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Technology Stocks : Softbank Group Corp -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sir Francis Drake who wrote (4490)	3/16/2000 9:57:00 PM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 6018

I have a clue, a brain, a heart, courage, and I also will have, in concert with others on this board, the ability to buy the Economist at breakfast and spew it out by lunch, due to our collective holdings in Softbank. Let us say that 9984 is (1) chaotic (it is), (2) marching in several direction (not the same as "directionless") - America, Europe, Japan, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, and (3) unable to realize capital gains in US and bring funds back to Japan (why should it bother, as it is able to form funds at the ringing of a phone, and as it will be able to list any US invested company back in Japan on its own market, at its own pace, at will, only constrained by faith in growth of new economy in Japan). So what? We are in unexplored territory, just as the ancestors of the writers of Economist was a few hundred years ago. If the Economist was around 400 years back, they would probably have said seafaring exploration earned no return, siphoning ever larger chunks of cash, and therefore a bad idea. Well, now the results of exploration can be seen in compressed time, without having to wait 400 years. I am not saying 9984 will grow to take over the world. No, but I am saying that beating MSFT and CSCO is certainly in the cards, even as those latter two companies continue to grow. Not asking for too much as Japan is the second largest economy in the world and 9984 is leading a revolution. The Economist folks talk about history a lot, but never understood the power of the frenzied people.

To: Sir Francis Drake who wrote (4490)	3/17/2000 2:24:00 AM
From: Edwin S. Fujinaka	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6018

Morgan's article in the Economist was actually a series of questions without many of the answers. I have actually asked myself some of these questions in the past and I continue to look for answers. I think that any actual debt being carried in Japan is probably at favorable interests rates so that being able to borrow in Japan is a competitive plus for Softbank. The problem of possible taxes may not be an issue if Softbank uses it's stock as a currency to buy other companies. The strategy of buying more old line companies with actual earnings and cash flow may be a possible partial way out. The IPO for Divine Interventures (DVIN) scheduled for later this month (or possibly early April) may impact the tax question since they seem to believe that a political/legal solution to the tax question can be created. DVIN is politically very well connected so their solution to the tax questions may also help Softbank (Their businesses seem to be similar). CMGI, Microsoft and Dell have taken positions in DVIN in advance of the IPO so I expect that DVIN will come up with a solution to the tax problem that is central to their success. We'll see.