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To: Ahda who wrote (50189)	3/12/2000 8:22:00 PM
From: long-gone	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116753

NEW ECONOMY THE DARK SIDE The frenzied flow of funds into dotcom start-ups--here, a rush for tom.com shares in Hong Kong--has diverted attention from the downside: the harmful effect on traditional companies and markets that now are less able to attract investment -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Trish Saywell in Shanghai, Shawn W. Crispin in Bangkok and Dan Biers in Hong Kong, with Charles S. Lee in Seoul, Chester Dawson in Tokyo and Sadanand Dhume in New Delhi Issue cover-dated March 9, 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Few people in Hong Kong would pass up a chance to gamble--be it at the racetrack, around the mahjong table or on the stockmarket--and there's nothing that excites them more than a sure bet. So when the city's modern-day King Midas, billionaire Li Ka-shing, offered the public a chance to invest in his first major foray into the red-hot Internet, the result was predictable. Hundreds of thousands applied for a slice of the new company, tom.com, convinced that its share price would soar when trading began the following week. They were right. The lucky few who got shares--the offer was oversubscribed by nearly 670 times--saw their investment skyrocket from an issue price of HK$1.78 (23 U.S. cents) a share to HK$9.05 in the first hours of trading on March 1. Tom.com, a Chinese-language Internet portal still under construction, is the most striking evidence that the market frenzy over information-technology plays on the New Economy is hitting Asia with full force. As more and more investors favour these firms over manufacturers and other traditional companies, concern is growing that a bubble is building and will eventually burst, wreaking havoc on markets. Often overlooked, however, is how the sea change in investor sentiment is changing corporate behaviour and economic prospects in unexpected ways throughout Asia. The competition from New Economy firms such as tom.com is forcing many of Asia's established companies to become more transparent and more aggressive in developing their own e-commerce (cont) feer.com