I see that Softbank is trading in Japan after the lunch break at 85,000 yen, up around 3,400 yen but off it's high for the day (which was up the limit of 5000 yen). Hopefully this will continue for the rest of the night in Tokyo and then into the morning (here in the US) in Frankfurt. But all this micro watching is making me tired. In the long run, all of the gaps and discrepancies and the other factors, such as trading limits, will not really affect the long term prospects of the Company. So it is best not to agonize over this trivia <G>.
OT I did see this comment on News Corp and Murdoch. I think it was posted in Sydney with a byline date of January 12:
smh.com.au
PAGE ONE
Web-wary Murdoch set to keep control
By KEVIN MORRISON
The mega-merger of America Online (AOL) and Time Warner may be the first of many marriages between Internet and traditional media companies, but News Corp is unlikely to get hitched any time soon because Mr Rupert Murdoch does not want to lose family control.
Mr Murdoch has spent the past 10 years battling to keep his family in control of his sprawling film, television and newspaper empire through the issue of non-voting shares, and a divorce settlement last year with his ex-wife Anna that did not impact on Murdoch family ownership of News Corp.
Yesterday, the value of the Murdoch family stake in News Corp rose just under $3 billion to $15.2 billion as the sharemarket reacted to the merger between Internet group AOL and the largest US media company Time Warner, with rumours that perhaps News Corp would be next to do a deal with an Internet company in a marriage of new and old media.
News Corp's share price rose $4.05 or 28 per cent to a close of $18.60, giving a value of just over $72 billion, the largest market value ever placed on an Australian listed company.
But this price may not be sustained, as this market value is based on News Corp being taken over by a Internet company such as Yahoo, even though News Corp is not for sale while Mr Rupert Murdoch is in charge.
"Murdoch is unlikely to do any deal where he will lose control," said Mr Martin Conlon, a fund manager at Schroders Investment Australia.
Global media companies such as Time Warner, News Corp, Disney and Viacom have bigger revenues and profits than younger and brasher Internet groups such as AOL, Yahoo and Alta Vista, but investor euphoria over Internet stocks has seen the market values of these companies eclipse their older, traditional peers.
In the past year, Mr Murdoch has changed his original stand-offish attitude to the Internet, by investing more in the sector while News Corp has slowly become more aggressive with its Internet content.
In December, he bought a 10 per cent stake in US online health group Healtheon/WebMD for $US1 billion, News Corp's largest single Internet investment.
Earlier last year, News launched a $US300 million Internet investment fund, and through its 40 per cent owned UK pay TV group BSkyB has a large stake in the interactive TV service Open, which allows users to shop and bank through their TV screen.
In Australia, where News Corp derives about 10 per cent of its total group revenues, the company has made only small forays into the Internet with the $50 million set up of venture capital group E-ventures, its largest commitment so far to the local Internet market.
The company also missed out on the OzEmail acquisition, with Telstra now likely to buy the country's second largest Internet service provider.
But News Corp's activities in Australia have little bearing on the company's share price, which is driven mainly by developments at its operations in the US and Europe.
"I think News Corp are going to shun any of these mega-deals and continue to try and grow their Internet business organically," said one media analyst.
Time Warner had tried to build its own Internet operations, but is now the junior partner in the merger with AOL. |
