Message-ID: <1928124.1075857097884.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2000 02:24:00 -0800 (PST) From: media_grok@reply.thestandard.com To: alewis@ect.enron.com Subject: MEDIA GROK: Amazon Gets a Stocking Stuffer Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: "TheStandard.com" X-To: alewis@ect.enron.com X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Andrew_Lewis_Dec2000\Notes Folders\All documents X-Origin: Lewis-A X-FileName: alewis.nsf ===================================================================== THE INDUSTRY STANDARD'S M E D I A G R O K A Review of Press Coverage of the Internet Economy ===================================================================== | http://www.thestandard.com | Monday, December 11, 2000 TOP GROKS: * Amazon gets a stocking stuffer * Markets beg Florida for mercy * Iridium won't get rid of 'em MORE NEWS: * Index Compiler Moves the Goalposts /=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= advertisement =-=-=\ WANT TO PUT YOUR COMPANY ON THE E-BUSINESS MAP? List your company in The Standard's Directory, and help shape e-business by making your offerings available to the best minds in the Internet Economy. And if you're wondering which "i" company does "i" what, search the Directory's database of over 3,000 e-businesses to find your future partners. Visit The Standard's Directory today and make the connections you're looking for. http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284013&d=719682 \=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=/ TOP GROKS ~~~~~~~~~ Amazon Gets a Stocking Stuffer Lucky Amazon doesn't have to wait for the Supreme Court to solve its market woes. That's because a Wall Street analyst worked undercover for a day at one of the uber-bookseller's distribution centers and then - what to our wondering eyes should appear - reiterated his "buy" recommendation on Amazon's stock. It really is the season of miracles! According to the Financial Times, Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Jamie Kiggen put in a few hours working in Amazon's Delaware distribution center and then penned this sunny conclusion: "While our presence there suggests the hiring process could be tightened up a bit, we were struck by the high level of energy and morale among warehouse management and workers alike." Busy bees are happy bees. Kiggen's stint apparently didn't coincide with one of the six or so all-hands meetings that the New York Times reported Amazon held recently to, among other things, squelch unionizing efforts. You'd think journos might give extra scrutiny to Kiggen's dot-com gig, given the recent brouhaha over the New Yorker's similarly themed piece in its Nov. 27 issue. Writer Rodney Rothman was supposedly aiming for humor, not analysis, when he wrote about his stint working for a Silicon Alley dot-com, according to coverage on the Web site Media News. But in a move that has left journos debating the merits of undercover gigs, he neglected to tell the New Yorker that his mother worked for the firm he infiltrated. And that office massage he wrote so descriptively of? Never really got it. Literary license, you know. But outlets were glowing about Kiggen's undercover gig. CNNfn, which broke the "news," speculated that Kiggen and the other CS First Boston analysts who cover Amazon "may have set a new precedent this week for just how far researchers will go to obtain information on a company." The Financial Times enthused about Kiggen's ingenuity "in an era when investors often criticise analysts for being spoon-fed by the companies they cover." And, boy, did Kiggen gather some terrific intelligence. According to the Financial Times, Kiggen's experience in the Delaware warehouse, which handles as much as 25 percent of Amazon's orders, "suggested that the company was 'highly likely' to meet or exceed fourth-quarter revenue estimates of $1 billion." All this from an eight-hour stint! We guess we at Media Grok just don't know how to use our time as wisely. For his part, Kiggen could use a boost for his media profile. He missed being named to Fortune's "all-star analysts" team, but did get pegged for Business Week's piece on Net analysts' fall from grace. Business Week reported criticism of Kiggen's "'lifetime value of a customer' metrics used to justify his bullish Amazon calls" and included the mention in a paragraph on "voodoo valuation." Such paganism applied to a man who truly knows what it means to give. - Deborah Asbrand Spying on Amazon http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2000/12/08/companies/amazon/index.htm Analyst Kiggen Dons Warehouse Apparel For Undercover Stint at Amazon.com http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB976496725775080568.htm (Paid subscription required.) Undercover Inquiry Brings Christmas Cheer to E-tailers http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/articles.html?id=001209001682&query= Kiggen All-Star Analysts http://www.fortune.com/fortune/allstars/list.html The Fall of the Net Analyst http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_50/b3711182.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- Markets Beg Florida for Mercy For a month now, the market has let itself be led around by the nose by the seesawing fortunes of the presidential contenders in Florida. When Bush is up, the market follows. When Gore's chances rise, the market scowls. Friday was no exception. Around the time of the closing bell, the Florida Supreme Court ordered "an immediate manual recount" of undervotes in all Florida counties. "Stock index futures and some shares slumped" according to CBS MarketWatch's Martin Cej and Chris Kraeuter. Saturday morning brought the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling that stopped the recounts, and with it some sigh of relief from investors. The Sunday night press was uncharacteristically optimistic, looking for signs that the uncertainty was close to ending. David Boies, former Microsoft slasher and Napster booster and now attorney for Gore, told Fox News that it could be "the end of the road." Bloomberg's Monday morning report from Tokyo went further, reporting that U.S. stocks were up, Treasury bonds down as Bush was seen to be the winner. "It looks like we will know who the next president is," Xinyi Lu, chief strategist at Tokai Bank, told Bloomberg. "A Bush victory is bad for bonds because it's good for stocks.'' Whichever way it goes, it can't wrap up soon enough for financiers who despise indecision. "Until America learns how to run a democracy, the market can go nowhere," said Robin Griffiths, chief technical analyst at HSBC Securities on CBS MarketWatch. Nowhere, that is, except for two places it often goes: up and down. - David Sims Nasdaq Lifts, Dow Steady