Netconductor hired by Morningstar!
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Just Call Him a Fanalyst
By George Mannes
Staff Reporter
9/2/99 9:03 PM ET
URL: thestreet.com
Maybe some people thought it was strange to build an online shrine to a mutual fund. After all, fan sites are usually reserved for
movie stars and pop singers, not portfolio managers.
But for George Nichols, creating an online shrine changed his life -- not to mention fattened his salary by nearly 50%.
Nichols, an Atlanta-based accountant, built in his spare time a Web site in honor of the Internet Fund and its former portfolio
manager, Ryan Jacob. Thanks to his Web site, his tireless online postings on sites like Raging Bull and Silicon Investor and his
passionate emails about companies like MP3.com (MPPP:Nasdaq), Nichols just got a new job.
No longer will Nichols be toiling away in the bowels of the Atlanta CBS (CBS:NYSE) TV station, where his primary job was
to sit in the accounts payable department and code invoices so they'd be billed to the proper department.
Instead, on October 4, the 24-year-old Nichols will start work as a stock analyst for the investment information company
Morningstar. He'll be relocating to the company's headquarters in Chicago to write about Net companies and other
businesses for the Morningstar.com Web site and the Morningstar StockInvestor newsletter.
Nichols -- who has been mentioned, along with his Web site, in publications such as the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the
Village Voice and TheStreet.com -- is a living illustration of how people cannot only achieve 15 minutes of fame on the
Internet, but also parlay that fame into a more substantive gig.
Nichols' operation of his Web site indicated he had a lot of initiative, says Pat Dorsey, a senior stock analyst with Morningstar
who encouraged Nichols to apply for a job. Dorsey adds that Nichols is obviously passionate about stocks -- as evidenced by
an email that Nichols wrote Dorsey about the MP3.com IPO that he later reworked as a freelance piece for the site.
Although this isn't the first time in the history of the Internet that stock message-board contributors have gone onto full-time
jobs writing about stocks -- it's happened at least three times at The Motley Fool -- it's a first for Morningstar.
Jacob, now head of Jacob Asset Management, wasn't available for comment on Thursday. But Michael Dubrow, a senior
analyst who followed Jacob from the Internet Fund, says, "We certainly wish him all the success at Morningstar."
"Actually, I'm a little disappointed," Dubrow jokes, "because if he's working at Morningstar, I guess he won't be able to put up
a Jacob Internet fan club Web site."
Don't be so sure. "We haven't really worked that one out yet," Dorsey says. "It hasn't even come up."
For his part, Nichols is tickled by his new career. "It's amazing. Sounds like a dream job," he says. "Oh, man, what can I say?
I'm still pinching myself."
¸ 1999 TheStreet.com, All Rights Reserved.
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[Addendum from me (Netconductor)]:
Anyway, Morningstar is still hiring. In case you're interested, here's a generic message I'm emailing a few friends. Although since this is a general posting to a forum with a lot of people I know nothing about, I can't guarantee you an interview or anything. But feel free to send me or M* your resume. Here's the info:
---
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Morningstar, in its $100 million ($91 million from
Net-centric venture-capital firm Softbank) relaunch of
Morningstar.com and related products, is hiring aggressively
for bright, passionate talent over the next couple of weeks.
There are a couple openings for my job (stock editorial
analyst) which requires (in order): 1) excellent writing skills,
2) passion for investing, 3) some financial analysis experience.
Of course, you have to be willing to relocate to Chicago. And
although Internet-stock expertise would be wonderful, you should be
willing to cover a much broader swath of the equity markets.
If you know of any candidates, please forward their resume to
me within the next two weeks at the latest. Obviously, I can't
guarantee any job, of course, but I'll pass it along
to their HR Dept.
Full Jobs Descriptions and other job categories are listed at:
morningstar.com
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- Netconductor.com |
