Big Tipper
Joe Park
Tokyo Joe's Societe Anonyme
BY ALEX WILLIAMS
A former lawyer for Hyundai and the ex-proprietor of the California Burrito and Tokyo
Joe's burrito chains, Joe Park emerged this year as a widely followed stock-picker in
the only place a refried entrepreneur could -- the Internet. The 40-year-old
Manhattanite has a zealous cult following of 800 traders, each of whom pays $600 a
year to scope Park's mainly small-cap picks, weigh in on pet stocks, and natter about
rate cuts on Tokyo Joe's Societe Anonyme, a subscribers-only Website. But the main
attraction is the Lord High Tipster himself. In December, Park gave the thumbs up to
Infoseek, a buy at $33. Within a week, the stock was at $49. "Anyone can do this,"
Park says passionately -- and often. Thumbing his nose at Wall Street's buy-and-hold
bromides, Park is a proud "momentum" investor, a stock-market Lothario who loves
'em and leaves 'em while encouraging his followers to do the same. "Whenever there's a
profit, or a loss of five percent, we bail out," says Park, bluntly. "We're not married to
any stocks." A disclaimer on the site states (none too convincingly) that his and the picks
of others "are not investment advice." It also points out that Park could be selling his
stock as others are buying it.
This circus of speculation sounds perilous to some. But others swear by Joe's juice.
Park claims he pulled down $1.4 million last year alone. He also got rid of of his last
Tokyo Joe's, on East 53rd Street. He didn't sell it. He gave it away -- to his longtime
cook Maria Guillermo. "I was making enough money," he says, coolly.
Living dangerously: As Park's profile has grown, so has his gaggle of critics, who
believe Park is a "pump-and-dump" Barnum. Says one, "Buying a 75-cent stock and
then getting all your sheep to run after it a few days later isn't investing." This skeptic
claims he's made money shorting Park-puffed stocks.
Moneymaking mantra: "People who buy long are suckers," says Park. "That's where
the angst comes in."
Where he's headed in '99: "I still like Onsale," says Park. "It's a Net-based discount
auction house that has bigger customer base than eBay or uBid combined. I also still like
AOL, which I bought at 853Ž4, and I think it has more room to go. En Pointe
Technologies is an online distributor of computer-related stuff. They do almost half a
billion a year and the book value is greater than the stock price, which I predict will rise
400 percent in '99." |
