I like whoever is going to be the winner.
Especially if I invest in them and they make me money. My AMZN stock is up 25X, my ATHM is up 6X and my HLTH is up 2.5X. These are all Kleiner Perkins stocks. As documented in the Fortune article in October, it appears that there are synergies in their keiretsu, and so far I have made a lot of money (read low 7 figures) by figuring that Wall Street ignores or undervalues these synergies. I invest, the synergies and keiretsu come to fruition, my investments go up. This is an investment strategy which has paid off very well for me.
It would be an interesting project for somebody to model what would have happened if someone bought $10,000 worth of every KPCB stock on the day of the IPO in the last 5 years (probably skip the biotech stocks) and then held till today. Then, based on this, one could probably make a compelling case for starting a mutual fund. Then I could just buy this mutual fund and not have to post on SI any more.
Avandia has all of Rezulin's theoretical advantages, without the liver damage. Drug companies sell drugs like Rezulin to patients because they can't sell them to doctors. Managed care organizations and physician groups are beginning to declare war on the drug companies which to a lot of advertising to consumers. PlanetRx is stupid to risk alienating these groups. But they went ahead and did it anyway with their deal with Parke Davis.
Obviously I don't own stock in Drugstore.com, since it is not public. I have no hidden agenda. If DS.com was so stupid as to do what PlanetRx did for an overpriced bad drug like Rezulin, I would be all over them too. But I sense that DS.com is much better funded than PlanetRx, and therefore not desperate. The DS.com/PCS Rite Aid deal has helped me to appreciate the synergies better, so that now my opinion of Soma as risen. In my mind Soma is #2, DS.com is #1 and Planet Rx is planting the seeds of self-destruction. The demise of Planet Rx will not be apparent for many months, as it eventually becomes clear that many MCOs and physician groups do not want their patients to go to that website and get manipulated by Big Pharma. Meanwhile PlanetRx can get a lot of easy money from Big Pharma and appear to be doing well. Caveat emptor.
JMAO*,
Tom D
*Just my arrogant opinion |
