically you see it and get it - request fills are rare. Newsgroups are housed on ISP servers across the land.
Now why would Rogers or Bell or anyone not want to house them? First Bell does have a newsserver except they do not support binaries. But how good are their text boards is beyond me. (the single binaries I thought were working and I discovered they weren't either). Some don't want the headache, the "liability" nor the gobs of disk space. Easynews.com is a dedicated newsgroup service - the amount of disk required to house these groups is outrageous. All based on FIFO - hence you start entering the world of "speed" v. "retention".
A company can do what they want - when they want - and you the customer are SOL. Your only recourse is to STAY OR WALK. End of story.
Years ago when I was with Shaw - they were picky when it came to running "servers" and even questioned my FTP server. Definition of a server can be different amoungst various companies - but the mere fact that they see "port 80" open is enough to deem you running a server. I think if you read your Telus agreement they will say the same thing - so they gonna allow you to run a PORN site? All of them figure if you want those services, you should be buying them instead of running them (free) off their gear. Period. Is FTP even allowed? Dunno. I run both a server and FTP client - but the activity is limited by my use only (life management). Rogers does say they do not allow people to run servers. Apparently a firewall can prevent them from seeing the open ports.
Cheers!
Blake
They are all starting to limit you in various ways. Rogers recently farmed off their Newsgroups to Giganews in the US. The contract between them is that each user gets a maximum of 2 channels of 256Kbps/channel. The downside is pathetic speed. The upside is - the retention is massive. It runs 247 filling my harddrives.
Bell offers no newsgroups - so with them, I was paying $10US/mth for Easynews - 10-15GB/mth (not as good retention; no idea of the speed but very fast and no channel count restrictions).
DSLReports.COM is a pretty good site for all this info. One guy complained of being banned from Rogers - I IM'd him and he said on his 3 machines he was pushing north of 200GB/mth. He brought it down to 100GB after being warned and was booted. That would be less of a problem since the speed caps came in - but I wonder what the break is - so I trying to D/L 247 before I axe Bell.
Anyways, that isn't the point of this post. What is a point, is that Rogers offers "3" and "5" Mbps speeds - but they offer the same "low" speed caps for the newsgroups across both accounts. (Akin to a Porsche v. a Chevy in a city with a maximum of 60Km/h and and never drive the highways out of town).
What I find funny -- their decision to contract out to Giganews. They could have taken a "we don't support them" stance as with Bell. Most people never heard of them; don't access them - and yet Rogers made a point to keep them.
Cheers and Happy Holidays!
Blakiclaus
9? Pretty impressive. But are your units "G" or "M"? I have seen quotes of 3Mbps and 5Mbps from the cable companies. They apparently are using a newer modem (Docsis) that apparently can provide higher speeds. According to a tech, he stated the technology was still pretty trouble prone.
I have noticed since moving to Cable that the uplink really is bad. Read this
Your terms are interesting.. "lease" the film. You mean rent from the video store or something else?
Well we have VOD with the cable. Played some things and it was ok. The PVR cannot record those programs though.
Problem with all these technologies - you are forced to use an external box. To use with your computer, you are forced to use SVIDEO or COMP IN and then find the remote and manually switch. Would be nice if they came up with some inline stuff.
B
Well that is the VDSL that Louis spoke of. But I still wonder why cable (coax) is not open for them to use.
Cripes.. how much can you send over two itty bitty wires????
While at prison today, someone was washing the kitchen - and was using rubber (aka surgical) gloves. I immediately made reference and put my hand near my ass.. I dislike the feeling I get from Ted so much... any glove makes me nervous these days.
B
Well here cable has "On Demand" viewing. We have a movie network (called DUH.. The Movie Network - a shitty monopoly) and that is it. With Rogers they offer the On demand - both from the Movie network collection, and from their own private stock. No different than perhaps playing a DivX movie on my system. In theory I could watch a Pay Per view movie - tape it and burn a DVD. But I felt, screw the PPV and Movie Network crap - perhaps I should just go to the Video store, pay $5 - rent and copy the DVD. At least I would have a far superior copy plus pay for what I want.
Years ago due to deregulation, various rules came in. The creation of the "demarcation" point. (before that is the phone company; after that is my home). Also, the Local Bells had to let others into the business. Now there are major players in the LD market, but I can start a company and buy blocks of LD minutes and resell them on cards (old hat). Today I can buy my local phone service either through Bell or through Sprint. I can buy DSL from Primus because Bell was forced to sell the DSL at a bulk rate to Primus.
