I've just walked in the door. So I go to company news to find out the score.
Nothing much new but, here's the news.
>> c The Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) -- An estimated 74 million people tuned in to hear Monica Lewinsky confess the details of her affair with President Clinton, second only to the number of people who watched the Super Bowl.
Meanwhile, in bookstores where workers stacked the just-released ''Monica's Story'' onto shelves Thursday, there were signs of both Monica mania and intern overload.
Nielsen Media Research gave ABC's Wednesday night interview a 33.4 rating and 48 share, meaning just under half of the nation's working television sets were tuned in.
The Ms. Lewinsky interview was the most-watched interview since Oprah Winfrey's prime-time questioning of Michael Jackson in 1993, which had a 39.3 rating and 56 share.
It was also the second highest-rated program of this television season after the Super Bowl, which had a total of 127.5 million viewers for at least part of the game.
The interview's average audience during the two hours was just over 48 million people. ABC said it was the most-watched news event ever televised on one network; most breaking news stories are broadcast on several.
ABC treated the interview as a prime-time soap opera, with Barbara Walters sticking largely to the personal details of the affair rather than what it meant for the country. At its end, she asked Ms. Lewinsky what she would tell any of her future children about the affair. ''Mommy made a big mistake,'' she replied.
''And that is the understatement of the year,'' Walters concluded.
At times, the commercials were as entertaining as the interview. At least two weight loss products were advertised during the talk with Ms. Lewinsky, who has obsessed about her weight.
ABC's own promo for its upcoming miniseries, ''Cleopatra,'' sounded familiar given the context: ''She seduced the most powerful man in the world,'' the promo said.
Meanwhile, Ms. Lewinsky's book -- a collaboration with Princess Diana biographer Andrew Morton -- was being snapped up on the Internet. The confessional was No. 1 on the bookseller lists of Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com., although neither would say what that status meant in terms of sales.
''This is one of those pop culture phenomenons,'' said Ben Boyd, a spokesman for barnesandnoble.com. He said the book was selling 2.8 copies per minute for a few hours late Wednesday.
Customer reaction seemed mixed in an early spot check of bookstores Thursday around the country.
''We've had nobody calling looking for it,'' said Lee Schwartz, owner of The Book Center in Cumberland, Md. ''It seems like most people are saying, 'I just don't want to hear about it anymore.'''
''Nobody who comes to our store has shown any interest in the Monica Lewinsky affair. In fact, they're sick of it,'' said Steven Elliot of the Kendall Book Shelf in Miami.
There was no response from Ms. Lewinsky yet to a potential job offer. The regulars on Walters' daytime chat show, ''The View,'' offered on the air Wednesday to let Ms. Lewinsky try out for a vacant spot on the show.
''I don't think it was a serious offer that was extended,'' said Fiona McRobert, the show's spokeswoman. ''I don't know how legitimately she's going to take it.''
AP-NY-03-04-99 1843EST<<
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Seattle, March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc., the No. 1 online bookseller, sent $5 discounts to customers who haven't shopped at its World Wide Web site in a while, seeking to entice them to buy again.
The company sent out electronic mail messages to some of its customers yesterday, offering them a $5 coupon that expires on March 24, in its latest effort to dump up business. Its shares fell 3 3/8 to 120 1/8 in trading of 8.89 million.
Losses at Amazon.com, which has yet to make a profit, have increased every year since it started selling books as it spends millions of dollars promoting its Web site and adds new services such as selling videos. The company said in January that it plans to spend even more this year to increase its customer base and open at least one new distribution center.
''On a short-term basis, it could be perceived as negative (because) aggressively spending money may push out (Amazon.com's) profitability'' further out into the future, said Ryan Jacob, portfolio manager of the Internet Fund, which owns Amazon.com shares. ''It exemplifies Amazon's belief that investing heavily today will result in a bigger payoff in coming years.''
Amazon.com officials weren't immediately available for comment.
The Seattle-based company also sent out e-mails to other customers touting its top-selling books and compact disks, although those e-mails didn't include the $5 coupon.
