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

To: italiana who wrote (5157)	2/14/1999 8:12:00 PM
From: Tom Hua	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13953

WSJ article: Tech Center Investor's Lawsuit Asserts Failure To Maintain Access by ETrade By DANIELLE SESSA Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL An investor asserted in a lawsuit that ETrade Group Inc. failed to provide all-day access to the online-trading firm's customer accounts. The suit, filed by Coleen Divito in Santa Clara, Calif., Superior Court Monday, seeks unspecified damages from what the investor says was an inability to execute online trades at certain times last week. A series of system crashes at ETrade's Web site last week locked out some customers from their accounts and embarrassed the fast-growing brokerage firm. The suit, which seeks class-action status, alleges that the system failures constitute unfair business practices because ETrade advertises 24-hour account availability. Susan Walker, an ETrade spokeswoman, didn't have an immediate comment on the suit, saying the Palo Alto, Calif., company is "still investigating and reviewing the information." Separately, several ETrade executives filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this week to sell 297,000 shares of the company's stock. Chief Executive Christos M. Cotsakos registered to sell 140,000 shares on behalf of a family trust fund, representing a 4% reduction of his position, according to the filing. Last week, other company insiders and beneficiaries filed to sell 4.7 million shares, according to First Call-Investnet, a Rockville, Md., concern that tracks insider data. The bulk of the sales came from General Atlantic Partners LP, a venture-capital firm, which reduced its holdings 48% by selling 4.2 million shares. "This is an open window for executives and employees at ETrade, so as part of that, some executives will be balancing their own personal investment portfolios," said ETrade spokesman Dave Murray. E*Trade Thursday rose $5.50 to $48.25 a share in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Meanwhile, executives at another online broker also have recently unloaded some shares. Since late January, Charles Schwab Corp. insiders have filed to sell 1.6 million shares, according to First Call-Investnet. Chairman Charles Schwab filed papers with the SEC this week Thursday to sell 50,000 shares, bringing the total he has filed to sell since late January to 928,125 shares, roughly a 2% reduction of his position. Charles Schwab shares rose $4 to $67 in Big Board composite trading. "These sales are a minute portion of Mr. Schwab's overall holdings in the company, and it does not represent a change in his commitment to the firm," said Glen Mathison, a Schwab spokesman.

To: italiana who wrote (5157)	2/14/1999 11:14:00 PM
From: ecommerceman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13953

Check this out: "Over 2,000 investors who gathered for the 13th annual Goldman Sachs Technology Symposium heard just about every company present its ''.com'' business plan to make their hardware, software and computer services Internet-ready. But it was the pure-play Internet companies like America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL - news) and eBay Inc. (Nasdaq:EBAY - news) which drew some of the biggest crowds and had men in banker-blue suits sitting cross-legged, captivated by the presentations. ''You couldn't get into some of the rooms,'' Ken Zolot, a private investor and Goldman Sachs client said of presentations by Internet companies like E*Trade Group Inc. (Nasdaq:EGRP - news)" We're finally getting the sort of attention from "the men in banker-blue suits" that we've deserved, with them even having to sit cross-legged on the floor, and yet even captivated on top of it! And to Tom Hua: thanks for the post, although I don't consider the lawsuit as being anything to worry about, and the insider and institution shares being sold didn't look too out of the ordinary to me, either. As you know, it's not at all unusual for an executive needing cash to sell some stock, and institutions move in and out of stocks like EGRP all of the time.