Shares of OPEN plunged today on news that GOOG bought Zagat. Okay, let’s think about this for a second. Zagat makes their money through selling high brow reviews of restaurants. Often times, they annihilate eateries with scathing reviews. Now they want to get into the reservation business!? Pardon me, but they have a serious conflict of interest and cannot be taken as a serious competitor to OPEN, with GOOG or not. How the fuck are they going to offer reservations to shitholes they pan? They would take payment from restaurants, and in return, their “analysts” would give rave reviews for client accounts just like S&P did during the housing bubble. There is no way Zagat moves in on Opentable’s territory. They are embedded as an industry leader and no one gives a fuck about Urbanspoon either.
Back to Zagat. As far as I am concerned, they’ve been irrelevant for three years now, ever since Yelp entered the market. Why would I want to read the review of just one asshole from Zagat, when I could read 100’s from regular people, without agendas, on Yelp for free?
Google is the new Microsoft, making all sorts of fucked up decisions. They are Johnny come lately to nearly every new business initiative and should stick to what they do best, search. Android is their X-Box and they should get ahead of the curve by issuing a large divided. Within two years, growth at GOOG will stagger and the share price will lag.
Whether OPEN is a buy here is anyone’s guess. It is certainly intriguing at these levels. However, I’d like to see some share price stability first.
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FIG
LOL…..
9-9-9 … if 10% is good enough for God then 9% should be enough for the government … Ha!
It;s the bond rating model!
there has alway been a rumor that google is going to offer low cost or even free reservation service through their calendar and new google+.
traders think that this is the first step.
Google is the internet.
Google plus is a bust, zune style
Google+ is pretty good….it might not pan out, but its no crappy zune. If it doesn’t work, it will just prove out that Facebook is unassailable, irrespective of quality of effort/product from competitors.
I beg your pardon but what do you know?
Agree completely, Zagat is totally irrelevant and its embarrassing that google bought them. Google should have purchased Yelp at any price.
Google is going to get in huge shit for anti-competitive practices…they are trying to develop their own local services, at the expense of superior local services like Yelp and OpenTable. That would be fine, but they “tune” their algorithms to purposely punish these sites (see “panda”) while ensuring their own crappy local services pop to the top.
Let me put it another way — its a little like giving one company ownership of the interstate highway system, and then watching that company only build exits leading only to businesses they own, while choking off every other business.
Google is starting to jump the shark.
Very nice explanation Huggie!
thanks….much like george costanza, im going to go out on a high note.
I’ll see you all tomorrow for the cocaine, gorilla rally inspired by Obama-stimulus and tame chinese inflation numbers.
get your QE on …
Great points. And they were gauche enough to be punked by the Chinese. How unbecoming of a tech titan.
Google did try to buy Yelp …
http://techcrunch.com/2009/12/17/google-acquire-buy-yelp/
Huggy, you sure you aren’t talking about Apple??
Google+ is way better than Facebook which is now full of 50+ year old people.
Nobody wants to see pics of RV’s and Baccarat games.
I believe they’re both vulnerable to microblogging sites like twitter and other emrbyonic social networking start ups that are just a figment in someone’s imagination.
Both sites are gay (NO HOMO).
also there was some premium built in the stock as a take over taget.
Touch backs are so exciting. Goddel should be fired. Let’s just play two hand touch.
Agree…but 108 yard returns are fun to watch…unless you are a Saints fan. Green Bay finally elected not to kick to Sproles who has like 600 return yards in this game.
Fly check out this new jeezy song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obt2_gdpE6o
Google the Microsoft? The most interesting analogy written here in a while. Guess what. Think about it. At some point GOOG is all value and no action. Starting to look like it. Odd the big boys who have a zillion$ in cash and just don’t get around to making in work for the shareholders. Think AAPL and don’t shout shit about their pipeline.
Agree with you and the Space Alien Magician Mr. Fly. Google popularized page indexing and search algorithms. Fantastic. Trouble starts when they stopped innovating and just started buying companies. That’s the path of GE, MSFT, & conglomerates.
I’m not worried about AAPL. Like Senor Tropicana I believe Steve Jobs is in possession of a time machine. AAPL’s next 5 years have already been planned and future iphones will be powered by alien technology.
There you fucking go Tropicana. How many Zaget palms’a guy gotta grease to get a 20?