Based on allowing companies in - players in the cell market and telephone companies (and others) had to pay into a local telephone fund. Basically instead of Bell supporting the non-lucrative markets, all have to contribute.
But what I haven't seen, is Bell entering into Cable. I thought because any company could get into Bell services, that likewise any company could get into the cable. ie the infrastructure is no longer controlled by a single entity.
Another point lately deals with the system license charges on cells. They use to charge about $4-5/mth fee to use the cell - but then they all increased it to $7. It has been suggested that the reasoning (in theory to pay down the licenses paid for the frequency) is to pay for the local calling (above). But many have stated that it is a lie and they are just pocketing the money. There is some movement on that - class action or something.
The norm use to be up to 2 year contract for a new phone to save a bit of money. Now the norm is 3 years. I am sure the next will be dibs on my new born son's remains of his circumcision (sorry all.. but chuckle!)
Yeah we have contracts for Natural Gas and almost for Hydro (when they dumped on the denizens a virtually bankrupt utility in disrepair that makes GOBS AND GOBS AND GOBS of money).
I haven't opted for any utility contracts of yet. The first time NG was offered (hindsight of course) it was a steal - now they are just reaming people for the money they lost.
Interesting with the VDSL - I am sure Bell is working on that. I have yet to test if cable is faster than the DSL or not. I want to do that shortly. I would sign up for Easynews then ensure the news client is on the same machine and then just PUMP away - I will be able to determine right down to the KB/S which is the fastest. Should be interesting.
2% huh? <VVVVVBG!>
Blake
Zero loyalty. All of them are trying to suck every penny out of the customer to improve margin.
Take for instance our cable/cell companies. Today we have Rogers who controls about 1/2 of the cell business (bot competitor using same GSM system recently too). They are into Cable and offer digital services (PVR etc) of which I opted for. Plus internet access over cable (I too have that service).
Now the main competitor is Bell - they have the CDMA system for the cell phones; do not provide cable - but provide Satellite. Do not provide cable internet access but DSL. I currently have DSL as well (read previous emails).
I am a VIP with Rogers. But how much value is there in that "VIP"? I save $5 with my internet. I save $4.50 with my cell. So loyalty to keep everything with Rogers saves me $9.50. FUCK $10!!! I want the service because it offers me what I need today for the right price.
Rogers has introduced a scam to lock you into their services - 15% off - 2 years. I am getting 10% off cell and net but not cable. The fine print - with VIP I get a free digital box - but with 15% I do not get a free ($8.95) box but I save otherwise. So one must do the math and determine if it is worth it. Is it worth being locked into TWO OR THREE (essential to some) SERVICES with ONE COMPANY for TWO YEARS to save 15%? 15% isn't even saved on the entire cell phone bill - only the "base plan/extra minutes". And if I add in internet services (firewall; virus) - that isn't covered either. And they can change what to include/exclude anytime!!
I tell you this - I have talked to them about 10 times since I went digital for various reasons - friend - EVERY SINGLE TIME I AM TOLD ABOUT THE 15% and the response I get is "you are some stupid asshole for not taking the 15%. You must have shit for brains friend." They are like the car dealer who says "Buy? Why buy? Lease!". So if they are pushing that slop at me - there must be a downside. Of course the carrot is the 15% but the prison term is two years.
Now loyalty - I tell them "your picture is washy - not clear; not digitally good - I am still thinking of moving to satellite". blah blah - (Cable compresses everything poorly; I will compare to satellite.. I think my eyes will open a lot wider!).
Anyways - so I am at the point - VIP or not - I am gone if the time is right.
Now here is the kicker - my buddy, a Bell customer for YEARS - has DSL and Cell and Satellite - all is good. So he gets a HD projector - and calls them - "so now what has to happen for me to get HD reception". He asks about "RENTING THE HD TUNER". Bell for years was forcing you to buy the gear - now I might do that for the tuner ; but not for the PVR. Bell now is renting PVRs too. So that sounds good.
So how does my friend get rewarded after MANY YEARS OF CUSTOMER LOYALTY to Bell? SORRY SIR - BUT YOU ARE AN EXISTING CUSTOMER AND AS SUCH YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO RENT. Thanks for choosing Bell.
