Justice in 1998
Two topless dancers won their lawsuit against club owners who classified them as
independent contractors, charging them fees to perform, denying any employee benefits and
not paying them overtime.
Flop of the Year
The beloved updated slick U.S. version of the beloved Godzilla really flopped on the
big screen. Wasn’t the fact that the Godzilla movies were so poorly made in Japan
that made them enjoyable.
Witch Hunt of the Year
Hustler’s Larry Flynt has offered $1,000,000 for evidence that Republican
Congressmen had illicit affairs. That shouldn’t be too tough if people want to come
forward. At least it might show the hypocrisy of politicians judging other politicians.
Blockbuster Headline of the Year
"Speedier Viagra is a spray away." Two University of Kentucky
researchers say they have developed a faster action form of Viagra using a nasal spray.
They can reduce the time to take effect from an hour to 5 minutes or so. Pfizer, Inc., the
manufacturer is not interested. This may open a new bootleg market for Viagra. The quote
from the researchers said "once they (Pfizer) have got a product, they want to leave
sleeping dogs lie…" well at least for a hour.
Flash
- Kaiser foundation Health Plan has agreed to continue paying the cost of Viagra to
Californians.
- Pfizer Inc., named Company of the Year by Forbes
- Clinton’s named Man of the Year by Time.
Ridiculous Perk
Seagram spent $2.3 million to build a screening room in their President’s house
before they fired him.
Optimist of the Year
Ingram Micro’s CEO, Jerry Snead after the stock dropped 27% exercised
$18 million of his stock option of shares. He says he has no plans to sell at this time.
Company Chain Gang of the Year – Ingram Micro. From the O.C. Register
Chatter section. On page 1. Ingram Micros is sending its 300 executives to Sunset Beach
for a two-hour cleanup. Was it because their stock was down? Say no more!
GM and EV’s
They are tenacious with their EV’s. Now GM will try a diesel electric bus in New
York City.
From the O.C. Register
Q.
How many names does the Fingerhut Corporation have in its files?
A. 30 million, reports the Wall Street Journal.
End of an Era
Hayes Corp., who once dominated the personal computer modem business is shutting down
– there was a time when all other modem manufacturers had to be Hayes compatible. Who
goofed?
Keep on Truckin
Auto and Truck sales were 15.6 million in 1998 for the third best year ever. There were
16.3 million sold in 1986. Truck totals are gaining on cars, and taking top spots
regularly. Top sellers of the year:
- Ford F Series
- Chevy Pickup
- Ford Explorer
- Toyota Camry
- Dodge Ram Pickup
Fact
Orange County tourism had 37.5 million visitors in 1998, basically the same in 1997.
NBA Recovering may not be a slam-dunk
In surveys, it’s said 35% of Americans follow basketball. Look at all
the hype that was lost during the lockout strike. At the end, fans blame players and
agents more than owners for the prolonged strike. Even in season, consider that the 17,000
fans at a Laker game represent a tiny part of the Los Angeles area population.
IPO’s Galore
The best performing IPO in California was Ebay, San Jose that grew over 1500%. In
Southern California Broadcom led the way with a 385% gain.
Big in Orange County
On most days now Broadcom valuation has exceeded Rockwell’s as the largest Orange
County based company. Actually Rockwell is planning to move so Broadcom will be competing
with No. 3 Ingram Micro.
Nip and Tuck
The count is in, Boeing received new orders for 656 planes in 1998, whereas Airbus got
556. Airbus is closing the gap.
Expert Predictions
The Orange County Register ran an article in its January 2, edition.
From seven experts: I was glad to see they were unanimous on no recession and no
inflation. Four had the stock market going up and three down. Only three thought the year
2000 would be a major headache.
All saw Clinton still being President at year’s end. The experts were Byron Roth,
Douglas Fabian, Al Frank, Steve Click, David H. Blake, Gary Lisenbee, and Dan Sullivan.
Still to Develop!
- Sweeping charges in the Bankruptcy Laws
- A new IRS
- NBA reaching its popularity again without Michael Jordan
- Monica Lewinsky getting rich
My Predictions:
- Clinton will stay as the Republicans don’t want to risk Gore getting in and
established for 2 years.
- Monica Lewinsky will get rich.
- Microsoft will get nothing, but a slap on the wrist from their trial.
- The Y2K problem will be more hype than harm.
- And to really go out on a limb, the Internet will continue to thrive.