Smug Zagets with their penny loafers…
I disagree completely. Google does not sell products, they serve information to people looking for it. What is Zagat? Information. Next time I search for a local cafe and on Google Places it shows me the Zagat rating in addition to user reviews I will be in an even better position to make a well informed decision. Think about rotten tomatoes for a second. They use BOTH the user reviews and the ‘professions’ reviews in culmination with each other to provide a balanced consensus.
Josh
Yelp dominates. Zagat is 1995.
If Google can make Fagat web-friendly, it may turn out to be a good buy.
My 2 cents.
My grandfather uses Zagat.
Meanwhile my sleazebag hipster friends use Yelp talk to hook up with girls and talk trash about businesses and debate the finest taco establishments in our fair city. These “yelpies” organize meet-ups for drinks and after parties. It’s like a mini-culture.
Guess which company I think is more robust here?
DRI and EAT may be good buys here.
If you believe, as I do, that RJA and DBA food input prices are about to dip somewhat. Alot of this flight into food has been speculation over QE3. But, with Gasoline UGA rallying this hard, I think the feds hands are tied. Printing Gasoline to 5$ a gallon will lead to a mass freakout by the media, public, and politicians
I can tell that bernanke is HEAVILY sedated ( look at his body language and speech patterns!!!)
But, no amount of pills would numb him to the public lynching he would receive over 5$ gas.
yeeeaaaah cash money fly! reppin for da streets
Gorilla, Obama, cocaine rally!
Fly, Are you switching to Yahoo Analytics anytime soon?
no
As far as Facebook is concerned, I recently recall seeing cell phones being made with “Facebook” buttons built in to the phone, if that’s not the sign of a top I don’t know what is. That an the fact that my Dad now has an account.
That sounds like market dominance to me. A top is formed when ridiculous IPOs like renn renn and linked in abound
Yelp … Open Table … Urban Spoon … Zagat. … Groupon … Living Social … etc …
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WTF ???
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Are THESE bidnesses???
Ain’t seein’ it !!!
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Insightful
That’s cuz you only have one eye!!!
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The downside to being King of the blind …
FLOL!!!
We have such shitty restaurants up here we have no need for reviews, only reservations. We know what we’re getting, a shit sandwich – hold the bread – and we will like it.
Do they warm the bread using ass-crack method a la Road Trip prior to serving?
I actually hope they do.
I’m not even interested in pops at this point, in the event of the monster rally I am all eyes on the divies – AYFKM? (not sure if that’s used on the internets, but used now).
There are some solid heavyweights with +5% yields and mid-cap O&G’s with yields nearing the 8-10% FOR SALE here at these prices! I can use said divie funds to smear on my altar of cash Gods, throw in the eyes of my enemies, or to purchase more equities in a sideshow Bob, Rick Ross Cocaine account.
Anyone into ES futures trading this guy is very accurate . He isn’t asking for anything https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ap2SNhtuQdvFdDJmbm1SSkJmalctdDJzTnd4RXZjN3c&hl=en_US#gid=1
I don’t know you might have to sign in, they are pivots
Not worth it, Jeremy. First you have to sign in to Google. Then you get told that you can’t have access to the document. If the guy really wants to have people read his stuff he can get a web site.
I trade mostly futures. A couple of brothers I went to school with have a site called wall street cheat sheet. They have a guy every morning who writes the morning cheat sheet who is pretty good with es support and resistences. I think its free.
GOOG is the next MSFT or YHOO. They are straying from their franchise. And I agree with your analysis of OPEN as well. I’ve used OPEN and was quite happy with the experience.
Does Zagats review each individual McDonalds for ambiance ? How about the one in Time Square after dark ?
http://youtu.be/Q5H7IYPw40Q
Is it Times Square or Time Square ?
No cheating.
Times. As in New York Times. The bullshit rag.
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um, zagats don’t have analysts that review eateries. i am zagat rater for nyc eateries as are thousands of others. all they do is compile the results and create a general profile from what others have written. thinks rotten tomatoes.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/
zagats is still superior, you are not a new yorker if you think otherwise.
I use Michelin, a far superior product to the pedestrian Zagat. Every New Yorker knows that.
QED
Michelin is for French asshats and tire aficienados.
Nice cartoon, though.
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A-F-I-C-I-O-N-A-D-O
A- Game please.
Do you know many new yorkers who use Zagat?
How many Zagat books were sold in NY?
AN IMPORTANT QUESTION TO ASK YOUR DUMBASS SELF …
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Do you HONESTLY THINK … we are gonna RALLY into the weekend … I mean REALLY ???