Blake
Why is Dell in the low margin printer business?
I often wondered about that. Up to now they have been selling HP and Lexmark printers. Now they have their own brand - and I actually thought that was more of a branding issue (ie they get a manufacturer to make it and sell it with the DELL name). Well actually two years ago they did have a deal with Lexmark to do that.
But now they do their own - a low margin business - so why?
In the Dec 13 Business Week, Dell CEO Rollins said Dell was drawn into printers by the profit pool of competitors.
Wasn't too sure what that meant, but basically HP is using the cash from its printing business to fund the computer division that competes with Dell.
-- ie HP is subsidizing their crummy PC and server business (I wondered how I could post two messages in one day and reuse the word CRUMMY) with the sales of printers.
-- So if Dell wants to wipe out HP's computer business - they should not be selling HP printers.
HP has been criticized for not spinning off their printer/imaging division. If they did that, Dell would have less reason to sell their own printers.
This week IBM said they are getting out of the PC business too - noting the money ain't there anymore. So they are looking at sourcing it off to some Chinese company - which I suppose, may sell the PCs under the IBM logo.
Anyways thought it was an interesting revelation.
Happy Holidays all and Cheers!
Blake
WOW - You sold??!! Now CD, don't get mad.. but that's the best news I have heard all this F***ING CRUMMY WEEK!!!!!!!
Merry Christmas all and cheers!!!
Anooraqnophobia - huge volume on continued decline today..
ADX... trending alright...
:-O
B
Chuckle!
Hi all.. up to no good as usual this weekend.. my son had his 6th birthday party at the Silvershitty - watched Incredibles. Good time overall (the party room - closed with 8 screaming kids.. brutal!)
Was playing with EMAs and comparing my results to Stockcharts. Conclusion - the Stockcharts graphs fail to provide the proper EMAs with any stock that is less than (approximately) 2 months old. Proved that using their formula against GOOGle (*read below). Found with any stock - after about 2 months the calculated EMA I had matched to what they had. FWIW: just something to know if you are tracking a new issue.. and think you are getting valid results.
Oh and last night, half asleep at 2AM, I managed to accidently wipe out an 85GB partition from my 120GB harddrive. A system to some.. around a mere 10% of mine.. and OUCH that's gotta hurt! Nothing absolutely critical. Smile smile smile.
IncrediBlake
* Stockcharts provides the formula they use; they also provide an XLS spreadsheet of which they base the calculations on. GOOG was a great example since the company just started up. Just adjust the days (to what I use on the chart) plus key in the known closing prices they use - and boom - it falls flat. Same formula with GE over years and months - bang on what they show on the chart. (Thanks Louis for the info.. I was in mid-type when my system crashed....)
USA: Happy Thanksgiving!!
One of those times of the year I care not to be a tourist in the US.. very few places to eat...
Blake..
Frontline: The Secret History of the Credit Card
Last night's Frontline had an episode on Credit Cards.
Of interest was the fact that 140M Americans use credit cards, that 90M carry a monthly balance, and that 50M, like me, are considered deadbeats because we pay off the balance each month.
The companies rely on things like your FICO score (how likely you are to pay off your balance) and the credit services - which provide the details on what you are or are not paying off. Say you have a credit card at "Nickel&DimersBankofCanada" and you miss a car or mortgage payment -- or even if you missed a credit payment 4 years ago at a different bank, out of no where Nickel&Dimers can flip your low single digit rate into a high double digit rate - literally anytime they want.
But what struck me the most was a round table of about 5 typical card users. Their statements absolutely baffled me. The common theme was - even though they have enough to pay off their balance, they feel more comfortable to pay down the minimum amounts - just so they keep their nest egg secure. Of course stupid talk since they are eating at that very nest egg with monthly charges. All of them agree "gotta have the ipod.. or that dress.. or .. or.." over paying their debt down.
A question came up - "why don't the banks show on the bills if you pay the minimum payment it will tax X years and Y months to pay it off."
The industry insiders basically laughed by saying "that piece of information would be useless and always a changing number - and not everyone pays the absolute minimum each and every month.
The same stupid people at the table said "Sure.. that would be good to know.. it probably would give me more of an incentive in paying it off".
WTF?? Like they can't see that paying a minimum balance and accumulating 20% interest each and every month isn't a good thing?
