Hello CCME IHub Discussion Board. Thank you for the invitations.
With all due respect to Yahoo's unique service offerings for investors, I am growing ill from the widely diverse communications and risk-free (high beta (joke-intended)) maturity levels YMB alias privacy produces with as much precision as Lamarkian experimentation fails to yield genetically altered offspring. For me, it's time to take the next step, to expand my horizons to another discussion board. So today, TFL arrives on IHub.
Not sure how active I plan to be. Am enthused by CCME's numbers and prospects; am frustrated by the management's PR to its likely shareholders.
All things continuing as they are today, CCME will emerge, dollar for dollar, as one of the best media companies in the world, and certainly a top draw in China.
If none of us ever wrote anything, and CCME just continued silently with the shares remaining only at $15.75, CCME would continue like my other favorite, AAPL, to generate balance sheet cash until ultimately book cash itself will equal market cap. (One takes much longer than the other...)
So I am comfortable holding CCME for 5-10 years or longer, assuming management never sells out to a conglomerate or makes some unpredictable purchase in an effort to be "the biggest media company" without regard for quality or utility.
As much as I want to help CCME garner interest and trust from English-speaking investors, I feel as though CCME knows enough to help itself but chooses not to take needed steps.
When it comes to image, I know from ample enterprise level marketing negotiations experience that corporate ears are all too often deaf, scared, or distracted. Convince a company to change or add a branded, memorable phone number as many times as I have, and you will know what I mean. The decision for image change, modification, development, or initiative comes slowly or, more often, not at all. The fear of loss of control and change of the status quo can be debilitating, even stagnating to the executives. Someone may even end up admitting a past mistake and fearing for their PR or marketing contract. There's often an incentive to shoot down a good idea for fear of loss of hegemony and/or income.
Regarding corporate communications to prospective retail shareholders, to apologist longs, you should expect more from a media company. CCME is not just running a Chinese media company; it also markets and hopes to increase demand for its shares by traders, investors, and regular folks looking for quality diversification outside the US. These prospective purchasers predominantly speak only English. (I can only imagine the Mandarin is top notch; really hope so, anyway).
In stark honesty, the site (ccme.tv) was an F+, and is now a -C. It should be a B+ at least. A function of the poor grade is largely attributable to the low quality of the Investment-related video communications which both add and detract from the CCME image. Even the dates should be westernized to the US standard, i.e. January 1, 2010 vs. 1 January 2010. The Internet is a marketing tool that goes far beyond the SEC filings. CCME.com should sell shares at market. The new site, SWITOW, should have easily accessed translated pages that also serve to sell CCME shares at market. CCME needs to recognize it is selling its shares to Americans and Canadians too.
To convey authority as the top investment for Americans seeking value, growth, capitialization on the growing middle class, diversification from US-based businesses, and even safety in China, CCME should trend-set and lead its peers with high-end English translation as a policy and promise. What a comparative attraction. The Investor day video needs a printed translation audited for translation accuracy. I can go on and on as I and some others have on YMB. I'm not an apologist or an idealist. I am a realist. I really expect more.
I'd rather be able to boast that CCME has not only the most shareholder friendly management in China, but also the most Western-friendly management in China. That's a way to bring investors to CCME until the cows come home. But what do I know. I'm just a lawyer with a knack for spotting trends. I'm no accountant, and I certainly don't speak Mandarin.
Maybe I need to just buy more CCME shares and be happy with the value they represent when the next credible research initiates a strong buy rating. Maybe I am too hopeful for corporate support from so far away. Maybe I should just be thankful I found CCME to begin with.
I have one more day to increase my 2010 position. Probably will.
Again, thanks for inviting me to join this discussion board. Hope I add something positive and constructive to this mix.
-Andrew
