Daily Archives: February 8, 2009

Dow Chemical (DOW) Dissembles About Rohm And Haas Deal

old-carDow Chemical (DOW) continues to dodge the issue of why it will not close the transaction to buy Rohm and Haas. (ROH). Most analysts think that when a joint venture with Kuwait fell though Dow lost about $7 billion in payments that would have been part of the Middle East transaction. Read More »

Posted on: February 8, 2009 – 5:19 pm in Mergers and Buy Outs, ,

A Double Dip Layoff Economy

unemplyA look at the companies which announced layoffs in December and January demonstrates that almost no industry is immune from job losses due to this contracting economy. Tech companies such as Microsoft (MSFT) fired people.  So did many retail operations including Macy’s (M).Consolidation efforts led by Pfizer’s (PFE) marriage to Wyeth (WYE) have begun to put tens of thousands of people out of work. GM (GM) is signaling that it may have to take another 15,000 or 20,000 jobs off its payroll in the next month to convince the federal government that it can become economically viable in a market in which car sales are still falling. Read More »

Posted on: February 8, 2009 – 10:15 am in Economy, , , , , , ,

Amazon (AMZN) Sales Versus The Gutenberg Bible

iphone2The advent of the printed book is usually traced back to The Gutenberg Bible in 1455. People have been used to reading the written word on paper ever since.  

Based on new accounts, Amazon (AMZN) will release a new version of its  electronic book reader, the Kindle, sometime this week. Many analysts believe that it will be a multi-billion dollar product for the e-commerce company. That may not be true.

The Kindle could turn out to be the most recent incarnation of the hula hoop, a novel product that sold well in the late 1950s and then disappeared. Amazon may have a big seller on its hands, but it is just as likely that it will be a bust. Changing people’s long held habits may be harder than Amazon expects.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: February 8, 2009 – 7:50 am in Consumer Electronics,