To: E. Graphs who wrote (19836 ) 8/27/1999 12:18:00 PM From: Jock Hutchinson Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 25814
Since I am getting ready to trundle my 49 year old bag of bones off to osteopathic school (and therefore spend no time on this thread with the exception of CC reports and a quarterly call to IR), I thought I would share with this thread my "Teddy Schwartz" story: Years ago, when I was just finishing my undergraduate degree, I worked at a company that sold radio time. The deal was that the salesman would call up local area companies that were not among the station's local accounts and pitch a safety program for kids by attaching the name of the local company to the ad. For example--"Pat this is Jocko from KRAY radio here in Cheyene (actaully a cubicle on Peterson Avenue in Chicago). I'd like to read to you a brief message if I could" (and without waiting for permission), I would start with... "Pat Tang and the gang at Pat's Custom Chips want to take this opportunity to remind all area drivers to drive as though your life depended on it--a child's often does. This child safety reminder brought to you as a courtesy of Pat's Custom Chips where you and your family have the widest selection of ASICs DRAMS, and ASSPS available. So stop in today at Pat's two locations where Pat and his staff will greet you and your family with the best in spot prices and custom service. Pat has been in the custom semi business for 25 years and can meet all of your semi needs. That's Pat's Custom Semis located at 721 Nowhere here in Cheyene. They care." "How did that sound?" (and without waiting for an answer) "Great!! I am glad you liked it and the price is pretty good too ...." Obviously, I thought that this was a pretty crass way to make money, but at the time, I wasn't very picky since I liked the shift hours, which allowed me to make some easy money, tee it up and finish my spring quarter senior seminar courses(read that as total blow off courses since I had already been accepted into law school. There were a bunch of young guys who started their own businesses--among them Phil Immergluck, Mark Goldfarb, and Teddy Schwartz--later known as Theodore Schwartz who started a company known as APAC, which meant All People Are Customers. Over the years, I would bump into Teddy at places like Omega Restaurant, and I would tease him by asking if he was "still selling that shit" In the early days, he would tell me that he had just hired two salesman, etc. Later he would boast that he had become a millionaire, and later he would boast that he had become a multimillionaire. Flash forward to about early '96, and Crains Chicago Business has listed Theodore Schwartz as a legitimate Billionaire whose stock APAC has skyrocketed. I had a great time telling the joke on myself (about the same time I was also making fun of the Parkinson brothers and their goofy idea of selling groceries on the Internet). Well about a month and a half ago, I bumped into his sister Laura who was buying some clothes at the Nordstrom Rack in Northbrook. (This should be read as the outlet store for Nordstrom's discontinued merchandise) Fortunes have been seriously reversed, and APACs's Chairman of the Board--Theodore Schwartz is now discussing the possibility of his company becoming bankrupt. And as the chart below indicates, APAC's value has dropped by 95%, which means that Teddy is worth about 95% less than what he was previously, and his prospects are looking even dimmer. Of course he will still get to keep the house and his personal possessions, so the prospect of any tag days being held for Teddy are slim.techstocks.com The moral of this story? Perhaps two. The first is that a lot of the new Internet wealth is utterly chimeric. The only people who will truly profit are those people who have successfully peddled their second and third tier stock in IPOs to a gullible public. Their net worth will dive, but they will still emerge as very wealthy people. On the other hand, the fools who bought stock in these companies will provide the labor market for third shift America and employment for BK attorneys The second moral is that people like Dipy would have had the discipline to have bailed from a stock like APAC long before it hit its current nadir--if indeed they had even invested in such a stock. And while people on this thread can rightfully anticipate halcyon days ahead, they might want to take a little off the table at some point in time. One must always keep in mind that the psychological pain of losing vast sums greatly exceeds the pleasure in accumulating the same sums. Good luck and good health to all. Regards Jock