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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jan Crawley who wrote (74460)	8/18/1999 2:56:00 PM
From: radames	Respond to of 164684

imo if you use common sense in these nets it could be profitable,,they are way overvalued and that point can not be argued ,,and they can't keep going up based on that ,,so my conclusion is no one is "investing" in them they are just gambling with them,,the fact is one day they will have to justify their valuation and when that day comes you don't want to be holding any of them,,,and that is a fact,,think of the growth that ebay has to accumalate to justify their valuation,,,and don't base your investment on the hope that ebay will go to 200 + again,,because it may and may not,,,

To: Jan Crawley who wrote (74460)	8/18/1999 2:58:00 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 164684

.but if you "convence" yourself with all the "F/A" analysis and then act upon them, such as shorting(and long) the nets..then you can get into deep trouble. Yeah I agree... the problem I think is that FA is not an exact science even though a lot of people believe it is. For example this notion that Amazon is a scam being thrust upon the online trading newbies. You might conclude that based on the massive losses at Amazon, that would be basic FA. But I know from my R&D background how difficult it is to build what amazon already has in place (and they aren't done)... but what they have has been an incredible undertaking, they hired top people to do it. In order for Amzn to be a scam at this point they would have had to have "fooled" all the R&D staff, as well as the software vendors such as Oracle supporting the effort - I don't believe that is possible for an undertaking of this size. So, I am making an FA call that Amazon is not a scam dispite the balance sheet appearance to the contrary. What a mess!

To: Jan Crawley who wrote (74460)	8/18/1999 5:20:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

"Personal TV" maker Replay wins $57 mln investment (embargoed until 0001 a.m. EDT Wednesday, August 18) By Scott Hillis LOS ANGELES, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Replay Networks Inc., a maker of a digital television recorder that can compile custom viewing lists and skip commercials, said on Wednesday it had won $57 million in financing from a group of media firms, some of which have threatened to sue the start-up. The investment fattens Replay's war chest as it goes up against TiVo Inc., a rival purveyor of the so-called "personal TV" devices, in the battle to change how people watch TV. The new investors include Time Warner Inc. <TWX.N>, The Walt Disney Co. <DIS.N>, Liberty Media Group <LMGa.N>, United Television Inc. <UTVI.O> and Showtime Networks Inc., Replay said. The ReplayTV device looks like a VCR except it uses a big computer hard drive instead of video tapes to record TV programs. Users can effectively pause or rewind live broadcasts and record shows with a favorite theme or actor. Replay said the investors would be featured in special zones on its service that would highlight their programs. Another new investor was Matsushita Kotobuki Electronics Industries Ltd., a subsidiary of the Japanese industrial giant Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co. Ltd. <MC.N> <6752.T> that is making a version of ReplayTV under its Panasonic brand. "This investment by leading media companies and Matsushita provides us with the resources to take the company to the next level," Replay Chief Executive Officer Anthony Wood said in a statement. "We have now reached critical mass." Earlier investors such as Microsoft Corp. co-founder Paul Allen's venture capital firm Vulcan Ventures Inc., Marc Andreessen, who created the Netscape Web browser, and Sky Dayton, founder of Internet service provider EarthLink Network Inc., all boosted their stakes in Replay, it said. But Replay and TiVo are already caught up in controversy. A controversial feature on Replay is a button that effectively cuts out commercials by letting users skip ahead 30 seconds. That makes some broadcasters nervous because it threatens to undermine a major source of revenue. Last week, several major television and cable networks formed a coalition that wants the companies to pay licensing fees on the grounds the devices modify copyrighted material. The coalition, which includes new Replay investors Disney and Time Warner, as well as CBS Corp. <CBS.N> and News Corp. <NCP.AX>, also noted the technology could allow the companies to insert their own commercials in place of network ones. The coalition threatened to sue the makers of the new digital television recorders. Replay tried to soothe those worries. "Replay Networks is working closely with many television and advertising companies to promote features in the Replay Network Service that increase revenues for the television industry and do not undermine an advertising-based model," it said. Josh Berkman, an analyst with Forrester Research, said the media companies were trying to use both business relationships and legal muscle to protect their turf. But he was skeptical they could wring a concession such as a licensing fee. "The legal challenge was going to come but its difficult to see how they're going to be stopped," Berkman said of Replay and TiVo. "The hue and cry from consumers would be incredible. The genie's out of the bottle now and there's really no way to stuff it back in." REUTERS Rtr 00:01 08-18-99