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Non-Tech : E*Trade (NYSE:ET) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: italiana who wrote (5084)	2/10/1999 6:08:00 AM
From: nord	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13953

I have gone from enthusiasm over the prospects of EGRP to a suspicion that all is not well for the foreseeable future ----------------------- Insider sales, investor lawsuits, technology failures, and venture capital pulling the plug At Home, ETrade, Broadcast.com Investors File to Sell Shares Washington, Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- The situation is somewhat different for General Atlantic Partners, a Greenwich, Connecticut, venture capital firm that held 8.74 million ETrade shares -- adjusted for a recent 2-1 stock split -- as of Dec. 31, 1998. General Atlantic, unlike Motorola and Shaw, doesn't have an infrastructure to build or product research to fund. Nonetheless, affiliates of General Atlantic filed with the SEC to sell 3.29 million shares, a figure that is also adjusted for the stock split. These affiliates originally paid about $13.3 million in 1995 and 1996 for preferred stock that was then converted into 6.43 million pre-split common shares in ETrade, an online broker based in Palo Alto, California. That works out to a post-split average of about $1.03 per share. ETrade shares fell 2 7/16 to 46 1/2 in recent trading. At those prices, General Atlantic would reap a profit of about $149 million. General Atlantic officials couldn't be reached immediately for comment on their decision to sell. 15:30:24 02/08/1999 --------------------------- Looks like the short position has been shrinking viwes.com INSIDER SELLING why are many of the officers and directors selling most/ all shares? quicken.excite.com ------------------- No wonder investors are not happy! ETrade Customer Files Lawsuit Over Trading-System Crashes San Jose, California, Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- An ETrade Group Inc. customer is suing the No. 3 online brokerage seeking damages for lost financial opportunities after the company's trading system crashed four times last week. The lawsuit filed by Coleen Divito in Santa Clara County Superior Court in California seeks class-action status for all customers affected by the crash of the system, which occurred last week over a period of three days. The company that was hitting on all cylinders just blew an engine ETrade said its system's trading page failed after the company installed a new software program Feb. 2. The trading system went down twice on Feb. 3 and once on each of the next two days, including one time for almost three hours. ''As a result of this virtual lockout, class members lost potentially millions of dollars,'' the suit said. William Audet, a San Jose lawyer who filed the suit, said the crashes ''didn't make any sense'' because ETrade said it corrected the problem Thursday and the system crashed again Friday. ETrade spokeswoman Lisa Nash said the company wouldn't comment on the suit. ETrade shares fell 5 9/16 to 40 3/16. Palo Alto, California-based E*Trade is among several online brokerages to have problems executing trades as demand surges for online trading. Ameritrade Holding Corp. and Charles Schwab Corp., the No. 1 online broker, also have encountered system problems as traffic volume increases. New York State's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer began an investigation last week of the online-trading industry, citing ''dozens of complaints'' in the past month from consumers about Web-site crashes and delays in processing trades. 20:52:07 02/09/1999 Regards Norden

To: italiana who wrote (5084)	2/10/1999 10:31:00 AM
From: Oeconomicus	Respond to of 13953

italiana, nice analogy. ETrade is the Lexus, huh? All marketing - take a Toyota (normal, everyday business such as financial services) and dress it up with a cool name, lots of cool gadgets and lots of advertising making it appear to be more than it really is. And, since many investors, like image conscious car buyers, are more concerned with appearances than substance, ETrade carried an overinflated sticker price. Bob PS: Due to excess inventories resulting from recent news of malfunctioning systems and handling problems in heavy traffic situations, all EGRP shares have been marked down 45%. If more current owners decide to return their vehicles, further markdowns may be required to clear inventories. ;-)