http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/current/snapshot.htx Another Week of Election Turmoil http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/20001209/news/current/snapshot.htx Supreme Court May Lift Market's Gloom (Reuters) http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20001210/bs/markets_stocks_dc_946.html High Court May Ease Market Anxiety (Reuters) http://www.msnbc.com/news/501406.asp U.S. Stock Futures Rise, Bonds Fall as Bush Win Seen (Bloomberg) http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Top%20Financial%20News&s1=blk&tp=a d_topright_topfin&refer=topfin&T=markets_bfgcgi_content99.ht&s2=blk&bt=ad_posi tion1_topfin&middle=ad_frame2_topfin&s=AOjRtexRvVS5TLiBT /=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= advertisement =-=-=\ ARE YOU READY FOR KNOWLEDGE-BASED MARKETING? Primary Knowledge provides outsourced data warehousing and business intelligence tools that help you focus on your most valuable customers. We aggregate isolated silos of online data, giving you a fuller picture of your customers. And, every morning, you are GUARANTEED access to current intelligence and data analysis tools. So you can make decisions based on knowledge. http://www.primaryknowledge.com?a=007008008 \=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=/ Iridium Won't Get Rid of 'Em Remember all that space junk that was supposed to burn up in the atmosphere when Motorola nudged its Iridium satellites into re-entry? Turns out, NASA didn't think quite everything would burn up after all: titanium fuel tanks, batteries, electronic control panels - these are dense enough to make it through and find a home on land or in the sea. In fact, Reuters discovered that NASA estimated back in April that each bird had a 1 in 18,405 chance of striking one of Earth's 6 billion human residents, and that chance grew to 1 in 249 for all 74 spacecraft combined. Not a sure thing, but those aren't lottery numbers, either. It's all academic now, at least for a few years. The Pentagon stepped in last week with an agreement to pay the $3 million each month it takes to keep the constellation flying, at least for another two years. It signed the deal with Iridium Satellite, the company that took over the assets of the original company when it filed for bankruptcy protection this year. Iridium was planned as a global phone system for jet-setters who need to stay in touch wherever their romps take them on the planet. But the company's expensive handsets (originally $3,000) and costly service (up to $7 per minute) doomed the service to all except those who really needed it - oil-rig crews, transoceanic yachstmen and CNN reporters. Everyone else found that GSM phones get you most of what you want for a fraction of the price. But it turns out the Pentagon has plenty of folks who need satellite phones, particularly in the Navy. Iridium "will provide a commercial alternative to our purely military systems," Dave Oliver, principal deputy under secretary of defense for acquisitions, technology and logistics, told Reuters. There were other reasons, too. Reuters also reported that a U.S. interagency group was nervous about public reaction to 74 satellites coming down in 14 months. The group wrote that this "might create widespread anxiety and lead to a public outcry for ill-considered government action." For $3 million per month, the Defense Department bought some time to figure out what to do: In their current orbits, the satellites won't fall to earth for about 108 years. By then, however, the danger may be even worse. As Nicholas Johnson, NASA program manager for orbital debris, told Reuters, there will no doubt be more people on earth and a thus higher chance that one of them could get hit. - David Sims NASA: Satellite Odds of Hitting Someone 250-1 (Reuters) http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20001210/sc/tech_satellites_dc_2.html Pentagon Signs Phone Deal With Iridium http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-4045594.html Pentagon to Rescue Iridium (Reuters) http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40600,00.html /=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= advertisement =-=-=\ NEW PRODUCTS AND SEMINARS FROM HEWLETT PACKARD Hewlett Packard's thinking ahead. Are you? See what's on the horizon and what it'll mean to your business in arenas like e-services, Always-On Infrastructure, and Internet appliances. For the calendar of events regarding New Product Introductions and other details about hp's services, go to: http://www.mmtrack.net/m/s.asp?H2655997803X931346 \=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=/ MORE NEWS AT THESTANDARD.COM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Index Compiler Moves the Goalposts http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284013&d=719698 Vodafone May Take Stake in Japan Telecom http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284013&d=719699 RealNetworks Gives Microsoft an iQ Test http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284013&d=719700 Recording Industry Scores Copyright Win http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284013&d=719701 MP3.com's Happier Tune http://tm0.com/thestandard/sbct.cgi?s=64349541&i=284013&d=719702 --------------------------------------------------------------------- MORE LINKS ~~~~~~~~~~ FTC Nears Approval of AOL-Time Warner Merger http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52758-2000Dec10.html WAP Field Study Findings http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20001210.html The Final Vote: Canal Plus Shareholders Approve Vivendi-Universal Merger http://www.inside.com/jcs/Story?article_id=17454&pod_id=10 How to Narrow Vivendi's Giant Discount http://www.breakingviews.com/ve.asp?sid=908&aid=1102&lid=3 (Registration required.) Lessons From the Online Rubble http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/11/technology/11ECOMMERCE.html (Registration required.) Automated Programs Slow E-tail Sites (AP) http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/726095l.htm As AT&T's Stock Slips, Takeover Rumors Swirl http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB976483701280382049.htm (Paid subscription required.) SBC Straddling the Old and New http://www0.mercurycenter.com/business/top/078176.htm Jeeves' Wrubel: 'Don't Ask!' http://www.nypost.com/12092000/business/18143.htm STAFF ~~~~~ Written by Deborah Asbrand (dasbrand@world.std.com), Keith Dawson (dawson@world.std.com), Michelle Goldberg (michelle@shift.com), Jen Muehlbauer (jen@englishmajor.com) and David Sims (davesims@sonic.net). Edited by Jimmy Guterman (guterman@vineyard.com). Copyedited by Jim Duffy (jduffy@thestandard.com). 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