Thank you for your thoughtful post,
which contained virtually no "FUD" that I could find!
I must admit, I finally did have to look up "FUD" in my acronym dictionary, initially thinking it must mean "Frequently Unused Due-Diligence," but that would be" FUDD." <g> Reflecting on your little dissertation, I would only like to add a few misc. random thoughts.
Enter a guy named Paul....
Along with an incredibly brilliant team from GNET. Funny thing is, last year he tried to buy controlling interest of GNET, but we shareholders would only let him have about 1/3 of the the company (for $426 million), although YAHOO had apparently already made an offer to buy GNET previously, but they had been wisely (IMHO) turned down.
And now (after the INSP/GNET "merger" is approved by the shareholders of both companies, sometime in November of this year) Paul will have somewhere around 10% of the "new" INSP. Does this merger fit into his vision for a "wired (and now wireless) world"? About all we know to date is his brief (typically low-key) comment regarding this deal, "Combining these companies will create an unparalleled cross-platform infrastructure company. We consider this to be very strategic to our overall vision for the Wired World, and look forward to a mutually beneficial long-term relationship."
Along with this deal comes one of the most brilliant and visionary management teams I've ever personally met, led by a guy named Russell Horowitz, the co-founder and CEO of GNET. He will be the President of the "new" INSP, and sit on it's BOD. Also, along with this deal, comes Mr. Allen's "main-man," Bill Savoy, who is the President of Paul's Vulcan Ventures, and the guy in charge of making sure Allen's ideas and dreams become reality. He will also sit on the BOD of the "new" INSP, and is also (like Russell) a really cool, and brilliant high-energy, but "low-key" kind of guy.
The stuff that GNET brings to this deal is amazing.
Just to name a very few (check with levy, for the full up-to-date list):
1. Currently rated number 13 on Media Metrix, for all website families in the U.S.
2. Over 1,000,000 business members in their "HyperMart" network.
3. Vertical Portals: Silicon Investor, Playsite, Authorize.Net, Dogpile, Metacrawler, etc...
4. A majority of the revenue streams are now from re-occurring "non-advertising" sources.
5. A huge amount of "cash" reserves.
6. The "DIGEO" Broadband Partnership, consisting of GNET, CHTR (4th largest cable company in U.S., with 6,000,000 subscribers), Vulcan Ventures, and others. The first broadband "beta test" roll-out to occur in St. Louis soon (later this summer, or early fall), followed by the Los Angeles area.
7. A "new-age" DotCom, making PROFITS, PROFITS, and increasingly more PROFITS (for 6 straight quarters)!
I could go on and on with listing both the human and tangible "assets" that GNET brings to the table, which are all very well known to most "long-term" GNET investors. Suffice to say, that I believe when Wall Street truly comes to understand what this deal means in terms of the "merging" of two incredible business models, and two incredible "visions" for both the "wireless" and the "broadband" worlds (into a single cutting-edge company), nice things will happen. IMHO, the combined company (with just a little help from "Uncle Paul") will do some amazingly cool things, in ways that few people have ever thought of before.
Most of us GNET "longs" would have much preferred that GNET was acquiring INSP, with Jain working as Russell's "gofer" (putting a cool temperament holding the rains on this apparent "wild-man"), but that's water over the bridge ...at least for now <g>.
And I could be wrong, so I'm still diversifying my portfolio with "pork belly futures," as I continue to have a weakness for bacon cheeseburgers...but this too will pass. <g>
Roger #FortyNiner-Niner...(and counting)
PS. And then there's BryanB, but that's another "unfinished" story completely. Suffice to say, I have let bygones be bygones, and have drafted a glowing reference letter of him to Jain. In the letter I praise his abilities, and strongly suggest that he would be an excellent candidate to become Jain's "gofer." Bryan's preference for wearing only a red "thong" as his office attire, might even be considered a "marketing" plus. This would not only keep him "out-of-trouble" with me (as Jain would undoubtedly keep him hopping around the globe for years), but also he'd avoid being humbled by the now "world-famous" Sarkie, not to mention perhaps avoiding an inevitable "judgment day" with the "Silver-Tongue-Devil" himself, SI-Sy. ;) |
