Friday, October 3, 2008
Glad all family got out of Circuit City
Here is a recent article I found. I'm just glad that many in our family don't work for Circuit City anymore.
Whole article can be read here at: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10053605-17.html
The fate of Circuit City is very much in doubt. After months of poor performance and even worse management, the company reported its second-quarter earnings on Monday for the month ending August 31, and let's just say that Circuit City is in deep trouble.
According to the company, it incurred a net loss during the quarter of $239 million on $2.3 billion in revenue. During the same quarter in 2007, the company lost almost $63 million on $2.6 billion in revenue. In the past six months, Circuit City has lost over $400 million--almost four times as much as it lost during the same period in 2007.
"Clearly, the performance of the company is unacceptable to all of our stakeholders, and it is imperative that we take the right steps to accelerate our turnaround," stated James A. Marcum, chief executive officer of Circuit City Stores. "The management team and the board of directors are conducting a comprehensive review of all aspects of our business to determine the best methods of delivering substantially improved financial performance and maximizing shareholder value.
"We recognize that this will require that we intensify our efforts to correct problems in our business. In particular, to be successful, all of our actions must start with improving the customer experience in our stores. As we move forward, we intend to improve how we operate, strengthen our market position, and build a stronger future for the company."
Here's a clue, Marcum: sell the company to the highest bidder as soon as possible and get out before it's too late. It's your only option.
At the time of this posting, Circuit City's stock price is a laughable $1.21. Compare that to Best Buy's $37.59 stock price and you quickly learn everything you need to know about the position Circuit City presently finds itself in.
But let's take a quick look at Best Buy. Obviously Circuit City is being affected by the current state of the economy and less people are willing to spend money on tech toys than they were last year, so the same should be true for Best Buy, right?
Guess again.
According to its latest filings, Best Buy's revenue is hovering at around $9 billion--well in-line with prior year numbers--and its profit during the quarter ending August 30 is $200 million. More importantly, its revenue is up by almost $1 billion over the previous quarter.
So what gives? Why is Best Buy such a successful company when Circuit City is slowly turning into the laughingstock of the tech retail world? It's simple: there's only room for one big-box tech retailer.
Let's face it--CompUSA (although it has made a comeback to some extent), died at the hands of online tech retailers and Best Buy. It faced many of the same issues currently plaguing Circuit City--little customer traffic, for one--and it couldn't stand up to the experience and prices offered at Best Buy and online.
Circuit City keeps talking about its need to improve the customer experience in stores, but I have no idea how it will accomplish such a feat.
First off, it needs customers in its stores. Obviously people buy products at Circuit City stores, but if there's a Best Buy within a close proximity, I'm willing to bet that the Best Buy will have hundreds of people looking to buy products, while the Circuit City has a handful. I have gone to both stores (they're within about 5 minutes of each other) in my area on the same day. The Best Buy is flooded with customers looking to pick up HDTVs, digital cameras, and other tech toys, while the Circuit City is practically empty.
Assuming Circuit City can increase the number of customers that patronize its stores (which it probably won't be able to do), it'll need to improve the customer experience by reducing its prices, employing more sales representatives to help its customers, and provide an experience in the stores that's more conducive to buying products from the company. Of course, the only problem with that scenario is that the company isn't in the financial condition to do anything of the sort.
Regardless, Circuit City is a public company and it's forced to maximize shareholder value. In order to do that, it needs to find any way to turn a profit and try to fend off the Best Buy and online onslaught. With that in mind, maybe it can turn most of its business online and keep only those stores that are performing extremely well. Or maybe it can go back to the table with Blockbuster and work out a deal to increase the value to both firms.
Or maybe Circuit City can raise the white flag and start finding a potential suitor.
It's that last option that makes the most sense at this point. Let's face it--Circuit City will never be able to stand up to Best Buy and its chances of creating a strong online presence are just as slim. Worse, its financial health keeps getting worse and the company seems like it's at wit's end. And as a shareholder, seeing your executives at wit's end means it's not a company worth owning any longer.
And so, at this time when immediate action is not only advisable, it's entirely necessary, Circuit City finds itself in an unenviable position. The company needs to find a way to turn things around, but it won't be able to do that unless it can invest in those changes. And at this point, that's practically impossible.
Realizing that, Circuit City really only has two options: sell to the highest bidder or face total annihilation. It's a sad state of affairs and I'm sure the company won't like to hear it, but at this point, selling it to the highest bidder is its only option.
And considering it tried desperately to get Blockbuster to bite, I think it knows that all too well.
Check out Don's Digital Home podcast, Twitter feed, and FriendFeed.
Whole article can be read here at: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-10053605-17.html
The fate of Circuit City is very much in doubt. After months of poor performance and even worse management, the company reported its second-quarter earnings on Monday for the month ending August 31, and let's just say that Circuit City is in deep trouble.
According to the company, it incurred a net loss during the quarter of $239 million on $2.3 billion in revenue. During the same quarter in 2007, the company lost almost $63 million on $2.6 billion in revenue. In the past six months, Circuit City has lost over $400 million--almost four times as much as it lost during the same period in 2007.