The shear stupidity of tha majority of posters here … is … well … QUITE HILARIOUS !!!
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In The Land Of The Blind … The One Eyed Man Is King!!!
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SHORTER THAN VERNE TROYER !!!
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Ok, I wil see your wager and up it.
Should we close green tomorrow, you’re banned.
the clam will do anything to make the market rally the clown way, as an afirmation of Obama’s job plan.
they will manipulate the futures. I will put my wager on Fly
LOL !!!
DAMN … BANNED !?!?!?
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Talk about … “ALL IN” !!!
LOL
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Understand … my “thin skinned narrow minded friend” … even If my “timing” is off by a day or two … EVENTUALLY … I will WIN !!!
It’s inevitable !!!
I WILL WIN !!!
Today !
Monday!
Tuesday!
I WILL WIN … and you know it !
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You are obviously eager to ban me !!!
WHY … I am not exactly sure !!!
Tell ya what … If MY presence here is SO objectionable … Just Tell Me To Leave !!!
Just Tell Me To Leave !!!
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It’s YOUR house … say tha word and I’m OUT !!!
.
Just Tell Me To Leave !!!
I’m sure “The Jackals” would rip my flesh in my absence !!!
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Whatev !!!
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ALF, I’m seriously considering organizing Facebook and Google+ support groups for banning you from commenting on this site. What’s your take on this?
And, for the record, I personally don’t mind contents of your rants, only the form they take. They are crimes against readers.
Funny new handle! Pymph.
(chuckling)
I for one will be more sorry than glad to see you go, Alf. I usually feel like giving you both a thumbs up and a thumbs down on your posts. I admire you for trading your convictions and for putting your trading position out there for all to see, which not very many folks do. But I am also irritated by your arrogance.
You seem sometimes like you are trying to imitate Fly, in boasting about yourself. But you seem oblivious to the facts #1 that this is his board, not yours, and #2 that he has clearly stated that he does not desire to be given advice.
It may only be a few thousand shares, but I will buy like I have never bought before. More everything.
One thing about Google, they can throw ungodly sums at something.
Gov’t should byild Goild mines ,,forget Infrastructure.
build, …sticky keyboard
Google is actually building a Yelp rival, and then tying it into their google+ kingdom. The zagat website verbiage gives a big clue into this strategy “…this dynamic duo (google and zagat) plans to optimize the potential of the Zagat brand while offering ‘new ways’ for consumers to ‘express their opinions’ and make ‘informed decisions'”. Google is thinking that they would have paid a lot more for Yelp when they have the technology to build a better Yelp. But just like google + which is a better facebook technically, they are clearly underestimating the stickiness of Yelp. I wish them luck.
Google just failed to compete with Yelp in review / recommendation business and they made this sudden movie in complete despair. Zagat is useless for last 2-3 years, check their books at amazon, they have 1-2 reviews which means several hundreds copied bought
Call me old school, but I have to wonder why a company like $OPEN has the same market cap as $SFY. $OPEN revs last Q were $34 mln and $SFY was at $159 mln.
I guess online reservations are important, but are they as important as a yearly production of 10 million barrels oil equiv?
Cash flows?
Rev growth?
50ish percent for OPEN, 45 percent for SFY. Same ballpark.
Revenues? What about expenses?
No offense to anyone on this thread, but seriously, who gives a fuck about any of these bourgeois running dog stocks???
You need beans and rice.
That’s it.
You don’t need no stinkin’ reservation for that.
And here’s my review:
Beans and rice are most choice, especially Che Guevara style.
Now shut up and eat.
Crap!
Bernanke had the PERFECT plan ready to stimulate the economy…
But then he got nabbed at the airport!
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Now that’s funny
Every other review on yelp is some clown with a thesaurus thinking he/she is going to become a famous food critic by saying, “simply delightful,” “scrumptious,” &/or “delectable.”
LOL.
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So Obama’s big idea is a temporary payroll tax cut – “you could do better than that” – which is actually a quote from the Seinfeld rerun I watched instead.
And he can’t even pay for it…it is up to the SuperCommittee to find additional cuts.
Now that’s real leadership
Did you listen to the speech, Dipshit?
Obachmann had a MULTIPLE POINT PLAN, which if implemented in its entirety starting this month, would have unemployment DOWN FOUR PERCENT by election day.
And of course the fuckin’ Republicans can’t bear the thought of THAT!
ROFL.
And what about the part about pulling magic rabbits out of his ass?