One of the consultants to the card company was the one that suggested "lower the minimum" from 5% to 2-2.5%.. that will encourage people to adopt the cards and people will pay that lower minimum and carry the balances longer.
One family - wife and husband both lost their job - after years of paying off their cards; they missed a payment and their rates took off - they ended up carrying an $80,000 debt across 10 cards before going bankrupt.
Finally the average American household is carrying a CC balance of $7500 to 8000..
Check out: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/credit/
Plus 8 thangs a CC user should know..
Even Benny Stein is in this.. has about 2-3" of cards in his wallet - uses all of them - loves the frequent miles, and as he puts it "the banks don't make a dime off of me..."
B
AQI - Slow moving junk.. jeez finally a flip from a >40% loss to a 2% gain..
Well still have other crap that hasn't turned around but.. one POS at a time I suppose.
Cheers all!
Blake
Yes it was me. I actually bot the game primarily because it would probably be the best to demonstrate my new PC's power and video capabilties - again I ended up getting an earlier 9600 model of the ATI Radeon graphic cards v. the higher end 9800 - to think I would spend $300 for a video card sounds insane - but that paled in comparison to the $500+ price tag for the 9800 model.
At any rate I am hearing my wife "Sexton Jr goes to his friends and plays Gamecube - don't you think we should have something so that when his friends come over they can play that?"
Of course we have a computer (or several). I have an old Sega console in the basement (ahem) not to mention most of the Sega and old Arcade ROMS for use on the PC.
Alas I may have to break for my Sexy Jr.
Though, my dear wife, it will not be a Gamecube I assure you of that. It must be either a PS2 or XBox - how else can "the entire family have fun....
But as your article discusses john, the fact is - these things are more than just "games" or devices to "ruin your hands" - but mostly new versions of entertainment. To know I played and finished Halo was huge - I played for months. The game is designed into small "checkpoints" - only at that time can you "save" your spot. And typically with ill health there is usually a health pak to keep you going.
I would say most games are crap - Sonics and Marios are limited - you start at square one and everything is the same - same same same same. But at least with this - in one play you may have 3 marines with you.. the next time - they were killed off and you are alone. And that is throughout the entire game. The variables are infinite - and that is what makes this game exciting. I can jump into a level - having a clue on how I solved it before and how I will again.. but there is no guarantee it will repeat exactly as before. (of course there are limits..)
My other games of enjoyment have been: Civilization (the ulimate in Strategy - talk about brain power); Age of Empires (all the flavors) and DOOM 3: Arena (the speed and rush I get from that game cannot be compared to anything..... well almost anything..)
Back On Topic: I need to master the game of the markets...
Blake Sr. (Age still 35.. Jr is 6 and the younger is 2)
(... can't wait to get Halo 2... HA!)
Bills for Bills
At the company I work for, a supplier of their clients - CN Rail - has started charging clients for BILLS. $8 for a paper bill.. free for paperless download...
GASP: $8 for a hardcopy invoice to be printed and mailed!
Wonder what Ted would do if he knew this..
Imagine.
Looking for some DROOY myself.. can you sell some friend to me for 1.79??
Sold remaining SU two days ago ($39) -- nice move from $26. Sold too late though.
Would like to rid myself of as much junk as possible going into the new year - to start fresh. New insights from the books I have been reading.
Cheers!
B
I knew it went bankrupt and then came back.. but yes doing very well. Basically, in my world, there is WMT and everyone else. Surprised me how much Kmart had in their booty.
Further, it is hard to compare when it is "US" versus "USA". Sears Canada has done very bad - got rid of the CEO. The clothing quality has really gone downhill. If Sears wants to compete with Wal-mart forget it. There is no chance. They have a great selection of hardware and durables - but they have to keep their other departments fresh and of good quality. Well maybe today this helps Kmart and Sears against WMT.
Last night's Frontline was quite an eye opener though. Never knew the downfall of Rubbermaid was directly related to Wal-mart. Really a good program -- and as we probably already know - if Wal-mart starts having problems - the entire economy of the US will suffer.
But watching it does show - that although walmart as a retailer is sharp as a tack - they pray on the stupid shopper. I know for sure that Walmart has great prices but not everything is a great deal. And I pick and choose. The day I "ass/u/me" WMT is a good deal is the day I become a stupid shopper. (yes, I am tending to go there regardless of the deals elsewhere - because I only have so much time and figure most of the stuff at WMT will be cheaper than elsewhere).