"Clearly, the performance of the company is unacceptable to all of our stakeholders, and it is imperative that we take the right steps to accelerate our turnaround," stated James A. Marcum, chief executive officer of Circuit City Stores. "The management team and the board of directors are conducting a comprehensive review of all aspects of our business to determine the best methods of delivering substantially improved financial performance and maximizing shareholder value.
"We recognize that this will require that we intensify our efforts to correct problems in our business. In particular, to be successful, all of our actions must start with improving the customer experience in our stores. As we move forward, we intend to improve how we operate, strengthen our market position, and build a stronger future for the company."
Here's a clue, Marcum: sell the company to the highest bidder as soon as possible and get out before it's too late. It's your only option.
At the time of this posting, Circuit City's stock price is a laughable $1.21. Compare that to Best Buy's $37.59 stock price and you quickly learn everything you need to know about the position Circuit City presently finds itself in.
But let's take a quick look at Best Buy. Obviously Circuit City is being affected by the current state of the economy and less people are willing to spend money on tech toys than they were last year, so the same should be true for Best Buy, right?
Guess again.
According to its latest filings, Best Buy's revenue is hovering at around $9 billion--well in-line with prior year numbers--and its profit during the quarter ending August 30 is $200 million. More importantly, its revenue is up by almost $1 billion over the previous quarter.
So what gives? Why is Best Buy such a successful company when Circuit City is slowly turning into the laughingstock of the tech retail world? It's simple: there's only room for one big-box tech retailer.
Let's face it--CompUSA (although it has made a comeback to some extent), died at the hands of online tech retailers and Best Buy. It faced many of the same issues currently plaguing Circuit City--little customer traffic, for one--and it couldn't stand up to the experience and prices offered at Best Buy and online.
Circuit City keeps talking about its need to improve the customer experience in stores, but I have no idea how it will accomplish such a feat.
First off, it needs customers in its stores. Obviously people buy products at Circuit City stores, but if there's a Best Buy within a close proximity, I'm willing to bet that the Best Buy will have hundreds of people looking to buy products, while the Circuit City has a handful. I have gone to both stores (they're within about 5 minutes of each other) in my area on the same day. The Best Buy is flooded with customers looking to pick up HDTVs, digital cameras, and other tech toys, while the Circuit City is practically empty.
Assuming Circuit City can increase the number of customers that patronize its stores (which it probably won't be able to do), it'll need to improve the customer experience by reducing its prices, employing more sales representatives to help its customers, and provide an experience in the stores that's more conducive to buying products from the company. Of course, the only problem with that scenario is that the company isn't in the financial condition to do anything of the sort.
Regardless, Circuit City is a public company and it's forced to maximize shareholder value. In order to do that, it needs to find any way to turn a profit and try to fend off the Best Buy and online onslaught. With that in mind, maybe it can turn most of its business online and keep only those stores that are performing extremely well. Or maybe it can go back to the table with Blockbuster and work out a deal to increase the value to both firms.
Or maybe Circuit City can raise the white flag and start finding a potential suitor.
It's that last option that makes the most sense at this point. Let's face it--Circuit City will never be able to stand up to Best Buy and its chances of creating a strong online presence are just as slim. Worse, its financial health keeps getting worse and the company seems like it's at wit's end. And as a shareholder, seeing your executives at wit's end means it's not a company worth owning any longer.
And so, at this time when immediate action is not only advisable, it's entirely necessary, Circuit City finds itself in an unenviable position. The company needs to find a way to turn things around, but it won't be able to do that unless it can invest in those changes. And at this point, that's practically impossible.
Realizing that, Circuit City really only has two options: sell to the highest bidder or face total annihilation. It's a sad state of affairs and I'm sure the company won't like to hear it, but at this point, selling it to the highest bidder is its only option.
And considering it tried desperately to get Blockbuster to bite, I think it knows that all too well.
Check out Don's Digital Home podcast, Twitter feed, and FriendFeed.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Communication
Here in our world of immediate communication to anyone, it is amazing when we still can't communicate when we need or want to. We use phones, txt messages, Instant messages, email, etc to instantly communicate to people when needed and sometimes messages are still not communicated correctly or in enough time. I am someone who anyone can usually get a hold of me very quickly and easily almost at anytime for anything, but why is this not the case with a majority of others? Maybe some people don't like communicating or don't want to quickly, but is this for a majority of people? Anyway, thanks for those who are efficient.
This is not directed at anyone, I just was thinking about it recently.
This is not directed at anyone, I just was thinking about it recently.
Monday, August 25, 2008
VACATION AND RAIN
Went on a family vacation with the extended family this past week to Florida and had a lot of fun. First we all stayed at my Dad and Mom's new house in Orlando with lots of new games and toys. Some new toys for Tanner and Lindsey and some new toys for the older kids (that means everyone in the family). My sisters introduced the playstation 3 toy to me and the game Rockband that Mike Page and I were into a bit this week. We got the beat down pretty well as we played.
I got to keep up with the olympics in HD on a 65" Plasma there. Also got to see a few movies in HD. It was good to pass some time in the house because there was some rain for a couple days due to Tropical storm Fay coming through Florida.
