At the time AOL went unlimited, CompuServe deliberately chose not to follow with the point being how can you charge a fixed rate for something that has variable costs? There is a cost to someone dialing and just sitting on the system. That was what AOL ran into. |
Companies have got to do something, or they are going to have a hostile reaction. |
Economic growth did stumble in the fourth quarter, but as expected it was the result of one-time factors, primarily disruptions and costs of other Gulf storms and their aftermath. |
Everybody works just a little bit harder, ... They drive their employees very hard. |
I have to think that the sale is being driven by Pilgrim Baxter -- they want to grow more aggressively than perhaps UAM is willing to commit, ... It seems Pilgrim Baxter is a square peg at UAM. |
I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, |
I would not want to see them sell at this price, ... I would want to see them get the company turned around then look at if you want to go private. |
I'm not surprised to see private equity make a big move like this -- private equity has significant assets that need to be invested. |
I'm surprised to see them doing it. I don't know if I'm thrilled with it. While it would make them more price competitive and generate greater subscriber growth, I think they tried to be an AOL before and failed, |
It was definitely a disappointment. |
It wasn't particularly material. And it's not particularly unusual. A lot of companies are going back and reviewing their controls because of Sarbanes-Oxley and finding tax errors. But for a company like H&R Block, it was particularly embarrassing. |
It's the market saying these guys aren't going to grow as fast - these guys are no longer a growth company. |
It's the martinis that are wildly popular right now, especially the sour apple martini. With young adult consumers, sales of flavored spirits are definitely tracking higher than any other hard liquor. |
Poor performance hasn't tarnished the funds' image, ... It's still the right acquisition for the right buyer. |
Prices are pretty rich. The exchanges may be vulnerable to short-term corrections, but over the longer term they should continue to grow because there's lots of money on the sidelines to invest. |