Recently I posted the message about the pharmacy differences between Walmart and Loblaw -- the actual Cold medicine - which cost me $4 from L versus $7 WMT - was made by the SAME MANUFACTURER out in Winnipeg.
The difference is merely markup (duh but of course..) -- but up to now when you bot a NO NAME you could compare something in a different store but the product wasn't 100% equal. But you can see FIRST HAND the difference when you can match the SAME 10)% identical "NO NAME" products made by the same manufacturer, in different stores.
Today HBC did this (price holding around $14 lately):
Hudson Bay shakes-up leadership team
TORONTO, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Hudson's Bay Co (HBC.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) , Canada's oldest corporation, is streamlining its retail units and shaking up its leadership team in a bid to lift sales, the company said on Wednesday.
The Bay and Zellers will continue to operate with their own brands but the merchandise, marketing and store operations will be supported by a single structure.
Marc Chouinard, who is currently the Bay and Home outfitters' chief operating officer, will assume the role of president of HBC's merchandising group. Thomas Haig, currently chief operating officer with Zellers, will assume the role of president of HBC stores and specialty divisions.
The retailer has already aligned some parts of its units, including introducing Bay products in Zellers stores and moving to a single HBC rewards program and credit card.
The company said the creation of a single merchandise and marketing structure will allow it to deliver better value.
Shares of HBC rose 40 Canadian cents, or 2.8 percent, to C$14.38 shortly after the Toronto Stock Exchange opened.
Blake
Virginity.. sex picts.. my kind of guy!
Wildly OT...
Funny, when I switched to Digital cable they gave me 60days to preview the "specialty channels". One of them is "SexTV". So last night I was watching a movie after hours - called "Carnal Sex" or something. Soft core.
(For those uneducated souls - when they make a "porn" movie they have multiple end products from the filming - a soft core version (meant mostly for Hotels) a hard core version (the video rentals) and typically, the Downy of the bunch, a "magazine" version (typically ultra soft core). Also a few other things too.. but can't recall).
JUNK! I chuckle that people actually pay to watch that crap. (when you can d/l for free the good stuff!)
Even the movie network had some soft core stuff sometimes.. and that movie network is crapola too.
Back to Digital.. my wife loves the two things we have now:
(A) The Tivo like product (sort of) - the PVR unit - comes with the two tuners and pauses live TV
(B) The "Guide" so you can move up and down to see what is available and even hit "RECORD".
But the guide is a good scam - they show you ALL stations available even if you are not subscribed.
Anyways, in the end, we will not have the movie pack, and will probably pick about 10-15 specialty (not "packs" but the actual channels we want).
At least somewhat closer to utopia.. the channels we want to have plus the PVR versus the crap we care not for.
B
Kmart Buying Sears in $11 Billion Deal
What's next.. AOL buys Time Warner?
Kmart Is Buying Sears in a Surprise $11 Billion Deal to Form Third Biggest U.S. Retailer
CHICAGO (AP) -- The discounter Kmart Holding Corp. is acquiring one of the most venerable names in U.S. retailing, the department store operator Sears, Roebuck and Co., in a surprise $11 billion deal that will create the nation's third largest retailer.
The combined company under Wednesday's deal would be known as Sears Holdings Corp., but it was clearly orchestrated by Kmart chairman and Sears shareholder Edward Lampert, who will lead a new board that will be dominated by Kmart directors.
Shares of both companies surged on news of the deal. Kmart shares climbed $17.38, or 17 percent, to $118.60 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, while Sears shares soared $9.69, or 21 percent, to $54.89 on the New York Stock Exchange.
The deal marks a remarkable comeback for Kmart, a company once known for its "Blue Light Specials," that scaled back its operations after seeking bankruptcy protection in 2002. Sears' roots date to the late 1800s when it offered merchandise by mail order to farmers, opened its first retail store in 1925 and eventually became the nation's biggest department store operator.
The new company is expected to have $55 billion in annual revenues and 3,500 outlets. That will mean it will trail only Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Home Depot Inc. among the biggest U.S. retailers.
The new company plans to operate the Kmart and Sears businesses under their current brand names.
It will be headquartered in the northwestern Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates, where Sears has its headquarters, but will maintain a "significant presence" in Troy, Mich., where Kmart is based.
