Nigel from Netconcepts pointed out the ludicrous BNZ “verified by Visa” program, which he encountered recently on a NZ retailer. Netconcepts are a NZ/Wisconsin success story – developing websites among other things from their Auckland base. They know their stuff. Nigel was shocked to see the following appear after entering his credit card details in …
Category Archives: Business
Bacon Chocolate – what were they thinking?
Following on from Natalie’s canned Chicken – yesterday here in Washington, DC I had the dubious priviledge of trying Bacon Chocolate. Note that this wasn’t bacon flovoured chocolate, but a chocolate bar with real bacon bits inside. My smart friend pointed out that it addresses both the male and female markets.
Stuff wins again
Well done Stuffies – winning again at the Netguide awards. Best Home PAge, Best Media site and Supreme Winner – a fantastic haul. Meanwhile Trade Me captured Best Trading Site (shock, horror) and best Real Estate Site. Interestingly Facebook went over the top of Bebo for best social netwokring site. Are Bebo’s days numbered, or …
Property BS
It’s a certified Real Estate bust market, and you are a “successful property investor”. Do you: A: do nothing – you got out long ago, when the signs were there. B: frantically sell out of the remaining “investment” properties you own C: What there’s a bust? D: Start a property magazine and website. Since this …
BurgerFuel BS
Dubai and Burger Fuel No they have not conquered New Zealand yet No they have not successfully demonstrated that they can enter Australia No there is not conceivable explanation why they are choosing Dubai, which is not a sleepy market. But enter Dubai they have. I guess someone had money to burn. Crazy or Ballsy? …
Microsoft and Yahoo: bugger
Bugger – Microsoft has withdrawn from the Yahoo takeover offer. Microsoft upped the price to $33 per share (from $29 odd), which was a $5 billion increase. Yahoo said “no thanks – we want $37 per share” and so Mirosfot walked away. On Monday, US time, expect: Yahoo’s shares to fall – and pretty far …
A sweet deal – is Buffet going to Mars?
As Jim mentions, Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway is involved in a $23bn deal where Mars is buying Wrigley. Mars is $22bn and Wrigley $5bn in annual sales, so while big this isn’t a huge swallow for Mars, and both companies are well run and run on a brand basis, so merging should be ok. There are …
Blockbuster and Circuit City = AOL TimeWarner
A brilliant move for Blockbuster – Blockbuster’s business is dying, while Circuit city is in retail – which always has some sort of future. If Blockbuster can raise the money from markets that do not realise their business model is dead, then good on them for exiting a bad situation early. Ignore the rhetoric. The …
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Vertical and Horizontal
If you were following the comments on a previous post, you may have noticed an arcane commentary about “Vertical” documents versus “Horizontal” documents. It’s consulting gobbledegook, but the differences between vertical and horizontal documents are important. Our friends at the NZ Institute are a bunch of consulting refugees, and their output will serve as good …
China: all but wheat, sugar and rice
Wheat, sugar and rice, along with “certain paper products” those are the items that will remain subject to tarrifs when we export them to China. They represent about 4% of our exports to China, so not a bad outcome. All three grains are subject to some pretty serious subsidization and quota-driven distortions in the world …
Healthcare – double the inflation rate is unsustainable
I’m reading Stiglitz and Bilmes’ new book – The Three Trillion Dollar War. It sets out to show the cost to the USA of the Iraq war, and they go to lengths to be conservative in their calculations (the end number goes over $5bn, but I have not got there yet). But that’s not the …
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3 weeks
It’s pretty obvious that a better offer for Yahoo is not out there, as Microsoft has the wonderful combination of being cash-rich and desperate – and can outbid anyone else out there. But Yahoo directors do not want to lay with the lumbering giant. So this week Microsoft first whispered that the offer may be …
Blogging for $35 billion – Expensive Tankers
So you lose a $35 billion deal to a competitor that you have been keeping away from your major customer for years. What do you do? Well if you are Boeing, the customer is the US Government (Airforce), the competitor is Airbus and the product is refueling tankers, then you start a blog. and launch …
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Presenting – bringing in the new way to old industries
The “new way” of presenting seems to be diffusing pretty rapidly through the high tech/web communities, with some industries having seen the back of death by powerpoint bullets. There isn’t really a “new way” – it’s just that people are beginning to really care about how they present. The “new way” is really just “anything …
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Garr Reynolds at Google
PresentationZen guy Garr Reynolds just linked to a video of himself presenting at Google. As Rowan mentioned he’ll be in Wellington and Auckland for the Webstock Autumn series. Worth a look to see his style – which is very very casual.
Lance Wiggs 