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Steve Ballmer Doesn't Need To Go

Ballmer was smart not to overpay. Welch did the same with Honeywell, bought the cheaper First Associates, and did well by his company too. Ballmer could buy it today for 25% less. Good for him--and I can't stand Ballmer. He won this battle.

Dolby Earnings: Best of Breed

Author's evidence of prudence in moving a short term investment to long term is helpful. Also, the strong consumer franchises keep reporting good results. It is the weaker ones using the economy as an excuse or reason. A notable exception is Starbucks who got slammed by McDonalds introducing good coffee (which I drink now, as do many of my friends). We still love Starbucks, but they finally picked up a major competitor. They should work through it.

Employment Numbers and New Fed Liquidity

This author seems to understand that ARMs resetting favorably matters. My wife's reset in March; she saved $650 per month. That money got reinvested in her businesses. Her corporate loan keeps going down, down, down in interest rate costs and is saving her business a like amount of money per month versus a year ago, $650 or thereabouts.

How can that not matter? If subprime people can't make the payments at these rates, they have a real problem--which most of them have. But to the rest of this, all this helps each and every month. The next reset on my wife's mortgage, if current rates hold, will drop her costs another $400. This matters.

When the WSJ Competes With the NYT

From a rube.... I used to get physical copies of NYT, WSJ, IBD, and Boston Globe. Cutback one by one: first NYT, then WSJ, then IBD, and finally Globe (local for me). Read news online now. Murdock integration might get more WSJ readers back and add some new ones. Wouldn't bet against Murdock; as this author rightly points out, he knows his newspapers. Interesting to see what happens.

W.R. Berkley Corp. Q1 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

Bill is as interesting now as in Business School. He always had interesting ideas, though some doubted him, but listening was always rewarded. Somehow he can still do it in this format. Remarkable. Worth reading (Bill's comments; not the rest, which is fine, but no big deal.

Starbucks: Spa or Third Place? Barack or Hillary?

Entertaining and thoughtful. A wonderful combination. The admissions are wonderful too. Especially the Hillary one (as I always think the McCain bumper sticker should be, "What does Hillary have in mind for you today?" Shudder). Even with that we can all talk together, as the author says.

Microsoft Should Listen to Its Heart (and ignore the bean counters)

Vista and Office are tired and challenged by MAC, Openoffice.org, and anger by Microsoft's consumer/corporate base. People and organizations are dying to "escape." That's what the "heart" of the problem is. Yahoo is a distraction. Perhaps intentional--they are brilliant in Redmond and shrewd.

Wall Street Breakfast: Must-Know News

Would like Eli's input on why the Mars merger would work. A la Smucker's deal? Combining like products, but not the same ones?

Starbucks to Finally Focus on Lattes, Cut Back On Entertainment

McDonalds got back to Dollar Burgers and pop go sales, earnings, and momentum. CEO admits it wasn't the salads (not that they hurt). Then they take a subtle move and upgrade the coffee! As a Starbucks fan, McDonalds coffee is now acceptable (at a high level versus the dark water before). This is the challenge; and driving around for a treat (Starbucks) with people starting to "notice" gas prices for real (complaining before; noticing now). So Starbucks is focused right. License Burger King--and get your own pop, Howard!

Nice article--refocusing on the basics every company must go through, it would seem. Starbucks is doing it. Good news.

Sovereign Bankcorp, Inc. Q1 2008 Earnings Call Transcript

Sovereign is the perfect consumer and business bank. They have a no fee policy for both. So we leave our balances in as a small business, which sometimes are quite high. They kept after us for a mortgage loan and we did it through the branch. No lawyers; just forms; no downtown closing. If they stay on course, watch out. We have recommended Sovereign to many. They beat their local competitors, Bank America and Citizens, as well as staying up with the other small ones (so they are the big-small bank). Great positioning. As a customer, we hope they won't change.

BOA is suffering from "fee-itis" and the word is out on them. Several small companies we are associated with have left them for Sovereign and others. Ken Lewis better focus, as Sam Walton always did, on "one branch" at a time--to get his people to realize that banks are retailers--"You can only get somewhere one store at a time," Sam Walton, Made in America.

Sovereign is doing it right.

Amazon Toying with Vertical Integration

Good article except for the low cost criticism. That's why Amazon has such a loyal following. Then they can move into audible.com and print on demand books. When brands lose their low price focus, a la McDonalds and Walmart, they wind up being medicore and inspire competitors (McDonalds recovered with the dollar menu, where they started, and are booming again; Walmart has inspired Dollar store competition and growth; resurge in profits at traditional grocers). Amazon has blown every competitor away. I used to shop more widely; now I got to amazon and buy. Period.

As long as Bezos stays focused on value, amazon charges forward. When he talks about "raising margins," as David Glass did at Wal-Mart--got whacked and backed off, but Lee Scott did--sell.

What It Would Take To Fix Microsoft For Me

Perfect commentary. Microsoft is no longer relevant except for being a menace to computing. Doesn't really matter "what" they do now.
Simply is just promoting OpenOffice.Org, the antidote for Office. Our military buyer suggested I try it after having trouble on our new Vista (only for testing purposes; our work horse continues to be 98 and XP).

Slick. So Microsoft has a near free competitor in OpenOffice.org or free on their site (a bit geeky and scare-y; but the developers just have very high standards--unlike Microsoft). Apple is the competitor for OS. Google for online; lots for Xbox.

Microsoft is no longer best at anything. So no break up required. The market is taking care of that.

Scott, the author, is right--and sounds like the experienced warhorse. Why are we bothering? Why think about Microsoft?

Much appreciated. Give it a rest (including me!). Well done.

Apple Earnings: The World Is Going Macintosh

Momentum is going MAC. In the non-Jobs era, Simply software moved away from MAC compatible software because of the complexity of doing so, the demands of MAC people for exact conformity to MAC standards, and our inability to get the "code" from Apple to make everything work. Of late, MAC people have been more forgiving and we have introduced several products with MAC. We are just putting up a MAC section on our website.

Of course, Vista is a mess (listen to our users!). When XP came out, they blamed us for XP; now people blame Microsoft--that is the problem for them. Word's out. We have a new MAC at home; two iPhones (what a device; how can you say enough good things about it).

As a software provider, we KNOW they should have just renamed XP Vista--and moved on. They have inflicted such pain on the public. It is so unfair. That and $1.59 will buy me a Grande at Starbucks--but it is important that Microsoft has done an awful thing to the public--forcing this Vista mess on everyone.

Last weekend, I went to our place in the country with the old 98. What a pleasure; started; didn't crash; sweet. Like the early editions of Quicken (which, by the way, no longer makes the top 100 brands, because they too emphasize complexity v. simplicity of the folks with the magic touch--at Apple).

The Case For 2-1/4

There is a practical aspect missing from all this. My wife's home loan went down $650 per month on the last ARM reset in March; her corporate loan has continually dropped over the last 6 months. All of this has helped family and business cash flow, and resulted in "other" purchases--not just interest payments. How can that not be a big deal over the whole economy?

The Return of Principal

Good basic refresher. Most of us err here. Of course, buying 14% 30 year treasuries in the early 1980s may have defied this....