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To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (80148)	10/11/1999 7:57:00 AM
From: Robert Rose	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Sigh.... Just one more celeb in our midst.... <g> ------------------------------------------------- Internet embraces armchair analysts BY IANTHE JEANNE DUGAN Washington Post By day he is 'Dr. D.,' a St. Louis internist. By night he is 'Tom D' or 'Barron Bull,' a self-made stock analyst whose astute projections have earned him a following on popular message boards. Until now, he has made no money on the research and instincts that have plumped his own portfolio into the six digits. But those days are changing fast. The savvy founder of eToys, Bill Gross, is launching an Internet company today that compiles and ranks stock picks, company reports and other market advice from 'Tom D' and thousands of other armchair analysts, who stand to be rewarded for their talented amateur voices among the cacophony of unbridled Internet chat rooms. IExchange, backed by Silicon Valley start-up king Kleiner Perkins, is the latest twist to the nation's growing do-it-yourself investment boom. It represents a radical shift in the way stock information and advice is dispersed to the public. The site launches with about 3,000 analysts, who were culled through a broad contest that tapped friends and family of the founders. It ranks them according to the accuracy of their stock projections since July. The computer periodically recalculates and automatically shuffles people around. The analysts post their projections and a small report about the company. Now, most of the reports are free. But, eventually, the analysts will start charging money -- anywhere from $1 up. Once the territory of big Wall Street analysts, news and projections have become the domain of dozens of newsletters and thousands of individual investors who rage through the night about what they think -- or want you to think -- about the country's publicly traded companies. Depending on who's counting, Wall Street institutions employ some 30,000 to 50,000 analysts who use expensive services, fast computers, press conferences and one-on-ones with chief executives to create snazzy reports that sell for a bundle. Stock prices can ride up and down on this information. Now there are millions of new voices. What will happen when they're given a legitimate platform, when their track records surge, and they develop a following, start writing books, publishing reports? Passionate investors who presume the role of renegade analyst have been throwing their weight around the Internet for a while. They have an attitude, motives -- and a language all their own. Take the formal prose of U.S. Bancorp's Andrew M. Schroepfer, considered a traditional Wall Street analyst, in a report on Qwest: 'We continue to be impressed at the swiftness and effectiveness of Qwest's actions on numerous strategic fronts, including its acquisition plans, international expansion, and innovative marketing strategies of existing services.' Then go online for advice. WIZGURU, on a Yahoo message board, says: 'U.S. West and Qwest STRONG SELLS! Get out now!!' SUGARDADDY doesn't like it. He writes back: 'Smoke some more crack!' The banter has gotten so loud that closely monitored sites such as Silicon Investor, designated for more polite and educated stock banter, are getting overwhelmed with indecipherable advice. 'Should people be listening to anything they hear online?' asks John Reed Stark, chief of Internet enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission. 'Absolutely not.' That was the opinion of David Eisner, a Wall Street veteran who spent the last five years at Jefferies & Co., a Los Angeles-based investment firm. 'Chat rooms are disorienting,' he said. 'There are kernels of brilliance. But for the most part, you have no idea who you're talking to or where they're coming from.' There had to be a business idea here, he thought. So, he began talking to Gross, a Wall Street veteran and entrepreneur whose idealab! had created GoTo.com and eToys. They banged out a model that would screen out those kernels of brilliance. By ranking individuals according to a track record, they would run a huge list, broken down by companies and categories, putting the best performers at the top. 'This is everyman's place,' Eisner said, scrolling through the new system. 'You can go home, get into your pajamas and start making recommendations.'