Posted on 03/11/2012 4:06:57 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
One week agao, on Saturday night, March 3, 2012, Carbonite announced its decision to break off relations with its key radio endorser. It appears to have been a fateful decision.
From Chuck Jaffe at MarketWatch, Don’t ‘rush’ to Carbonite shares (h/t commenter Eliot Ness):
When Carbonite Inc. stock took a quick plunge this week, there was an obvious consensus about what caused the move: The company pulled advertising from Rush Limbaugh’s talk-radio program after the controversial host made inflammatory remarks about a Georgetown University law student.
Yes, the market could have feared that Limbaugh’s fans would cancel Carbonite’s service, an online back-up solution for consumers and businesses, or mount their own boycott. Or maybe investors assumed Carbonite will suffer because it will no longer have access to Limbaugh’s audience.
Jaffe goes on to point out that Carbonite has underlying business problems which are driving the long term decline in the stock price, but quotes another analyst as pointing out that the result drop likely is attributable to the Rush controversy:
“There is no way Carbonite’s underlying business is changing as much as the stock trading says it is on a daily basis,” said David Trainer, president of New Constructs Inc., a research firm based in Nashville. “That says there is a lot of excessive trading going on; maybe it’s the Rush thing or maybe not. … For the average investor, a stock this young being pushed around by like this traders is a wing and a prayer.”
Reader Zane makes a related point at his blog:
However, the reality is, with the exception of a zealous few, there will be likely little customers to be had amongst the activists – certainly not the amount of customers that were reached by the Limbaugh show. By the time next Valentines day rolls around will the money spent by the activist come close to money spent by listeners of Rush- likely not even close.That being said,
One more thing : I don’t know if boycotting Limbaugh was a good business choice and I think, no one else knows either. What I do know is: making decisions based on the loudest screamers of the moment, does not usually bring about good business results.
That was my first reaction when Carbonite dropped Rush. How many of the DailyKos and Media Matters screamers actually used or were considering using Carbonite. Probably few.
Why did Carbonite make such a precipitous decision?
There are few things that cannot wait for Monday morning, yet Carbonite issued its statement on a Saturday night, in what appears to be a matter of executives’ personal and political opinions outweighing shareholder interests.
Shareholder are getting massacred as a result.
My Carbonite is still working, but I informed them that
I would never renew.
My prepaid subscription expires in 81 days.
I will advise on FR if the backup quits prior to my remaining
subscription.
A corporation whose executives make monumental (possibly fatal) business decisions based on the political squawking of the moment.
Not one in which I care to ever invest.
Enjoy liquidation, Carbonite.
I wonder if the Carbonite CEO made his fatal decision on Saturday night while under the influence of way too many adult beverages.
No one can say with any authority how many folks were both Rush listeners and Carbonite-users. My humble guess is that somewhere around thirty percent of the Carbonite user base were Rush fans. Toss in another twenty-five percent of the user base who might be Republican. So there might be a trend started, with several thousand folks indicating that they will be quitting. By summer, they may have lost half their base.
You could make up the situation by advertising....but where do you cast your limited advertising dollars? Common sense says you run right back to Conservative-talk radio, but another front person....I doubt if they’d let you in the front door. So you start looking....maybe over at the OWN-network, but they have lousy numbers and are mostly women. Then you start to look at reality TV shows...just to get some kind of attention.
What they eventually discover is that they are now labeled a anti-conservative company, and people won’t even listen to them because of that label.
If you ask me...it’s a spiral trend for the stock, and some company...probably Google....makes a minor attempt to buy Carbonite by this fall. Whatever they offer....if I were Carbonite, I’d accept. It just won’t get any better. With the name change....business might improve.
A book will eventually be written by the Carbonite CEO, explaining that they never dreamed of the day when a stumble by Rush....would bring down their business. They could back-up everything else in life....but they could not back-up their own basic operation.
A rush to judgement
Randi Rhodes?
Funny how this is parallel to ‘actors and singers’ ..[singing]. When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
This stock was dying to begin with. This has nothing to do with Limbaugh, but with management most likely.
Carbonite IPO’d in August of last year. After IPO, the share price settled at around $15 and has been dropping in a linear fashin since then to $8.71 as of this week.
Go to stockcharts and type in CARB for Carbonite.
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui
When an executive hangs around with and supports extremist causes they are subject to those causes.
I would not be surprised if one were to map out Media Matters contact tree, the groups that the executives support were loud and numerous. Yet, they are not the demographic of Carbonite.
So how does one do business in this type of atmosphere?
But recently I have seen several instances now of liberal/progressive attacks on businesses. Both businesses were subject to wild claims and no amount of reasoning would stop the taunting / harassment.
And while Carbonite many will say is a dog with fleas, it does bring to light a very dangerous business atmosphere. And that progressives not only rule their own with the iron fist, but have actively started hunting and stalking small business owners as well. Seeking out the political and even religious beliefs of business owners.
This is very troublesome in the arena of social media, where marketing your company is now pushed as a relationship building tool. As several colleagues discussed recent events, I reminded them that members of the regime now work for Google and FB. I believe these relationship building tools are being manipulated and page owners who think their personal page is separate are sadly mistaken with the advent of the FB timeline.
I think a few of the companies, including Carbonite, were in on the Fluke conspiracy from the start.
They just thought they could get away with it.
CarboSnapple.
Hey, Carbonite...no soup for you!
I just shut mine down. I’m out the yearly fee. Live and learn I suppose. Why would anyone trust them with their ties and funding going to Soros groups?
...”Carbonite issued its statement on a Saturday night, in what appears to be a matter of executives’ personal and political opinions outweighing shareholder interests.
Shareholder are getting massacred as a result”...
It surely would be nice to be able to “vet” the political views of the top executives of any company. In my opinion, that information would tell me a lot about whether I would want to buy that product.
Top down, bottom up, inside out.
It's how they roll.
Astute observations and ones that, if pursued and exposed, will bring a whole new level of understanding to the mess we live under.
I hope your post, and the ideas/points within it, are spread far and wide.
“I just shut mine down.”
_______________________________
I could shut mine down and just forfeit what I have left in credit, but that would be more in THEIR favor.
I have already told them why I will not renew.
> Why would anyone trust them with their ties and funding going to Soros groups?
Why would anyone trust any online backup service?
If your files are important to you, then back them up yourself.
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