''People who are interpreting it as an act of desperation'' don't understand Amazon.com's strategy, said BancBoston Robertson Stephens Inc. analyst Lauren Cooks Levitan, who rates Amazon.com a ''strong buy.'' ''They are using traditional direct-mail tools to figure how to maximize'' sales.
Amazon.com's coupon is akin to catalog companies that send out catalogs to some of its customers that offer a $25 discount from their next purchase, said Levitan. She said the coupon won't widen Amazon.com's expected first-quarter loss because the company had already said it would spend more this year.
''We already assumed fairly aggressive increases in sales and marketing (expenses) to cover customer acquisition'' and other marketing costs, she said.
Amazon.com is expected to lose 29 cents a share for the first quarter, according to the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp.
16:18:12 03/04/1999
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(C) Copyright 1999 Bloomberg L.P. <<
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North Babylon, New York, March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Ryan Jacob, 29, started managing the Internet Fund with $200,000 in a one- bedroom apartment on Long Island 14 months ago. This year, it ranks first among 9,005 U.S. mutual funds tracked by Bloomberg Fund Performance.
Even in the face of some recent rocky days among the stocks Jacob favors, the fund has still managed to return 47.2 percent this year. That's ahead of No. 2-ranked Amerindo Technology Fund, with a 40.7 percent return.
Not surprisingly, customers, excited about the potential of the Internet, have poured money into the fund whose assets have ballooned to $156 million.
''A lot of people thought the Internet was a fad, like the hula hoop,'' said Jacob. ''The problem with the way Wall Street is geared, it is very difficult for them to value these companies properly.''
That's been Jacob's goal -- not only to invest in Internet companies but to pick the right Internet companies.
The fund invests in companies that make money in a variety of ways on the Internet. Some sell ads that appear on their Web sites and charge a markup on products they sell. Others can charge subscription fees for entry to their sites or licensing fees on their Internet-related software.
The fund's biggest holding, At Home Corp., which has 150,000 subscribers in 18 markets for its service of providing high-speed Internet access, is up 54 percent so far this year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index has risen 1 percent.
Most stocks in the fund are among the most volatile shares traded today. And some Internet stocks have been falling lately, especially since reaching their highs on Jan. 11. Amazon.com Inc., which sells books over the Internet, has dropped to 119 from 184 5/8. Infoseek Corp. has dropped to 68 5/8 from 87 3/4. Earthlink Network Inc. has fallen to 59 1/4 from 89 1/4.
To be sure, many investment industry executives shudder over the notion of an Internet fund.
''A fund specializing in Internet stocks doesn't seem like a good bet over the long term because a lot of these companies won't be survivors,'' said Patrick Adams, who manages $1.5 billion at Berger Associates in Denver.
Other analysts dismiss the fund as frivolous.
''It's fine for your 'mad money,' '' said Kurt Brouwer, partner at Brouwer & Janachowski, a Tiburon, California, investment adviser.
Working Model
Jacobs dismisses all such criticism and says he's confident he has an investment model that works.
''Just because a company isn't profitable, it doesn't mean it's worthless,'' he said. ''Companies are coming public much earlier in their life cycles than what we've been accustomed to seeing.''
The fund has 30 to 35 stocks in it. ''I am looking for companies that have a demonstrated record and a management team that is quick to adapt to the changes in technology,'' Jacob said. ''You have to approach them as venture capital companies.'' That means the traditional investing formula of measuring a company's strength by its earnings doesn't apply. The investing appeal of Internet companies lies in their potential for profits.
Still, Jacob concedes an investment in any company's future potential is a big gamble for the ordinary investor.
''There are much higher risks in investing in Internet companies,'' Jacob said.
Old-Fashioned Analysis
Jacob, who grew up in Philadelphia using a personal computer and graduated from Drexel University, worked for Bankers Trust and Horizon Asset Management. He then became research director for IPO Value Monitor, which rates initial public offerings for an institutional audience. Then, last year he started managing the Internet Fund.
Jacob said he has an old-fashioned approach to analyzing Internet companies.
''Believe it or not, I'm fundamentally driven and a long- term investor,'' he said. ''I had turnover of under 20 percent last year.''
