(also on PCCLF board) Is AsiaWeek reading this thread, Or what? Story on THE 3 TENORS! Very coincidental!
The Internet Opera
All Is Not Well In Dotcomland
By ALEXANDRA A.SENO
Its anthem -- The Internet Will Save Us -- went flat after the recent correction in global tech stocks. Hong Kong found itself at the center of much of the drama. It was where Softbank vice-president Kitao Yoshitaka launched an aria of insult against rival Internet investment house Hikari Tsushin and its CEO Shigeta Yasumitsu. At a March 10 press conference to introduce Softbank's local operations, Kitao bluntly stated: "I hate everything Shigeta does. What he is doing is just copying what Softbank does." Kitao didn't stop with Shigeta -- he vowed never to do business with a major Shigeta ally, Pacific Century CyberWorks chief Richard Li Tzar-kai, too. The pair are in the Internet business "only to make money," Kitao said. He also announced that he had been trying to get Shigeta to leave the Softbank board for some time.
Hikari Tsushin didn't respond to the attack at first -- maybe because it was too busy battling rumors that drastically undercut its stock price. One, said to have come out of Hong Kong, was that Shigeta had been arrested for an insider-trading scandal. Shigeta, the second-wealthiest Japanese entrepreneur after Softbank founder Son Masayoshi, found his company's shares being rapidly sold off, with its price down 65% at one point. Softbank dropped to half of its high - around 182,000 yen in February. Hong Kong also saw its e-stocks stagger.
The Asian commotion was the excuse the world was waiting for to launch a scramble of profit-taking. It triggered a fall in Europe and panicked the U.S. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dove back under the psychologically important 5,000 mark. Perceived over-valuations, fresh evidence of a recession in Japan, high oil prices, tension between China and Taiwan - issues not new but suddenly at the forefront of investors' concerns - added to the rout. Want a happy ending for this G”tterd„mmerung? Softbank's Son called Shigeta and Li to pledge his personal friendship. And on March 14, Shigeta allowed "I respect Mr. Kitao," but denied that Hikari is imitating Softbank's strategy. The tragedy? Nobody particularly cared. The damage had been done.
cnn.com
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