Street Speculator

It was reported last week that Charlotte Bobcats owner Robert Johnson was looking to sell the team. This move surprised the SPEC’s. Most Pro-Sports Owners never sell their team. Too much pride, adoration, buzz, even in the face of annual losses.

However, the Bobcats were never profitable during Johnson’s ownership. Forbes magazine values the team at $284 million. Robert Johnson purchased the team for $300 million + in 2003. The Bobcats are currently ranked 29th out of 30 NBA teams as far as valuation. The team reported a $4.9 million dollar loss for the most recent fiscal year.

It is believed that approximately 2 to 3 years ago, Johnson made capital call requests to his limited partners of which it is believed none of them would abide.  Johnson therefore had to pony up more of his own money to cover team losses. This move also increased Johnson’s ownership percentage in the team.

Nine (9) years of losses have finally become too much for the Billionaire. The new taxpayer funded arena could not remove any losses. If there is one thing about wealthy people we know is that they do not like to loose money. “The Rich Man’s Toy” as Johnson once called Pro-Sports teams, is now become an attractive nuisance (Legal Jargon).

Ironically, Robert Johnson will probably not have trouble finding a buyer. People are always willing to purchase Pro-Sports teams. The only obstacle he may encounter is in the asking price. He will probably attempt to be made whole from his initial investment, but in this environment, any price above $290 million is steep for an NBA team anyhow. Remember, Charlotte’s largest industry, banking, has its two largest institutions running off of TARP money. That is the perception anyhow.

In the world of free-markets and entrepreneurship, there always comes a time when the indestructible Big Kid on the Block looses its dominance to rising stars.

For example look at Yahoo (Symbol: YHOO) and Microsoft (Symbol: MSFT). Both companies were in existence and had web browser technology available before Google (Symbol: GOOG) was created in a garage. Now they cannot decide on who wants to purchase and who is willing to be acquired. Now, look at who’s the king of search, Globally!!

Blockbuster (Symbol: BBI) was the king of the video rental market. Then came along Netflix (Symbol: NFLX) who 1st gave the consumer a “No Late Fee” policy. This marketing strategy was amazing as Netflix is probably the U.S. Postal Services’ largest customer while Blockbuster is becoming a DINOSAUR.

The Adobe (Symbol: ADBE) Premiere Pro software is the standard when it comes to Flash video editing. I believe it has been the dominant player in this area for the past 4 to 9 years, maybe longer. However, the SPEC’s have discovered a company we believe is based out of India, which has software to allow even the novice video creator look like a Pro.

TOUFEE: www.toufee.com, is a company whose site allows and provides the tools to create great flash video products. The company has its own platform which provides backgrounds, uploading of images and videos, text features, etc….. Once you create the video, Toufee then allows you to forward the video for publication to YouTube. However, the best feature is that Toufee also converts the video to other formats (.flv, mov, avi, etc..). This conversion feature is great for those with video players on their website.

The video conversion feature is simple. Toufee sends the user a email after a video if published to YouTube from its site. The email includes instructions for the designer/creator as to how to convert into a different format. The conversion process takes under 4 to 5 minutes, where Toufee will subsequently email the converted video to the author as well.

Most important is the Price & Customer Service. Toufee charges an annual fee for its service which allows the ability to create an unlimited amount of videos. I believe the highest annual price on the site is $199.95. Toufee also has random 1/2 price offers.

Toufee also has a “Support” feature. This is used to report any errors or bugs occuring whenever creating or editing a video. The SPEC’s have also used Support to ask technical questions about the product. The response time of the Toufee team has always been under 1 hour. Each response provided by the company was clear and solved all problems we encountered.

Any current or budding “Web Video” designers cannot go wrong using Toufee.

The predictions and calculations have finally been released. The U.S. government today released a report stating that the Social Security Trust fund will be depleted by the year 2037. Subtract 65 from 2037 and you get 1972.

It doesn’t take a math genius to see that those born in the year 1972 and beyond will more than likely have no Social Security benefits to depend on. There has always been random speculation as to when this program would bankrupt itself, but today we finally have a “concrete” date.

This announcement may spark fear in many. However, let this fear drive you and not act as a hindrance.

Now more than ever is the time to get your financial house in order. Put off all of the plans for big-ticket item purchases (Homes, Cars, Vacations, etc…). Also, save and invest like a madman (or woman). You must become frugal as well.

Plan of Action:

1. Get out of Debt (Start with your small balances 1st). Don’t go back in!!

2. Put away at least 15% of your earned income or more if possible.

3. Take as many “legal” deductions as possible (Tax Planning).

4. Ignore April the 15th, you want your immediately & not once a year.

5. Pay off your mortgage. Tax writeoffs for interest paid on DEBT is Dumb Accounting.

The above principles are very basic. More will definitely need to be done. This is just a message to prepare you as to what lies ahead.

SPEC’s

The New York Times (Symbol: NYT) recently reached an agreement with the Boston Globe employees union to certain labor and salary reductions. The Times had threatened to closed the entire paper if these concessions were not within a certain time period.

This is ONLY short-term good news for both the employees and Times shareholders. The Boston Globe along with other national newspapers have witnessed circulation and advertising numbers drop. The only exception is the Wall Street Journal, which actually gained customers for its print edition.

The Times and its management should prepare The Globe as an Internet-Only newspaper. Such a radical decision will not please Globe loyalists. However the Times wikk continue to see quarterly losses with keeping the print edition as a going concern.

The SPECs reported on this before when the Times attempted to sell The Globe and its Boston-based sports properties to raise capital. Remember, newspapers are becoming dinosaurs. The local and national news are becoming completely digitized for the desktop and mobile devices.

Long live Boston.com

No time like the present to start a Business. The one problem you will face, as do most Start-Ups is Capital, or lack thereof. No problem! You can always seek out Investment Groups, Angels, Venture Capitalists, and even Friends & Family.

However if you are like many of the SPEC’s, you would want to go at it alone, with no baggage or 2nd and 3rd voices. There is a new web portal whose sole purpose is to bring together Entrepreneurs, Small Businesses, and Service Providers. GetAFreelancer.com

Get-A-Freelancer allows those needing Business Services: Web Design, Facebook Application and Connect design, Video Services, iPhone Application creation, Mobile Web design, etc…. to post their needs for the highest or in a Start-Ups case, lowest bidder. The person or business entity would place their proposed project needs on the site, which also allows you to name your price or budgeted range.

Those providing the necessary services would subsequently make contact, including their offering price. Many often lower the price to be competitive with other bidders in order to win the contract. This is a win-win situation for the Entrepereneur.

The service providers on Get-A-Freelancer.com are from all over the world. Ironically, the SPEC’s have noticed that those outside of the U.S. seem to provide the most cost-effective solutions along with great customer service. Our message to you: KEEP YOUR OPTIONS OPEN.

So, if you are a start-up, 1st put together a small business plan. 2nd, register on getafreelancer.com. 3rd, place your project on the site. Another benefit is that you can put separate bids for different project features and functions.

HINT: If your intent is to start a website, use DRUPAL which is one of the best Content Management Service site design systems out there. Get-A-Freelancer has Drupal designers. DRUPAL gives the owner total control over the addition and removal of all content on his/her website, including advertising.

If you intend to have advertising on your website, use the OpenX advertising platform. OpenX allows you to sell and serve advertising on your site based on website visitor location, IP address, country, city, etc…

SPEC’s