Under the agreement, which was unanimously approved by both companies' boards of directors, Kmart shareholders will receive one share of new Sears Holdings stock for each Kmart share. Sears, Roebuck shareholders can choose $50 in cash or half a share of Sears Holdings stock. That portion of the deal values Sears shares at $11 billion, a 10.6 percent premium over its value at Tuesday's close.
Kmart chairman Lampert will be the chairman of Sears Holdings, while Sears CEO Alan Lacy will be vice chairman and CEO of the new company. The new 10-member Sears Holdings board will have seven members from Kmart and three from Sears.
"The merger will enable us to manage the businesses of Sears and Kmart to produce a higher return than either company could achieve on its own," Lampert said in a news release.
Lampert, Kmart's majority shareholder, is also Sears' largest shareholder, holding a 15 percent stake in Sears through his ESL Investments Inc.
The merger, expected to close by the end of March 2005, is subject to approval by Kmart and Sears shareholders, regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in early 2002, leading to the closing of about 600 stores, termination of 57,000 Kmart employees and cancellation of company stock. The retailer emerged from bankruptcy in May 2003 and in March posted its first profitable quarter in three years.
Mired in a retail slump, Sears had long fallen out of favor on Wall Street after losing ground to competitors and enduring sluggish sales for years. The company last fall introduced its Sears Grand stores, which offer grocery and convenience items besides traditional Sears fare such as clothing, home appliances and tools. The concept had delivered promising results for the struggling retailer at its first three stores in metropolitan Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Chicago, in the suburb of Gurnee.
Kmart, in recent years, has been shedding many of its underperforming stores, a strategy that has helped the once-struggling discount retailer bounce back after it emerged from bankruptcy. Kmart recently agreed to sell 50 stores to Sears for $575 million as part of that strategy.
Kmart's earnings have been improving. On Wednesday, Kmart posted net income in the third quarter ended Oct. 27 of $553 million, or $5.45 per share, compared with a loss of $23 million, or 26 cents per share, for the same period a year ago.
Its stock price has risen nearly seven-fold to $101.22 on Tuesday from $15 a share when it emerged from bankruptcy.
In recent weeks, it appeared that Sears could be shifting toward a similar real estate strategy after the disclosure that Vornado Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust, had purchased a 4.3 percent interest in the department-store chain. That move left the impression that the value of Sears' real estate holdings may be not be fully reflected in its stock price. Since that Nov. 5 announcement, Sears' stock has jumped 25 percent. It closed at $45.20 in trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.
Company officials said the merger would help make their properties more profitable through a broader retail presence and improved operational efficiency in areas such as procurement, marketing, information technology and supply chain management.
"The combination will greatly strengthen both the Sears and Kmart franchises by accelerating the Sears off-mall growth strategy and enhancing the brand portfolio of both companies," Lacy said. "This will clearly be a win for both companies' customers while significantly enhancing value for all shareholders." 1
(TOPS with 5 new grafs with UPDATE stock prices, corrects to Home Depot sted Target as second biggest retailer in 5th graf. Picks up 6th graf pvs, The new ....)
Frontline: Is Wal-Mart Good For America?
Examine the relationship between U.S. job losses and the American consumer's insatiable desire for bargains.
They're rolling back prices, rolling back competition, and rolling jobs overseas..
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/
Show will be online Friday...
Did you say "sex pictures free" --- what is the URL??
I personally care not for where it is on the Google list.. just "is it". I tend to go there and hit a lot of the sites that list what I want - and from there jump to other sites. I am not selling anything so it is not that critical.
Mind you when I added my company - I added it like 5 times and nadda. Then out of no where I added it a few months ago, and whoop there it is..
Actually shows it is listed via "MSN Encarta".. chuckle.
Fool the machines..
Blastico from d Past..
Now that I have Rogers Digital Cable I hum the tune the Boss sings.. 15 F'ING MILLION STATIONS AND NOT A F'IN THING ON!!
Watching Childs Play 3 (You know, Chucky... he has been hot lately..) someone was watching FNN (1991 -- bought by GE as we know.. and renamed to CNBC)
Guess who.....
Jeez.. we have come a long way baby!!!
And to think, the dolls I use to know never killed people...
Blakicus..
A friend of mine was telling me about how Google works. Something to do with how many pages POINT to the site versus pointing away from the site. ie if 10 sites point to yours, then you could appear higher in the list, than say a site of which only has only 5 sites pointing to them.
