June's Wired Magazine Unveils Its Changes for the Annual "Wired Index" -- 40 Companies That Define the New Economy
Business Wire ~ May 1, 2000 ~ 5:15 am EST
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2000--
Dell Dropped; JDS Uniphase And Vodafone AirTouch Join Ranks
Since 1998, the editors of Wired magazine have produced The WIRED Index (WIRX) , an annual collection of 40 companies in a broad spectrum of categories that represent the New Economy.
In its first year, WIRX surged 81%, exceeding the performance of every other broad-based index. Even with the recent upheaval in the stock market today, the Wired Index still continues to produce an impressive rate of return.
After close reevaluation of the New Economy, 33 out of 40 companies remain the same, and seven have been changed.
The following seven companies have been removed from the WIRX:
-- Monsanto has been dropped because "it has disappeared into a much
larger and less distinctive enterprise."
-- ThermoElectron was pulled because it could not sustain its ability
to spin-off innovative new firms.
PeopleSoft could not keep pace with the opportunities created by the Internet.
-- Cable & Wireless, a global fiber-optic network, could not keep
pace with competitors such as MCI WorldCom.
-- Wind River and Acxiom were both taken off the index due to their
inability to keep up with the pace of market growth.
-- And finally, the most dramatic change is the removal of Dell.
According to Wired, "This superstar rewrote the rules of the
computer industry with its direct-sales strategy and, to its
credit, has been trying to remake itself. But its core product now
represents an increasingly narrow swath of the global computing
fabric."
Those added:
-- Flextronics, Oracle and i2 are "helping companies create factories
without assembly lines."
-- BroadVision, chosen for its strong connection to e-commerce,
builds software to manage information-rich electronic
transactions.
-- Vodafone AirTouch was chosen for structuring a globe-straddling
wireless network that will make the Internet available anywhere
and anytime.
-- Aventis which replaces Monsanto on the list, is a European biotech
firm that is becoming a leader for genetic engineering.
-- JDS Uniphase, a revolutionary company, is changing the capacity of
fiber-optic cabling.
The remaining 33 are as follows:
Affymetrix Microsoft
AIG News Corporation
American Online Nokia
Applied Materials Nucor
Charles Schwab PTC
Cisco Systems Qwest
Daimler Chrysler Reuters
EMC Sabre
Enron Schlumberger
FedEx SmithKline Beecham
First Data Sony
Globalstar State Street
Incyte Genonmics Sun Microsystems
Intel Wal-Mart
Lucent Walt Disney
Marriott International Yahoo!
MCI WorldCom
There is one refinement -- AMR, the parent company of American Airlines, represented the vanguard of the travel business with its Sabre electronic reservation system. The editors decided that Sabre will stand on its own.
The Wired Index issue also predicts new trends for the "New Economy":
-- Increasing stock market volatility
-- Commoditization of transactions
-- Ubiquitous communication
-- The return of the conglomerate
-- Blurring of software and service
-- A widening gap between old and new
The June issue of Wired hits newsstands on May 16th.
CONTACT: Wired Magazine, New York
Robert Pini, 212/286-6993
or
JP Communications
Jennifer Polansky, 212/813-1700
05:00 EDT MAY 1, 2000
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