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Technology Stocks : THQ,Inc. (THQI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Todd D. Wiener who wrote (10031)	2/27/1999 12:14:00 AM
From: Trippi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14266

Todd I agree with the positive points you have made about a buyback authorization -- but there is one thing that concerns me -- we only have 11 miilion shares outstanding as it is (not a lot) a share buy back would tighten liquidity which would be good for the price but make it tougher for institutions to gain enough shares of THQ over the longer haul -- Dell did a stock split and a buy back at the same time -- but at these prices I wouldn't want a split -- so I guess for now I'm against a buy back plan (not that it matters what any of us are for or against) I'd rather see the money used to grown the company -- more franchise titles etc -- continue to increase revenues and earnings -- there really isn't any reason to change THQ's business model -- it works and its the best in the industry -- remember August of 98 we went from $24 to $9 and back in a matter of 60 days or so -- I guess I got to take one of those Zen books off the shelve and learn to embrace the volatility ---- Trippi

To: Todd D. Wiener who wrote (10031)	2/27/1999 12:17:00 AM
From: Marc Newman	Respond to of 14266

<<I mean something on the order of Rugrats, WCW or WWF.>> Even better in the PC-biased eyes of Wall Street, think Doom 2000 from Id. We all know that THQ now has the cash to buy more big licenses and keep growing eps and revs at way more than 20%. We might see something as soon as March and presumably by E3 in May. But even better would be getting the next hot game from Id. As I understand it, GTI published Doom, Doom 2, Ultimate Doom, and Quake. (Well, Doom was self-published at first, but you know what I mean.) All were huge hits. Then Activision outbid GTI for Quake 2. Ie, they stole it just like EA stole WCW from THQ. Activision is also set to publish Quake 3: Arena this year. The next game Id is working on is at least jokingly called Doom 2000. It's a perfect name, actually. First-person shooters are still big, however cliched. And no name has more cachet than Doom and no development house has more respect than Id Software. Quake 2 was slightly disappointing, sales-wise. Gee, it only now passed a million copies. What would Doom 2000 do? 1.5 million? In one swoop, THQ would get a giant jump in PC revenues, respect on Wall Street, and props from serious gamers. THQ certainly has the cash to bid aggressively for this license. They've gotta be in better position than Activision was when it took Quake from GTI. It's time for Farrell to be bold. Marc

To: Todd D. Wiener who wrote (10031)	2/27/1999 1:08:00 AM
From: Jeff Bond	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 14266

You: "But more importantly, THQ should track down at least 2 really good licenses and buy them for the long-term (at least 3-5 years)." Me: "I'm very interested to see what THQI does with the cash, I'd like to see them secure some first rate license agreements personally." With the caliber of the management, I pretty sure this is also the plan, hence the commitment to BUILD UP the cash, rather than petty spend it on smaller license agreements. Also, I imagine the other factor being wokred on is increased distribution, to bring the same products to more potential markets. Is buying back shares the real best move, or is that a psychological move? I'm not suggesting it might not help, it probably would, but I'm not sure if it would be wise to tie up capital, if that meant giving up the rights to a cherry license deal. Buying back shares to counter dilution is a real good reason, but with the dilution that has already occurred, THQI has still been able to keep EPS growing at a very healty clip. It just seems to me the best possible course of action is to secure some top rate deals, I remember the last WCW fiasco, when THQI announced obtaining WWF, life got better :o) Rugrat Regards, JB P.S. Fishing results in : 2 Stripers (Striped Bass), one 14 pounds, the other 9 pounds. I had a nice catfish hooked, he got away, darn. P.S.S. Marc, your thoughts on securing a first rate PC license make a lot of sense.