>>B2b was a hoax..where is VERT and ARBA..freaking gutter is where...
Ariba had $90 million in sales for the 1st qtr of 2001, a quarter in which:
quote "At least 20 companies warned on Monday that their first quarter results would fall short of
expectations, making the day one of the worst news days following one of the worst business
periods in recent memory.
In fact, as a growing list of companies lower their first quarter sales and earnings numbers,
the data on these so-called earnings warnings is proving to be yet another measure of how
swiftly and severely the economy is softening.
Some numbers to consider: A total of 694 companies had issued first quarter warnings as of
last Friday. Since many companies are not able to assess the quarter until the books are
closed, more warnings are expected this week. By all accounts, the final number of first
quarter earnings warnings will easily beat the old record, of 794, set in the fourth quarter of
2000. And that total was significantly greater than the prior record, of some 554 warnings,
set in the fourth quarter of 1998." unquote
biz.yahoo.com
Now as for the press release, here are the important things to note:
>>``I think what's important to take away from this is that every single software company out
there is having trouble,'' said Thil<< [Brent Thill, an analyst with Credit Suisse First Boston.]
and...
>>"Krach said Ariba continued to see a strong pipeline but that companies were postponing their information technology buying decisions until the economy starts to pick again.<<
Well, no kidding. Whenever a company sees sales dropping, the first thing they do is put a hold on capital expense items. It's called survival first.
>>``What we saw was CEOs and CFOs putting off decisions in the areas of e-commerce and procurement,'' Krach told Reuters in an interview. ``What they're telling us is it's too early in the year for them to commit to spending money until they see their own businesses stabilize.''<<
Exactly what Oracle said. At that time, nobody said that made Oracle's product a hoax. I still don't hear them saying that.
>>Of the $90 million predicted in total revenues for the quarter, Ariba's Chief Financial Officer Bob Calderoni said ''nearly zero'' came from sales of its online exchange software.<<
Online exchanges weren't Ariba's focus anyway. That is a CMRC schtick.
>>``The exchange business has seen a dramatic fall and we don't believe there'll be a recovery in revenues,'' he said, adding Ariba was still seeing growth in private marketplace deals set up by companies just for their own suppliers and partners.<<
That is the Ariba schtick. Like the recently announced deal with international drug giant Bristol Myers-Squibb (BMY).
>>``It's not down to zero, but it's near zero,'' he said.<<
Does he sound frightened? No, and why should he be? That little tidbit only verifies the correctness of Ariba's strategic direction.
Nonetheless, I fully expect Ariba to be all but forgotten until near the end of the year, around the same time the general market may begin to see signs of life again. |