Ask yourself this: If he could knock four points off the disasterous unemployment number by election day… WTF didn’t he do so three years ago when he had both houses in his hands?
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Because our economic system was still suffering the shakes of the Bush Depression,
and nobody knew what the result the $800 billion Bush-Paulson Bank Bailout would be.
Partisan rationalizations are funny.
The fact is, they did throw enormous amounts of money at their economic problems, but the results were temporary. Stimulus is like giving a defibrillator for the economy – it generally doesn’t help if you’ve been hit by a truck, which is what happened to our ecomnomy. Our problems are too deep for that kind of stimulus to help long term, and one of those problems happens to be too much debt, a problem this plan exacerbates.
I guess you can’t read, DipShit…you fit well in the Obama camp.
Payroll tax cuts as if Social Security can afford it.
Jake, what are you doing with your PMs given the break of 76 in the dollar?
I was going to dump a bunch of them, but it looks like the $HUI is saying “now hold on a minute.”
I’m still only at about 50% allocation level right now (up from 30%, if you recall when I sold off), so I’m remaining “flexible.”
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Yes, that was a great call you made to lighten up…thx
Alf is God
AIG?
Now, that’s pretty good. 😉
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Well, he may not be God, but so far today Alf is right. Of course in this crazy market the S&P can easily move 20 points up or down in 5 minutes. So the end of the day print certainly can’t be predicted at this time.
It’s all about weakness in Europe? God help us.
Buying SMH
Fucking unbelievebale.
Every time this moron talks sends stocks down 2%. Every freaking time without fail.
The faster this idiot is back in Chicago doing community service the better for all of us.
“US STOCKS-Futures down in wake of Obama jobs speech”
The “idiot” has the stock market UP 80% since he took over.
You short or sumpin’?
Bullshit he has it up. That’s The bearded clam’s doing, not Undumbo.
Every time he talks the market always heads south.
I don’t give a fuck if it is up because
you suck dicks on the NYSE floor.
It is UP ON HIS WATCH, and the credit goes to HIM.
Maybe it’s in spite of HIM (sic) rather than because of him.
On his watch? Lol.
The sack of shit spent $787 billion on his constituencies. Bernanke saved the day, you moron, not this community organizer.
Worse than Carter.
Worse since nationhood.
Just buy chip equip. makers-LRCX,KLAC,AMAT
And TXN is up 1% on crap news so what does that tell you.
Buy the chips on the dips.
For daytrading only.
Don’t be paralyzed by news fear.
It’s all BS
Trade what you see and I see chips to be up at least 2% in an hour or two and Q’s will be climbing-Watch AAPL.
TC – I see the same thing you do, but with the DAX down 4% it could easily reverse and get ugly.
It could reverse and has before but as long as they stay positive as DJIA drops it will be all good especially when Europe closes.
I am careful- been in and out of SMH about 4 round trips and LRCX,AMAT twice.
I believe in taking a profit and then getting in lower if price action holds up.
OH Shit. Trouble in paradise
FRANKFURT—Jürgen Stark, Germany’s top representative on the European Central Bank’s executive board, is resigning, a blow to an institution struggling with its credibility in Germany over its controversial decision to restart its government bond purchase program.
[stark0909] Reuters
European Central Bank’s Executive Board member Jürgen Stark.
Mr. Stark is stepping down “for personal reasons,” the ECB said in a statement. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet “wholeheartedly” thanked Mr. Stark for his tenure at the ECB, the ECB said.
Mr. Stark, one of the ECB’s most outspoken anti-inflation “hawks” had opposed the ECB’s decision last month to reactivate its government bond purchase program, as did the head of Germany’s central bank, Jens Weidmann. The ECB has purchased €50 billion ($69 billion) in government bonds since reactivating the program.
Mr. Stark’s departure comes as a surprise. His term doesn’t expire for nearly three more years. As head of the ECB’s economics division at the ECB’s Frankfurt-based executive board, Mr. Stark holds considerable sway over the economic analysis behind the ECB’s interest-rate decisions.
His resignation comes at a dicey time for the ECB. Mr. Trichet’s eight-year term ends at the end of October. He will be succeeded by Mario Draghi, who currently heads the Bank of Italy.
Unless Mr. Stark is replaced by another German, his departure leaves the prospect of the ECB having three Italians on the 23-member governing council, and only one German.
Alf, did you disappear? What if the market closes red today? Then you aren’t banned.
Fly didn’t ask you to leave, at least not yet. Are you the one who is thin skinned?
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