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The
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April
10, 2001
"Equity
is just icing on the cake in dot.com barter deals."
-
Kevin Dunn, G.M. of Delta (Air Lines) E-Venture
At
the height of the Internet joy ride, bartering dot-com
equity for goods and services enjoyed quite a vogue, reported
CFO magazine in the April 2001 edition.
Executives
of dot-coms assumed that equity in their companies was
driving the deals. However, as New Economy stocks fall
and barter deals continue, it's apparent that equity was
not the driver.
Dunn,
general manager of Delta E-Venture, says that "equity
is just icing on the cake in dot-com barter deals." He
suggests that the arrangements are driven by core business
needs, never by the promise of soaring stock values.
(He
noted that the value of Delta's equity stake in Priceline.com,
which is now $750 million, came as a welcome surprise.)
Dot-com
equity barter deals will continue to have a role to play
as e-tailers have a lot of returns, and struggling companies
can use barter to manage their inventories.
Wall
Street Journal Publishes Dismal Report On Business-to-Business
Sector
In
the April 4 issue of The Wall Street Journal, Section B, "Marketplace"
page B1, the paper reported on the web's "business-to-business" sector
explaining why the bold promises of changing the world have fallen
far short of expectations. Here's a capsule of the story:
1)
Business-to-business and business-to-consumer had a lot in common
after all. Both sectors overstated the extent to which the Internet
was changing the world. And both were peddling technology solutions
that in many cases didn't work as billed.
2)
Last year's big business-to-business fad--internet exchanges or web
sites where buyers and sellers meet to do business--has proved to
be largely a bust. (In the commercial barter industry a profitable
online b2b is yet to be built.)
3)
The current favored buzz of b2b is "supply-chain management" where
companies use the Internet to stay in touch with their suppliers and
customers. The article says the dirty little secret of b2b is that
these systems are often very difficult to get up and running. And,
therefore, they can no longer expect to be welcomed with open arms
by corporate technology buyers.
4)
There is still no clear idea of how b2b will be making money, and
the goal of b2b--to reduce the cost of doing business--is still a
long way off, expected to take years to reach, not months. The survivors
may turn out to be the big software companies like SAP AG and Oracle.
-
Wayne Sharpe,
Chairman & CEO of Bartercard, has announced the appointment of
Michael Gordon to the position of President of Bartercard Ventures
(a division of Bartercard International).
As an investment principal Gordon has been an active advisor to
numerous growth stage companies regarding corporate finance, mergers
and acquisitions, and corporate strategy issues.
Gordon will lead Bartercard Ventures and deal with all aspects
of the Bartercard group's financing, capital raising activity,
as well as worldwide mergers and acquisitions. He will report
directly to Sharpe and be located in the new Bartercard USA offices
in Irvine, California.
- Dean Casuett,
formally associated with Unlimited Business Exchange, has concluded
an agreement with Colorado-based Ethika Corporation and plan of reorganization
with Tradequest, a Utah corporation headquartered in Salt Lake City.
- Online Barter-bay.com
has reduced its transaction fees to 3%, which are charged on sales
only.
- Corporate travel
managers are bearing increasing pressure from senior management to
reduce costs, as concern about an economic downturn deepens. How much
travel will be down won't be clear until quarterly figures begin rolling
in later this month.
But the trend that began late last year looks likely to continue,
according to the Travel Business Roundtable Index of leading Economic
Indicators. Softness in the market means more inventories available
for barter.
However, one company isn't standing pat, in light of the anticipated
downturn. Marriott International is going into the broadcast business
to lure new meetings-and-convention customers to their hotels.
They'll be offering a new technology for transmitting meetings and
events around the globe via satellite, web casts, etc. The venture,
called EventCom Technologies, will operate as a division of the company
and be based in Rosemont (IL).
- Follow-up on
BarterNews issue #53's BarterNet cover story. We reported in
a side story that Laird Cagan, the co-founder of BarterNet, was an
early member of the core executive team of EarthShell Corporation,
a materials science research and development company which invented
a biodegradable replacement for styrofoam.
On March 30th shares of EarthShell jumped 90% after fast-food giant
McDonald's approved EarthShell's biodegradable container for their
Big Mac hamburger. McDonald's has been testing the containers, made
from a combination of limestone, potato starch, and recycled milk
carton fibers, in the 128 Chicago-area restaurants.
- Miami Beach
will see trade exchange owners from around the U.S. and some foreign
countries coming together at the annual National Association of Trade
Exchanges (NATE) convention. It's scheduled for April 19-21 at the
Wyndham Hotel.
A look into the "Future of Barter" will be one of the sessions. Ian
Jones, President of Bartercard USA; Steven White, Ubarter's founder;
and Tom McDowell, founder of American Trade Exchange and former NATE
Executive Director, will provide their views of what the industry
will look like in the days ahead. The moderator for the session will
be BarterNews editor, Bob Meyer. Ample time has been scheduled
for panelists to question one another, as well as respond to queries
from the attendees.
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We
welcome your comments, questions, and observations.
©
Copyright BarterNews 2003. Redistribution of BarterNews
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BarterNews. |
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