Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) shipped 1.6 million Kindle e-readers this month. (Apple Insider)

MySpace will lay off 50% of its staff and be put up for sale by News Corp (NYSE: NWS) (AllThingD)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Brand loyalty involves emotions as much as it does the logical reasons people become loyal to products. These are the primary forces that allow the best brands endure. Times change and so do brand features. The best brands evolve and change with the people to whom they are important. It is as much an art as a science to consistently find the right mixture or price, design, and features.

24/7 Wall St. looked at a number of famous brands which have been among the most important in America.  We chose from this list ten brands which were highly regarded and to which millions of people had strong attachments. We then identified those which had fallen from the status of most loved brands to that of also-rans, if they were even still existing brands at all.

Here is the list of brands Americans no longer love:

1. Chrysler

Chrysler has been one of the preeminent auto brands in the US since it was founded in 1925. The No. 3 American car company went into Chapter 11 in 2008.  The firm had flirted with bankruptcy in 1979.  The turnaround of the company by Lee Iacocca was one of the great business stories of the last several decades. The company lost some of its identity in 1998 when it merged with Daimler and the German firm took de facto control of management. That year Chrysler had about 17% of the US car market and sold 2.6 million cars and light trucks. Chrysler will be fortunate if it can sell one million cars in America this year. Chrysler is once again being managed by a foreign company, Fiat, which gained operational control as part of the bankruptcy.

2. Dell
Dell did as much as any American company to popularize the PC. Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) was founded in 1984 by one of the group of young tech entrepreneurs which included Bill Gates of Microsoft, Steve Jobs of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Jerry Yang of Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO),  Sergey Brin of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Scott McNealy of Sun. In 1998, Dell had a market cap of $80 billion and Michael Dell was the youngest CEO ever to run a company in the Fortune 500. Dell helped revolutionize the PC industry in 1996 when it began selling computers online. Dell’s business fell apart from 2006 to 2007 largely because it did not create more innovative products beyond fairly standard PC development and the creation of a global retail network of stores. Hewlett Packard took Dell’s lead in PC market share. Dell’s reputation with the public was severely damaged by several federal investigations into its business practices and allegations that the company sold faulty computers even though some of its employees knew about the flaws.

3. Kmart
Kmart was the Wal-Mart of America before Wal-Mart existed. Its predecessor Kresge was founded in 1897. By the mid-20th century the chain began a period when it was one of the most successful retailers in the US by sales and the number of stores it operated. Kmart also grew through diversification and the acquisition of several major brands during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.  These included The Sports Authority, Borders, Office Max, Payless Drugs, and Waldenbooks.  Kmart failed to make investments in the modernization of its stores which in many cases appeared run down. Kmart declared bankruptcy in 2002 and soon merged with Sears. The original American discount powerhouse had been damaged almost beyond comparison by poor management, too much diversification, and competition with Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) which had taken Kmart’s place.

4. Firestone
Firestone, founded in 1900, was one of the first tire companies in the world.  Firestone became the exclusive provider of tires for the Ford Motor Company NYSE: F).  The first winner of the Indianapolis 500 in 1911 used Firestone tires.  Every auto that won the race from 1920 to 1966 ran on Firestone.  The company was a large provider of munitions to the US government in WWII.  “Where ever wheels are rolling, the name that’s known is Firestone” is one of the most famous slogans in American advertising history.  By the middle of the last century Firestone had established its place as the number two tire producer, just behind Goodyear.  A series of accidents caused by defects in the company’s products led to lawsuits and penalties.  These events triggered financial difficulties forcing the sale of Firestone to Japanese tire giant, Bridgestone.  Since then, the American division of Bridgestone has been known as Bridgestone Firestone.  However, the original American brand has been de-emphasized over the last decade.

5. Time Magazine

Time Magazine, founded in 1923 by two Yale graduates, became the largest news magazine in the world.  Time had editions in almost every country in the world.  Its circulation was 4.2 million in the late 1990s. Time’s Person of the Year Award was one of the most anticipated news events annually. Time also had one of the largest international editorial bureau systems in the history of the magazine industry. Now Time’s paid circulation has decreased to 3.25 million.  News magazines in general suffered from periodicity in the world of instant news. Former rival US News no longer publishes regularly. Newsweek was sold to a new owner for $1 last year. Time’s brand was harmed by competition from 24 hour cable television news channels and then internet news websites that are accessible at no cost.

