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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jill who wrote (129954)	5/31/1999 12:18:00 PM
From: Meathead	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

Jill, this is what I'm looking for. I'd like more detail as to why Dell, or anybody for that matter, would be unable to duplicate CMGI's business model. It seems to me that for a small investment, Dell could staff several hundred employees, managers, directors and VP's who are intently focused "full time" on competing in that space. Though Dell would not be immediately competitive due to ramp up time and the learning curve, we can be pretty sure the business is still in it's infancy and will change dramatically in the next 24 months giving Dell the opportunity to grow into the ever changing model from the ground up. Also, what pipeline and inventory is owned by CMGI that can't be built up by Dell? Last time I checked, CMGI had only $10M of inventory. They have $1.24B in assets of which $1.06B is in cash and securities. It looks like the entire business itself has a mere $180M tied up in property, plant, equipment, inventory etc. This looks like a securities/investment/consulting firm with about $675M of stockholders equity... most of which is cash a securities. Paying $14B for a business that can seemingly be built organically for about 2% of that amount seems way beyond the boundries of sound investing. So, what I'm looking for is some understanding as to what makes CMGI unique and so valuable while being built on seemingly so little? MEATHEAD