Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mark Fowler who wrote (4603)	5/21/1998 5:07:00 PM
From: Candle stick	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

Great story Mark, I love this excerpt: TROTT: Well, the Internet is actually -- the current model is not a viable model. Now, over time we believe since there was a legitimate business purpose being served that a workable model will exist. But, the shipping costs are very high on this, and the advertising at this point is enormous. Barnes & Noble has declared war on Amazon.com. They're going to spend $25 to $30 million this year on advertising with, hopefully, generating revenues of about $100 million. Find the whole story at: cnnfn.com ;^)

To: Mark Fowler who wrote (4603)	5/21/1998 6:12:00 PM
From: Candle stick	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

There was a story on CNBC about Barnes and Noble (BKS). It was after the close today and it mentioned that BKS has declared "war" on AMZN, and said that BKS was prepared to throw 25-30 million dollars into advertising to bring people to its site barnesandnoble.com The report also mentioned that 20% of books bought online are computer books, and that the high cost of shipping actually nullified the discounts unless you bought more than 45$ worth of books, the 'breakeven point'. They promoed a BKS commercial that will be seen primetime and essentially indicated that AMZN's junk bond offering was to raise cash to defend its position against BKS. They called it a "war chest". Suddenly the competition is being taken seriously and AMZN is having to spend much more money than they originally intended to, in order to gain market share. 'Relevant Knowledge' an internet company that tracks "unique hits" on web sites indicated today that AMZN had fallen back a few steps, after it had been advancing. According to RK unique hits fell from 4.859 mil to 4.178 mil from March to April, respectively. That is a 14% drop. AMZN fell back to #23 from #16 in the RK rankings. The impact of competition from BKS and Borders (BGP) borders.com is just beginning to be felt. The report also mentioned that both BGP and BKS were at an advantage because they could buy large amounts of books direct from publishers at a significant discount................;^) Check out bookwire.com to see all the competition that is really out there.

To: Mark Fowler who wrote (4603)	5/21/1998 6:37:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

**OT** Com21 raises IPO terms Reuters Story - May 21, 1998 11:19 %US %IPO %ISU %HOT COMS V%REUTER P%RTR NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) - Lead underwriter Deutsche Morgan Grenfell said terms for the initial public offering of Com21 Inc. were raised on Thursday. The offering of 5.0 million shares is now expected to price between $10 and $12 each. The shares are due to price on Thursday after the market close for trading on Friday. Previously, the company had planned a four million share offering to price between $9 and $11 each.

To: Mark Fowler who wrote (4603)	5/22/1998 2:25:00 AM
From: Skeeter Bug	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

mark, nice piece. let's see... we get the following for $2 billion: 1. millions in losses 2. the promise that said losses will increase over the short to medium term 3. an unviable business plan 4. a company that is impossible to value 5. a declaration of war from a much larger company 6. excessive shipping costs 7. excessive advertising costs 8. a commodity retailer 9. some funky debt structure 10. significant revenue growth leading to greater losses i don't think so. maybe time to buy some puts as amzn looks really weak.