blogs
Posted by
Nils Pratley
13.31 EDT
Twitter and Royal Mail on the market – and it's the posties that deliver
It help to know that unprofitable company B – that's Twitter, of course – could be priced at $12bn (£7.5bn), or more than twice the value of profitable Royal Mail?
We are, by now, used to sky-high tech valuations. Even so, it's remarkable that the rumoured $10bn-$15bn for Twitter has generated so little debate. Even with another six months of growth under its belt, the company is still generating annual revenue per user of only $2 – call it two first-class stamps.
The great hope is that companies will pay to unleash a wave of advertising and Twitter users will accept that commercial messages are the price to be paid for a free service. Both ends of that proposition are untested. Facebook, it is true, has covered itself in ads but the character of Twitter may be different: its fast and furious nature may not lend itself so easily to becoming an online billboard or distributor of money-off vouchers. It's the perennial problem of how to value high-growth companies versus utility-like plodders. At these valuations, the vote here goes to the plodder.
Royal Mail red letter day- its duty is to ensure the public pursue receives fair value.
Posted by
Charles Arthur
Thursday 22 August 2013 14.06 EDT
Apple TV rumours won't go away
Apple has no incentive to try to crack the TV market – far more likely is a wearable Apple fitness device
Each week another tidbit of information says Apple has been negotiating with this or that American TV content provider - now ESPN, then HOB, then Viacom - to offer exclusive programmes for its always-expected-yet-never-shown TV set. Apple does offer something called Apple TV: it's a set-top box the size and colour of an ice hockey puck. Steve Jobs referred to it as a "hobby", and Tim Cook hasn't changed that approach. Even so, more than 13m have sold since the launch, half of
Nils Pratley
13.31 EDT
Twitter and Royal Mail on the market – and it's the posties that deliver
It help to know that unprofitable company B – that's Twitter, of course – could be priced at $12bn (£7.5bn), or more than twice the value of profitable Royal Mail?
We are, by now, used to sky-high tech valuations. Even so, it's remarkable that the rumoured $10bn-$15bn for Twitter has generated so little debate. Even with another six months of growth under its belt, the company is still generating annual revenue per user of only $2 – call it two first-class stamps.
The great hope is that companies will pay to unleash a wave of advertising and Twitter users will accept that commercial messages are the price to be paid for a free service. Both ends of that proposition are untested. Facebook, it is true, has covered itself in ads but the character of Twitter may be different: its fast and furious nature may not lend itself so easily to becoming an online billboard or distributor of money-off vouchers. It's the perennial problem of how to value high-growth companies versus utility-like plodders. At these valuations, the vote here goes to the plodder.
Royal Mail red letter day- its duty is to ensure the public pursue receives fair value.
Posted by
Charles Arthur
Thursday 22 August 2013 14.06 EDT
Apple TV rumours won't go away
Apple has no incentive to try to crack the TV market – far more likely is a wearable Apple fitness device
Each week another tidbit of information says Apple has been negotiating with this or that American TV content provider - now ESPN, then HOB, then Viacom - to offer exclusive programmes for its always-expected-yet-never-shown TV set. Apple does offer something called Apple TV: it's a set-top box the size and colour of an ice hockey puck. Steve Jobs referred to it as a "hobby", and Tim Cook hasn't changed that approach. Even so, more than 13m have sold since the launch, half of