We went to Disneyworld's Magic kingdom for a day and Tanner and Lindsey had a good time. It was hard getting Lindsey off of, "It's a small world" because she wanted to do it again and stay on and Tanner's favorite was, "Pirates of the Caribbean."
Also went to Sea World for a Day and we all loved all the shows and animals. Tanner loved the shark encounter the best and Lindsey favorite was watching Elmo and a live sesame street show. Carie and I liked the Shamu show best.
We also got to go to the beach near Melbourne and had a good day enjoying the sun, sand, and cool water while riding some bigger waves due to the storms. Probably a bit too much because we all got a bit sunburned.
Also, Carie and I never got to go out for our anniversary because we worked all the week before we left. So we went out just us 2 and went to a good dinner show. They put on a show and give you clues that you should figure out to see who the murderer was. Dinner was pretty good too. At the end they tell you who the murderer is and see if your right. Pretty cool and you can get more info at www.sleuths.com.
Anyway, a good week and Thank you so much Mom and Dad for the invite and a great time.Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Recent Happenings
Just wanted to tell what everyone has been up to recently:
Jeff: I had been working hard in Preparation and during Tax Free Weekend. Crazy how busy and what people will go through to save $20-$60 dollars of Sales Tax during these 4 days. Overtime is really going to be nice on the next paycheck! Taking care of the lawn (mostly) and playing outside with the kids when home.
Carie: Hardest job of all keeping up with the house and now 3 kids. She is going to be getting back to tutoring part-time again in a few weeks that she enjoys. She takes care of the most with the shopping and bills included.
Tanner: Has been busy during the summer, he just finished intermediate swimming lessons and is just starting Under 6 Soccer with Walton parks. He started Kindergarten this year and likes it so far. He rides the bus everyday back and forth. He likes to play with neighborhood friends every extra time he can.
Lindsey: Has also been busy, well making Carie and I busy with the things she can get into when not looked at. We are potty training her and it is going slow. She loves the Caliou show on PBS and likes to go for walks and go swimming. She is at the very independant time that wants to do everything all by herself. "Lindsey do it." Likes to accessorize already and dress up.
Maren: Smiling now when she gets the attention and is holding her head up alot on her own. Sometimes sleeping for 6 hours at night. A little different then Tanner and Lindsey because she likes Bath time and diaper changes. But even she doesn't like changing clothes or getting dressed - just like the others.
Jeff: I had been working hard in Preparation and during Tax Free Weekend. Crazy how busy and what people will go through to save $20-$60 dollars of Sales Tax during these 4 days. Overtime is really going to be nice on the next paycheck! Taking care of the lawn (mostly) and playing outside with the kids when home.
Carie: Hardest job of all keeping up with the house and now 3 kids. She is going to be getting back to tutoring part-time again in a few weeks that she enjoys. She takes care of the most with the shopping and bills included.
Tanner: Has been busy during the summer, he just finished intermediate swimming lessons and is just starting Under 6 Soccer with Walton parks. He started Kindergarten this year and likes it so far. He rides the bus everyday back and forth. He likes to play with neighborhood friends every extra time he can.
Lindsey: Has also been busy, well making Carie and I busy with the things she can get into when not looked at. We are potty training her and it is going slow. She loves the Caliou show on PBS and likes to go for walks and go swimming. She is at the very independant time that wants to do everything all by herself. "Lindsey do it." Likes to accessorize already and dress up.
Maren: Smiling now when she gets the attention and is holding her head up alot on her own. Sometimes sleeping for 6 hours at night. A little different then Tanner and Lindsey because she likes Bath time and diaper changes. But even she doesn't like changing clothes or getting dressed - just like the others.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
A new Favorite Show
I watched this new show last week for the first time called, "WIPEOUT" on ABC on Tuesday nights and I'm hooked. It is really goofy, but so funny. Then right after that, I watched, "I survived a Japanese Game show", and it was almost just as funny. You should check it out tomorrow night on ABC.
http://abc.go.com/primetime/wipeout/index?pn=index
http://abc.go.com/primetime/wipeout/index?pn=index
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Pick your scenario
Cool little map that I found on the web. Only has McCain and Obama on it though. Guess what the results will be on Nov 4th. Choose what the swing states will do. Sounds like a lot of states are locked up already.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Religion Question I couldn't answer
We recently had one of Carie's friends growing up visit us in Atlanta and spent a day with us. She is a different religion and went to church with us. She knows a lot about Mormons already and we got into a discussion and she asked lots of questions. Carie and I were able to answer most of them, but I didn't have an answer to one. She asked why African-Americans were unable to hold the priesthood until 1978. I wasn't too sure so I decided to do research and find out. Here is an article that helped me understand at least a little more on this subject. Hopefully it answers her question a little more.
http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/blackmormon/BMPB.html
http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/blackmormon/BMPB.html
Monday, July 7, 2008
More new Pictures
Had a fun time with Grandma visiting!
Maren is getting bigger and more alert
Also she is smiling more now
The cutest three girls!
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