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Non-Tech : Tulipomania Blowoff Contest: Why and When will it end? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (3246)	11/22/2000 4:28:28 PM
From: Mad2	Respond to of 3543

I say screw the bounce, let the dust settle. More tales from the front mad2 interactive.wsj.com Walker Digital Lays Off Most of Headquarters Staff By STEPHANIE MILES WSJ.COM Walker Digital Inc. has laid off most of its headquarters staff in a drastic restructuring, the latest setback for Jay Walker, the founder of Priceline.com Inc. Walker Digital was conceived in 1995 by Mr. Walker as an intellectual property laboratory and Internet business incubator, and is responsible for developing the name-your-price technology that Priceline.com uses. On Tuesday, the closely held company laid off at least 100 out of 125 employees at its Stamford, Conn., headquarters, according to a spokesman for Mr. Walker. Walker Digital also is shutting down three early stage start-ups, which are located in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Atlanta. The remaining 200 Walker Digital employees include a skeleton staff in Stamford, and workers at Retail DNA Inc. and Skill Games Inc., two Walker Digital companies. "After extensive internal review, Walker Digital is restructuring its headquarters staff," said Kevin Goldman, spokesman for Mr. Walker. Mr. Goldman emphasized that Walker Digital isn't shutting down operations, but will instead focus specifically on its invention laboratory and the licensing of its intellectual property portfolio. The company holds about 50 patents and has 300 patents pending. Some employees laid off this week said executives told them that the company is indeed winding down operations. Mr. Goldman, speaking for Mr. Walker, vigorously disputed that assertion. "We're not shutting down," he said. Laid-off employees also said they were offered no severance pay or continuing health insurance, although Mr. Goldman said that after considering the logistics of the issue, Walker Digital will in fact offer some type of severance. The layoffs come after Walker Digital's latest round of funding fell through this week. The company had raised $200 million from investors, which include venture-capital firm General Atlantic Partners, according to the company's Web site. General Atlantic declined to comment on the status of its relationship with Walker Digital. Mr. Walker, meanwhile, has seen Priceline's shares plummet from a 52-week high of $105 in March to a 52-week low of $2.21 this week. In the last few weeks, Priceline has lost both Chief Financial Officer Heidi Miller and the head of its auto-services business, Maryann Keller. Priceline announced layoffs when it released third-quarter earnings earlier this month. In October, Priceline shut down its name-your-price grocery business, Priceline Webhouse Club, which had burned through $363 million in funding. __________________________________ THREE GREAT WAYS TO GET THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Online - interactive.wsj.com Print - subscribe.wsj.com Mobile - interactive.wsj.com __________________________________ WSJ.COM E-MAIL CENTER To subscribe or unsubscribe to any WSJ.com e-mail, go to: public.wsj.com You are currently subscribed as michaeldwyer@MSN.COM ___________________________________ Copyright 2000 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - interactive.wsj.com Contact Us - interactive.wsj.com

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (3246)	11/22/2000 6:39:37 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Respond to of 3543

Should we paint some charts, oh, I mean, do some "TA"?

To: Sir Auric Goldfinger who wrote (3246)	11/22/2000 7:36:05 PM
From: RockyBalboa	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3543

Auric, we should open a real turd ... thread: Read about a nasty fuck here: Wednesday November 22, 7:15 pm Eastern Time TheStandard.com Priceline Forecast Worse Than Expected By Ronna Abramson Just a few weeks after Priceline.com warned of disappointing fourth-quarter sales, two more developments are now certain to eat into the company's bottom line: a $3.3 million charge for a loan to the company's former CFO and another unspecified charge for Walker Digital legal expenses. Priceline, based in Norwalk, Conn., disclosed Wednesday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it will take a fourth-quarter charge for legal fees it believes Walker Digital will be unable to pay the company. Walker Digital, a privately held incubator started by Priceline founder and Vice-Chairman Jay Walker, lost a key round of financing last weekend and laid off 100 employees. The company, based in Stamford, Conn., had agreed to reimburse Priceline for a portion of legal expenses related to a suit filed last year by Marketel International, a California company charging that Priceline stole its business model developed 10 years ago. In another filing last week, Priceline said it will take a $3.3 million charge in connection with the departure of Heidi Miller, who resigned as the CFO earlier this month. In March, Priceline loaned Miller $3 million with a 6.8 percent annual interest rate, to be paid back in full to the company in 2005. Miller left Citigroup to join Priceline in February with a $300,000 salary, options to buy 2.5 million shares of stock and the opportunity to invest in Walker Digital. She left earlier this month, saying that she did not want to work at a company that was retrenching. On the same day that Priceline announced her resignation, the company also said it would lay off 87 employees. Why the beleaguered company decided to forgive the loan remains unclear. Priceline spokesman Brian Ek declined to give an explanation, and Miller also declined to comment. Her employment contract said the loan would only be forgiven if there was a change in company control, death, termination for disability, termination without cause, termination for good reason or at the end of the five years. One thing is certain, though: The timing of the charges for Miller's loan, as well as the Walker Digital legal fees, is hardly ideal. Analysts as late as this summer had forecasted that the name-your-price Internet company would be operating in the black by the fourth quarter. But those hopes were dashed when Priceline warned earlier this month that fourth-quarter sales were expected to fall from the third quarter. Priceline executives declined to provide any forecasts for the fourth quarter or 2001, but analysts quickly reworked their numbers and downgraded the company's stocks. Priceline shares were trading at $2.31 late Wednesday, unchanged from Tuesday and just a tiny fraction of a 52-week high of $104.25 in March.