I downloaded a "Google Hacking Guide" if you wanted it.. doesn't mean as much as the title - sort of how to be effective using google to search and I think getting your search higher (but more on the former than the latter).
Paying does work, though.
Related, a few years ago a guy running for Mayor of the "T DOT", stated he was paying to be higher on the list in Google - in fact, he used "other candidates" within the searching (to point to his site obviously). So I adjusted my info in my page to fit his name and adjusted the title of my site to read "X LOVES Y". A joke. but within a few weeks it was pretty high up there if you typed his name in. I had a good laugh.
I think how "Stale" a page is also a factor. Today I can find the name typing a specific search within google, but the one I used before (just his name - which got me about 5th or 6th) is no longer coming up high.
(meta name="keywords") is pretty critical.
B
Sold some AGI @3.91 (CDN!)
Meanwhile my US investments are going down the tubes..
AGI: Cripes!!!! Hitting $4.00!
Yeah watching SU.. I still have some left (from $26) - the mood changed around Oct 25/26th in my eyes..
I suppose my eyes where elsewhere -- but yes I see the double top...
SoB (Son of a Boob!)
Remembrance Day
From TD Waterhouse..
10-Nov-2004 11:00:00 AM EST
On Thursday, November 11th, Bond and Money Markets will be closed for trading. Orders placed on the Fixed Income Centre will queue for processing on Friday, November 12th.
The majority of mutual fund companies, including TD Mutual Funds will be priced on Thurday, however this is not a business day for the purpose of settlement. U.S. and Canadian markets will be open for trading, however this will not be a settlement date for U.S. and Canadian securities.
For more information, please call a representative at TD Waterhouse.
I suppose proper spelling is optional..
Blake
Thanks for your triple top graph.. very exciting..
I trust the moment AQI hits between 1.29 and 1.30 (my cost incl commish) gold will then tank right? HA!
The only other mover that was slapped down today for me is Metallica.
B
Halo 2 - Predicted first day sales of more than $100 million.
Wow what a release -- and it only cost $20M to make this video game.
I have the first Halo - thought it was the ultimate in 1st person games - the graphic details were amazing. I thoroughly loved playing it - and it was one of a very few games that I have actually completed at a couple of skill levels. My P4 2.8 was "OK", the Video even at 128MB wasn't geared for that kind of game (own a ATI 9600 v. 9800)- and boy was it tapped - I have a temperature indicator in the PC - and the temp always rose from about 50C to 60C when playing that game.
Fans Flock to Buy Sci-Fi Epic 'Halo 2'
Tuesday November 9, 8:30 pm ET
By Matt Slagle, AP Technology Writer
Fans Lined Up for Hours at Some 7,000 Planned 'Midnight Madness' Events to Get 'Halo 2'
There's a new media king, only he isn't on the radio or in the movies. His name? Master Chief. His role: Interstellar soldier and star of "Halo 2," one of the most anticipated video games ever.
Across the nation, fans lined up for hours at some 7,000 planned "midnight madness" events Tuesday to get first crack at the $50 sequel from Microsoft Corp.
Miguel Chavez, a 36-year-old father of two boys, waited about 10 hours at a Toys "R" Us in New York City's Times Square to buy his copy of the game. He took along an Xbox console and a projection system so they could play the original "Halo: Combat Evolved" to pass the time.
"This is more than just a game for some of us," said Chavez, a self-employed computer consultant. "Productivity in the work force is probably going to go down for the next few days."
Millions like Chavez have apparently caught "Halo 2" fever. Microsoft said it had 1.5 million copies pre-ordered, and predicted first day sales of more than $100 million.
Three years in the making, "Halo 2" pits super soldier Master Chief against throngs of vicious aliens called the Covenant.
It picks up right where the first game ended. It's the year 2552, and Master Chief -- a last-of-his-kind engineered fighting machine who wears full body armor and a protective helmet -- has just destroyed a giant ring world called Halo. The ring turns out to be an ancient alien artifact that was built as a last ditch doomsday weapon against an all-consuming life form called the Flood.
After decades of skirmishes with various human colonies, the Covenant has finally found humanity's home world. It's up to the player, who assumes the role of Master Chief, to stop them at all cost.
Getting to play as the lead character is part of Halo's attraction, but Chavez said the real draw is the multiplayer feature. The original game, which has sold 5 million copies, is limited to split screen battles with interconnected Xboxes.