Dumbest Quote of the Year
In an interview with Playboy magazine, boxer Mike Tyson ripped Wallace Matthews of the
New York Post: [He] called me a rapist recluse. "I am not a recluse". Mike
better change his diet, because it seems to effect his brain.
Observation of the Year
From David Letterman: With the NBA settling their strike there are more millionaires
running around in short pants than at a Microsoft picnic.
Industry of the Year – the Internet
Who can explain it?
Who can tell you why?
Fools give you reasons,
Wisemen never buy?
Forgive me Rogers & Hammerstein. Seems like all you have to do is call yourself
Commerce or COM, and you are on your way to being a millionaire.
Comeback of the Year – AST Research
After Samsung paid $900 million to acquire AST Research and lost another $350 million
in 1997, Samsung says its subsidiary has gotten to break even. I wonder how the people are
dealing with that after seven years of losses? It’s ironic that Samsung has chosen
this point in time to sell the AST Research name and its patents.
Honorable Mention – Apple Computer
After reading several book summaries that had authors writing off Apple, it was a
pleasure to see them rebound with five consecutive profitable quarters. Here is a
statistic to me. Apple ended the quarter with only two days of inventory. The industry
leader Dell had seven days of inventory. There is a target for many of my clients.
December Newsletter
Due to a glitch with our Pitney Bowles postage meter and the U.S. Post Office, all of
the December newsletters came back. Perhaps I made the mistake of mailing them during the
holiday season. You may still receive it. I apologize to all of you who were disappointed
and had to whether the month without the Dadamo Digest. but not all is lost. You can find
the December Dadamo Digest on my Web Page: rjdadamo.com. One warning, it is in two columns
and you must read from top to bottom before shifting columns. I plan to take a crack at
mailing January’s issue, but you will also find that on my Web Page too.
Fruit of the Year
A survey indicated that 94% of Americans ate strawberries last year. As a reminder,
strawberries, not oranges are Orange County’s leading crop giving growers $60 million
in 1997.
Over-valued Asset of the Year
Sure Internet stocks went through he roof, but they may be at least a continuing
payback to the investors. So, the winner is: the ball Mark McGuire hit for home
run number 70 in 1998. The price $3.05 million. Do you know how many bats, balls,
and gloves this would buy for inner city children? I notice that at many outrageous
auctions the "winning" bidder does it by telephone. Are they ashamed to be seen?
Losers of the Year
The National Basketball Association (NBA), its owners and players.
From my vantagepoint, the entire issue centered around greed. They hit bottom when the
players decided to have their own charity game, at first planning to give half the money
to the "lower" paid players. Gee, some of them had to go out and find employment
during the strike.
Sports Person of the Year
Hands Down – it is Michael Jordan. Knowing when to quit can only bring admiration
from me. He could have milked his $37 million salary for a few more years.
How fitting the last shot he took was the deciding basket that won the championship for
Chicago. Michael, please don’t follow the Magic Johnson route. I lost track of how
many times Magic Johnson resigned.
I did admire Michael’s first retirement to try to make it as a baseball superstar
starting in the minor leagues. Unfortunately, he couldn’t hit a curve ball. After
kicking around in the minor leagues he finally gave it up. Can you imagine the look on his
face every time he was given $16 for meal money.
Local Business
From the Orange County Business Journal, valuation of companies in O.C. were a mixed
bag with the big guys outperforming the DOW, but the small guys underperforming the Russel
2000.
Company and Business Persons of the Year
The winner, Broadcom and its top executives, Henry Nickols and Henry Samueli. The
company rose to a $5 billion valuation in less than a year and made over 200 employees
millionaires. It will be hard for anyone to top this in 1999, but with Internet companies
springing up all over, who knows?
Runner Up: QLogic in Costa Mesa with a valuation that increased four fold to over $1.3
billion dollars, and they aren’t even Internet related.
From the O.C. Register, Alliance Imaging was the best performing O.C. based company for
the last 5 years an average of 99% per year.
There were 40 Internet related stocks that went public in 1998 with them climbing an
average of 120%. This versus the other 332 new stocks averaging 1.2%.
Mergers and Marriages
Merger companies continue to merge with $1.62 trillion in 1998 that was almost twice
1997’s record of $906 billion. Surveys indicate only one in four say the marriage met
their expectations.
Merger of the Year
Mercedes and Chrysler. Now my Chrysler has been up graded to a Mercedes.
Dork of the Year
President Clinton – nuff said?
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