Global M&A moved above $2.2 trillion in 2010. (Reuters)

Moody’s cut Ireland to Baa1. (Reuters)

NSA’s Information Assurance Directorate, which protects US data, assumes that any data base can be hacked (Reuters)

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) may have unusually strong holiday sales (Reuters)

Level 3 (NASDAQ: LVLT), a competitor to cable companies, said it wants restrictions on the NBCU/Comcast deal. (Reuters)

Xe Services, formerly Blackwater, will be sold to new investors. (NYT)

The EU put together plans for a new bailout fund, but it did not calm markets. (WSJ)

The Administration said Americans should have a “privacy Bill of Rights” to protect online data. (WSJ)

A rebound in tech spending sent Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) shares higher. (WSJ)

Profits at Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) rose sharply. (WSJ)

Roche says its drug Avastin will be restricted for breast cancer use. (WSJ)

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) said a bribery charge against it has gotten bigger. (WSJ)

General Mills will raise prices on more products. (WSJ)

Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) online music store appears not to have hurt Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iTunes. (WSJ)

The Senate failed to act on a $1.1 increase in government spending. (WSJ)

National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling said sand meant to block oil from the shore of the Gulf did not work. (WSJ)

The Agriculture Department may restrict the use of biocrops. (WSJ)

China and India plan to sharply increase trade between them. (WSJ)

Some analysts still expect a break-up of the eurozone. (WSJ)

The European Central bank said it will increase its subscribed capital to $14.23 billion. (WSJ)

Oracle profits rose 28%. (WSJ)

Consumer Reports says Sprint-Nextel’s (NASDAQ: S) customer satisfaction rating rose. (WSJ)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) set an arrangement to continue to sell ads on News Corp’s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace. (WSJ)

Increases in Treasury yields pushed mortgage rates higher. (WSJ)

The Bank for International Settlements said banks will face a $763 billion capital shortfall under Basel III regulations. (WSJ)

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) sued Apple for more patent infringements. (NYT)

Obama will try to get private capital back into the mortgage markets. (FT)

US court decisions could sharply increase costs of the BP plc (NYSE: BP) oil spill. (FT)

Spain’s banks may have sharp drops in revenue. (Bloomberg)

The lapse of incentives in the Chinese car market could help GM. (NYSE: GM) (Bloomberg)

Massey may takeover International Coal. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

Reuters:   Large shareholders of BP plc (NYSE: BP) were against the oil company raising a large sum of capital by issuing new shares.

Reuters:   Oil from the spill leaked into Lake Pontchartrain.

Reuters:   The EU said it would share bank data with the US to detect terrorism.

Reuters:   Crude continued a four-week drop.Reuters:   Fujitsu is letting software developers run some of its products free for testing purposes.

Reuters:   Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Bing and Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) search products will allow for music downloads with Google’s set up to work with Android.

WSJ: Agricultural Bank of China’s IPO will gauge global demand for large Chinese companies.

WSJ:   Many major stock markets are below 2007 highs.

WSJ:   Vacant offices rose in Q2.

WSJ:   Brian T. Moynihan’s choice as CEO of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was nearly blocked by one board member.

WSJ:   Toyota Motor (NYSE: TM) is changing how its tests its cars.

WSJ:   News Corp.’s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace is allowing search engines including Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO), Bing, And Google Inc. to bid to sell ads on the service. The amount MySpace gets from the deal will be less that its last deal with Google.

WSJ:   Eli Lilly & Co (NYSE: LLY) will lose patents on eight drugs this year.

WSJ:   Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is working to create a large business to serve the health care industry.

WSJ:   China attacked a US plan to prevent one of its steel companies from investing in US counterparts.

WSJ:   SK Telecom may offer the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone and iPad.

WSJ:   Libya suggested it should by a stake in BP.

WSJ:   Europe’s leaders are losing popularity because of new austerity plans.

WSJ:   Growth in China’s car market slowed.

WSJ:   CEOs at companies with stock price increases are hanging on to their jobs.

WSJ:   China’s companies are increasing the rate at which they buy companies in Japan.

WSJ:   IPOs which are also for sale to private investors get higher prices at market.

WSJ:   The improvement in credit card delinquencies is because the long-term unemployed are no longer in the system

NYT:   Rising labor costs cut hurt margins on the iPhone and other electronics.

FT:   China may begin to invest in US banks.

FT:   BP ruled out issuing new shares.

FT:   The global car sector’s recovery is over for now.

FT:   Investors are worried about regional defaults in the US.

Bloomberg:   The head economist at TD Bank says the European financial situation will worsen

Bloomberg:   Global nations are reducing deficits by the most since 1970 which will hurt GDP growth.

Bloomberg:   Apple may use app downloads to sell ads.

Bloomberg:   GM sales in Latin America could grow 68% by 2014.

Douglas A. McIntyre

The rumor is that Bebo was sold for $5 million, against the $850 million that AOL paid for it two years ago. Some analysts think that AOL closed the deal to get a $275 million to $325 million tax benefit. It did not need that excuse. Bebo was a lousy business.

MySpace is a lousy business, too. Murdoch’s News Corp (NWS)  bought it in 2005 for $580 million. He hailed it as an internet pioneer. MySpace was the 5th most visited site worldwide then.MySpace  has gone from being the largest social network by far to running well behind Facebook and not much ahead of Twitter. No one has a coherent explanation. Some users find that Facebook’s navigation is easier. Others think that it is because Facebook started among college students and grew as those people graduated. It really does not matter. It is difficult enough to make money on social media sites. Making money on one that it failing is nearly impossible.