The ideal company for the fund has the potential to gain a dominant position in its industry, the ability to expand without having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing.
As an example, he cited GeoCities, a Santa Monica, California-based company which offers personal Web sites on the Internet and has more than 3 million users, who call themselves ''homesteaders.''
''GeoCities had grown to its reach before its IPO on the strength of word of mouth,'' he said.
Jacob remains upbeat about the Internet stocks.
''People always ask me when the bubble is going to burst,'' he said. ''But I don't see it because the macro-economic trends are favorable. The industry should keep getting larger.''
Some veteran fund managers aren't as optimistic.
''Remember biotech funds a few years back?'' said Berger's Adams. ''They were hot one year but got cold the next year.'' The 10 Biggest Holdings in the Fund (as of Jan. 1)
1) At Home Corp. 2) Allou Health & Beauty Care Inc. 3) Amazon.Com Inc. 4) America Online Inc. 5) Broadcom Corp. 6) CMG Information Services 7) CNET Inc. 8) Data Broadcasting Corp. 9) DoubleClick Inc. 10) Egghead.Com Inc.
15:48:27 03/04/1999
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(C) Copyright 1999 Bloomberg L.P. <<
>>Seattle, March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc., the No. 1 online bookseller, sent $5 discounts to customers who haven't shopped at its World Wide Web site in a while, seeking to entice them to buy again.
The company sent out electronic mails to some of its customers last night, offering them a $5 rebate that expires on March 24. Its shares fell 7 to 116 1/2 in midafternoon trading of 5.9 million.
Seattle-based Amazon.com has yet to make a profit as it spends millions of dollars promoting its Web site and adds new services such as selling videos. The company told investors in January that it plans to spend even more this year to increase its customer base and open at least one new distribution center.
''On a short-term basis, it could be perceived as negative (because) aggressively spending money may push out (Amazon.com's) profitability,'' said Ryan Jacob, portfolio manager of the Internet Fund, which owns Amazon.com shares. ''It exemplifies Amazon's belief that investing heavily today will result in a bigger payoff in coming years.''
Amazon.com officials weren't immediately available for comment.
14:21:02 03/04/1999
For more stories from Bloomberg News, click here.
(C) Copyright 1999 Bloomberg L.P.
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San Jose, California, March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Unify Corp., with $10 million in cash and no debt, could make acquisitions, as the software maker is at least 12 months ahead of its competitors in developing new products, Chief Executive Reza Mikailli told Investors Business Daily. Unify, a maker of software to automate accounting tasks via the Internet with 2,000 customers including online bookseller Amazon.com Inc., has a potential $250 million market, said Black & Co. analyst Shawn Willard. The company's newest software should contribute to earnings by year end, Mikalli said, as ''we will get to the next tier (of business) and then the floodgates will open,'' she told the newspaper.
Unify said last month revenue for the third quarter ended Jan. 31 rose to $8.1 million from $6.5 million a year earlier.
(IBD 3/4 A10 www.investors.com)
12:37:27 03/04/1999
For more stories from Bloomberg News, click here.
(C) Copyright 1999 Bloomberg L.P. <<
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San Jose, California, March 4 (Bloomberg) -- Unify Corp., with $10 million in cash and no debt, could make acquisitions, as the software maker is at least 12 months ahead of its competitors in developing new products, Chief Executive Reza Mikailli told Investors Business Daily. Unify, a maker of software to automate accounting tasks via the Internet with 2,000 customers including online bookseller Amazon.com Inc., has a potential $250 million market, said Black & Co. analyst Shawn Willard. The company's newest software should contribute to earnings by year end, Mikalli said, as ''we will get to the next tier (of business) and then the floodgates will open,'' she told the newspaper.
Unify said last month revenue for the third quarter ended Jan. 31 rose to $8.1 million from $6.5 million a year earlier.
(IBD 3/4 A10 www.investors.com)
12:37:27 03/04/1999
For more stories from Bloomberg News, click here.
(C) Copyright 1999 Bloomberg L.P.
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Is that enough for 1 day?? |