"Halo 2," by Microsoft's Bungie Studios, is much more ambitious, allowing up to 16 gamers to play against each other from anywhere in the world using Microsoft's $50 a year Xbox Live service.
"Bungie nailed it with multiplayer aspect," Chavez said of "Halo 2's" added features. He already plans a so-called LAN party soon where he and friends will connect their Xboxes and form massive battles. To fit it all in the same space, he's considering renting the gymnasium where his 9-year-old son plays basketball.
Greg Kasavin, editor at the video game Web site Gamespot.com, attributed Halo's popularity to its story, which is rich for a video game and has been further chronicled in a series of novels and spawned an array of fan offshoots, such as the short "Red vs Blue" Internet films.
"Those disappointed by the 'Star Wars' prequels or how 'The Matrix' panned out probably find solace in the no-nonsense action and great sci-fi presented in Halo," he said. "Above and beyond that, though, the original Halo game featured some outstanding, never-before-seen game play."
"Halo 2" debuts in the middle of a busy time for video game fans. Several other high-profile games have either recently come out or will be released soon, including "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" and "Half-Life 2."
Kasavin said he didn't expect Halo 2 to affect those other games much, because each one is unique to a particular platform. "Halo 2" is Xbox only, while "San Andreas" is exclusive to the PlayStation 2 and "Half-Life 2" is for personal computers.
Independent filmmaker Brian Josselyn, 30, said he waited about three hours at a mall near his home in Andover, Mass., to buy two copies of "Halo 2," one for himself and one for his brother.
He said video games are simply the newest media to snare a base of dedicated fans.
"Earlier on it was poetry and books. Then it went on to voice acting and radio. Then motion pictures. Games are just the next step," he said.
Halo 2 website - brutally slow
Check this for trailer and wall paper (older info - from 2003)
B
I would prefer the 4 hat variety.. /eom
What was the reason for the strong move today in AGI?
B
Yup.. still watching and sounds like the lawyers are going to enjoy beautiful Ohio for a day or two..
At this moment CNBC still has the vote 269/211 for Bush but...
Bush wins Ohio
NBC projects President Bush wins Ohio, but Kerry's camp refuses to concede the state until all votes are counted. Sen. John Edwards says Democrats will "fight for every vote."
IMO: Regardless of my views of either, I think Kerry is going to be painted into a corner just like Gore and he will have to resign to the fact that they have lost.
98% showing.. Bush is ahead 137000.. which is about 2.5% of the total vote in that state. I am no bean counter, but I will find it hard to fathom how they are going to turn those numbers around.
Ohio law provides for a recount if the margin is less than a quarter of 1 percent. Ohio allows military ballots to come in as many as 10 days after the election, so long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Local boards cannot begin to count provisional ballots until Nov. 13, and that could take "several weeks" LoParo said. Boards have until Dec. 1 to certify final results.
And on the provisional
A suit filed in Ohio asked a federal judge to order the state's Republican elections chief to rework rules for counting provisional ballots.
Provisional ballots are intended to help voters who come to the polls but find they are not listed on the rolls, or that their qualifications to vote are in question.
Provisional ballots are not counted until after the election -- 10 days afterward in Ohio's case.
In Florida, the American Civil Liberties Union sued to have ballots mailed within the United States given the same Nov. 12 deadline as overseas ballots.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Pennsylvania were looking for more time to investigate whether any absentee ballots are illegitimate.
Large numbers of absentee ballots, counted after the regular tallies are in, are a possible wild card in the presidential race.
Anyways.. nonsense to me. I think a greater than 125K difference is enough of a difference. If it was like under 1000 or maybe even 5000, yeah that is something that perhaps should be reviewed. But the margin isn't "less than 1 quarter percent".
So the one thing they added to this year's election, is going to burn them in the ass.
Great.
Blake
CNN, I think is the real loser tonight.
Judy is saying right now.. "Our competitors have already declared OH has gone for Bush, but we are not going to say that - our analysts are saying it is just too close to call".
Hawg wash!!!!
CBC - stuck at 249/207
Cheers!
Blake
CNBC Bush 269 Kerry 207 - projects Bush to win OH..
(And one of the freak states, AK)
B
Well looks like MI might go Kerry.. somehow they were brainwashed that the garbage from Toronto will stop.. ha! Means Bush will require CO and NM..
Sorry for the washed webcam pict.. but the thought is there
Go for Four!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blakica