This Thread Is Worthless Without Pictures.
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.
It should be easier enough to find out who the CEO is and what his political contributions are/were to the Democrat Party.
Based on what they did, when they did, I wouldn’t consider paying them anything to back up my information; they cannot be trusted in my opinion.
This Thread Is Worthless Without Pictures.
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.
Great post and analysis. But the above sentence is incorrect. Carbonite was hurt by pulling away from rush, not by rush’s statement.
I was thinking about subscribing, but not now. I hope they fold. I hope the idiots in charge all get fired for gross incompetence. I remember them and the other fools who quit on Rush. Even after he apologized. Screw all of them.
I saw a carbonite ad on tv a few minutes ago on speed channel.
If one were basing their decision on the ethics of the CEO who supports the likes of MoveOn.org...one must ask oneself...
My computer is backed up on Carbonite, what are the chances that this company will rollover and handover my personal computer files if the government requests them? Are my files, still truly my files or are they now subject to some obscure clause in the contract to the government. Did one sign up under the offer code, "Rush, Beck, or other conservative host?" Have I unwittingly put myself on a 'list?' Can they or will they use this information against me somehow?
It might not solely have to do with Rush, but the managements boneheaded decision is definitely a contributing factor!
Didn’t Carbonite stock drop 12% last Monday? Some of the credit would go to Rush, IMO.
“Gotcha” “OMG Did you See THIS?”, etc.
Chapter titles devolved to headlines devolved to screaming for attention.
With the plethora of exposure, we no longer have reasoned debate, thoughtful discussion, or the like.
TV, news, social media, etc. has become a race to get attention. Like a three-year-old yelling “look at me look at me”
Since there’s not a whole lot going on that requires 24/7 attention (never mind that there’s nothing new under the sun), society is gravitating to a weird bipolarization - anti-social behavior in public, and a morbid craving for company in the electronic world.
“What if Rush used some of his fortune to start a News Empire.”
Yes, yes, YES! Use News Corp as the model. Start small and grow exponentially with the help of sites like FR. Somebody email him. If not now, when? If not us, WHO?
Cloud based data storage is a commodity. Carbonite got in early and positioned themselves nicely. They’ll never recapture their position. I doubt they liquidate, they’ll sell their remaining user base to Cisco or Amazon or somebody and never be heard from again.
Although Carbonite makes good faith efforts to store Your backed-up files in a secure operating environment that is not accessible to unauthorized users, Carbonite cannot guarantee complete security. By using such products and services, You knowingly accept this risk.
http://www.carbonite.com/en/terms-of-use/security
Business Lesson to be learned: Never make a decision on Saturday night after drinking all afternoon. Nothing good will come of it.
Sadly Rush has addressed this repeatedly on his show. He has no intention. Unfortunately.
Unfortunately, the world doesn't work like we think it should. The super-wealthy control the world and are not people like Soros. Soros is a simply a tool of the super-wealthy. Rush would be forced to become a tool also or lose his fortune and/or his life if he persisted. It may already have happened. Rush is not a messiah. Leaders are too easily influenced and co-opted. The whole world looks for a leader and they are being provided.
Individual, non-violent, non-compliance is the only effective method. Like an infection that spreads from within one microbe at a time and kills the beast.
People can have their minds changed. He doesn’t need to use very much of his personal $$$. His leadership is worth much more.
As of Friday, Laura Ingraham still had them on.
They're swimming against the current. Conservatives have an easier task in that the majority of Americans are conservatives, (even though unaware of it).
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