Murdoch already has some powerful internet sites, most centered around the Fox brand. These probably make money. MySpace is just a distraction now. It may be worth $5 million.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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No matter their colossal size, these internet properties bring in very little revenue and probably make very little money. Facebook was given a valuation of $15 billion last year. That may no longer be more than a pipe dream. Rupert Murdoch at News Corp (NWS) says that MySpace is missing its revenue targets. Its sales are under $1 billion, no match for old-line portals like AOL and Yahoo! (YHOO).

According to the FT "The shortage of revenue among social networks, blogs and other “social media” sites that put user-generated content and communications at their core has persisted despite more than four years of experimentation aimed at turning such sites into money-makers."

Google has no trouble telling its shareholders that any real money from its video site, YouTube, is well in the future. And, YouTube has the largest share of the online video market. But, much of the content posted there is of poor quality and hard to put into categories. Why would marketers want to be side-by-side with crap?

At large social network sites, finding the common bonds among the tens of millions of people who keep personal pages has been difficult. That makes targeting advertising almost impossible. There is also a concern that people who spend a lot of time at MySpace and YouTube are shut-ins with low household incomes.

Digg.com, Sphere, Newsvine, Del.icio.us. Dead as doornails.

Douglas A. McIntyre

T-Mobile USA has been selected to be the first carrier to provide the new software application to its customers.

Mike Lazaridis, founder of Research In Motion, will join Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook, to formally unveil and demonstrate the Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones application today at the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment show in San Francisco. This application will be available for download today.

Facebook users can wirelessly send and view messages, photos, pokes and Wall posts. The rich, native application goes beyond browser-based access, automatically pushing notifications to the user’s BlackBerry smartphone as friends and colleagues send notes, Wall posts or pokes. The application allows users to take a photo, upload it to the site with captions and tags; quickly and easily invite friends; manage events; manage photo albums; and manage their status while on the go.

This does have some business applications depending upon your business, but it may just end up being another time hog.  The take from 24/7 Wall St. on this is that the announcement will be a harbinger for many more similar announcements regarding other social networking sites with phone makers and with carriers.  This trend has already started as social networking has already started going mobile (MySpace-Helio and others).  Free weekly email sign-ups can be accessed here. 

Now the question comes down to whether this and other deals make a rumored and long-speculated investment from Google or Microsoft come with a higher price tag.

Jon C. Ogg
October 24, 2007

Jon Ogg is the editor of the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter; he does not own securities in the companies he covers. 

But it would put a substantial valuation on this social networking site.  After the success of News Corp’s (NYSE:NWS) MySpace and after the ramp of Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) YouTube, everyone has catching up to do.  The space is not wide open, but it isn’t yet closed.

• Yahoo! (NASDAQ:YHOO) has been interested in Facebook as well, but the price was deemed too high at the time.
• We have hit the measurement that the company on its own was not worth much.
• These last August numbers were pretty strong though.
• There was always that pesky lawsuit that was a barrier as well.

Jon C. Ogg
September 24, 2007

The feeling is that Murdoch got a deal on the largest of the social network sites. But one industry estimate says that MySpace will only do $200 million in revenue this year. But, how can a property with 44 billion monthly page views bring in so little revenue?

The answer is that social network sites deliver an audience that its almost useless to online marketers. The people who go to sites like Facebook cannot be organized in any logical way as visitors to Yahoo! Finance or AOL Movies can be.

One of the dirty little secrets about the internet is that much of the advertising inventory is sold as remnants for well under $1 per thousand pageviews. The CPM that advertisers would pay to be on the front page of CNN Money could be closer to $40. But, a large portion of the advertising run online is dancing aliens selling mortgages. This is because much of the internet’s traffic cannot be organized and sold to highly targeted audiences. So, this inventory goes for a song.

Social network audiences probably carry the lowest value of any ad inventory on the web. An educated guess would be that if MySpace will do $200 million in revenue this year, Facebook might do $50 million. And, that is not likely to hit $500 million anytime soon, It may never happen.

Facebook’s lack of attractiveness to advertisers is its valuation Achilles Heel.

No one has bought the company because it is not worth much.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at 24/7 Wall St.

The rapid growth of the web operation makes it a true competitor to News Corp (NWS) MySpace and an increasingly attractive acquisition candidate for one of the large web portals that needs to add to mass audience and has little presence in social networking. Yahoo! (YHOO) and Microsoft’s (MSFT) MSN are the two most logical buyers.

While MySpace was sold for $565 million, it is likely that the price inflation that goes with properties that might involve an auction process among large web companies could put Facebook’s value at over $2 billion.

Douglas A McIntyre