February 8,
2005 Written
by Bob Meyer, Editor of BarterNews
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Bentley
Commerce Sponsoring Stock Talk LIVE
International
Broadcasting Corporation (OTCBB:IBCS) announced that it has signed
a new sponsor—Bentley Commerce Corporation—for its radio
show, Stock Talk LIVE. The interactive business talk show focuses
exclusively on micro-cap stocks, and airs every stock market day
from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST.
Interactivity,
interesting guests, and significant short-term trading opportunities
are featured in each edition of the show. Interviews, commercials,
and news updates about Bentley Commerce Corporation (OTCBB:BLYC)
will also air on the show. For more information on International
Broadcasting Corporation go to
www.ibcradio.com.
Just
published...BarterNews issue #64, get your copy
now! Orders will be shipped within two business days of publication.
Click on Order Form.
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are not sure if your subscription has lapsed, e-mail your name,
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Awareness
Is Everything. . .
At the recent
global conference in Davos Switzerland the prevailing belief among
the world’s movers and shakers was that global awareness is
needed before change can occur.
In the barter
industry two publicly-traded companies are doing their share to
spread awareness. Although they’re spreading the word about
their company’s services, readers of their press releases
and listeners to their interviews learn about barter.
The two companies
I’m referring to are International Monetary Systems (OTCBB:INLM)
and Bentley Commerce (OTCBB:BLYC). Don Mardak, CEO of IMS, was interviewed
by two major business web sites, www.ceocast.com
and www.smallcapvoice.com.
Bruce Kamm,
CEO of Bentley, was interviewed on www.ibcradio.com
where he discussed his company’s services as well as solutions
for the worldwide barter industry. To hear the interview, go to
www.ibcradio.com/CMN.htm.
Incidentally,
last week we noted that Mardak’s IMS reported doing $37 million
in trade volume for 2004. However, IMS only reports on one side
of the trade transaction, not both sides like other large exchanges.
Therefore when comparing IMS’s trade volume with, say, BarterCard
or ITEX (which report both sides of the transaction) its 2004 figure
would be $74 million.
“What
we have here is a failure to communicate!”
Years ago, one
of the most visible people in the barter industry said the #1 reason
why the industry wasn’t farther along in its development was
due to a “failure to communicate” by those in the business.
This realization
was the genesis of The Competitive Edge newsletter, now
into its 18th year of publication. Trade exchange owners who use
this powerful marketing and promotional tool are never guilty of
“failing to communicate.”
As the owner
of a trade exchange you must stay in front of your clients. Informing,
educating, and inspiring them, because your clients’ bartering
is a relatively small percentage of their overall business. So if
you don’t keep their interest and enthusiasm for trade at
a high level, you lose.
Your primary
aim, like all other businesses, is to get your clients coming back
for more. Every extraordinary business (and every trade exchange
owner who wants to be extraordinary) knows that the customer you
have, is a lot less expensive to sell than the customer you don’t
yet have!
Want to take
your exchange to a higher level? Use The Competitive Edge
newsletter in your operation—it “sells” the many
benefits of working through your trade exchange like nothing else!
To
learn more about The Competitive Edge newsletter and how
it can help build your trade exchange,
click here.
A
look back...two exchanges show barter’s versatility.
Barter
Relied Upon To Move Massive $100 Billion Inventory Of Properties
It’s hard
to imagine today, but back in 1991 the S&L banks in the U.S.
were in great trouble and had to be bailed out by Congress. Lewis
Seidman, chairman of the Resolution Trust Corp. (RTC), was the man
selected to solve the problem. It was his responsibility to dispose
of the bad loans, flawed junk bonds, and the myriad real estate
assets that made the S&L crisis the most expensive financial
debacle in our nation’s history.
In issue #24
we reported on how RTC used barter as the financing technique to
entice the nation’s top eligible investors to get involved.
It was done through cash-flow financing, which enabled the investors
to trade on their expertise and credibility rather than upfront
cash investments.
Seidman moved
80% of the $100 billion hard-to-sell commercial real estate and
loans by trading large portfolios of assets; in exchange accepting
a share of the earnings (the cash-flow generated) from the office
rents, hotel revenues, and loan collections.
“It’s
in effect a partnership...it puts us (the government) at risk for
longer. We’d prefer to get cash and walk away from the properties,”
Seidman explained, “but the market isn’t there to do
that.” In short, he admitted that a barter-type arrangement
was the strategy necessary to move the assets that the government
had been unable to move (sell) in the conventional manner.
Get
New Money-Making Ideas And Valuable Contacts!
You can obtain
useful, informative ideas and contacts in every available back-issue
of BarterNews.
From
the same 1991 back issue....
Film
Production Company Exchanged Advertising Credits For Equity
Icon International,
a New York barter finance company, is providing MovieAmerica Corp.,
an Atlanta-based film production firm, with credits to buy advertising
for use in promoting its movies. The initial trade credits were
purchased with shares in MovieAmerica.
“This
agreement allows MovieAmerica to purchase advertising time and space
now controlled by Icon at rates far below what it would cost if
the purchase was made directly,” stated Lance Lundberg, president
of Icon. “Icon, in turn, will hold a significant position
in an innovative film production company which it purchased through
barter finance.”
Steven D. Brown,
president of MovieAmerica, embraced the unique exchange, saying,
“Our agreement will allow for the purchase of substantial
amounts of advertising without the use of cash, freeing thousands
of dollars that ordinarily would have been spent on advertising.
This type of innovative financing will make it possible for independent
film makers to remain profitable.”
Every
barter company in the world is listed on our web site,
click through to our Global List
of Barter Companies.
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Here
& There...
- Berkshire
Hathaway’s Warren Buffett says he’s happy that Procter
& Gamble is acquiring Gillette...it was back in 1989 when
Buffett met with Gillette’s CEO and persuaded the executive
to sell him a stake in the business. (Gillette was reeling at
the time, being circled by corporate raiders.)
Buffett invested
$600 million in convertible preferred Gillette shares, or what
would have been about 10% of the company then. That stake now
is valued at more than $5.1 billion.
-
The proposed merger
has undoubedly pleased others as well. Although Gillette spent
approximately $480 million on ads in the U.S. last year, P&G’s
massive world-wide advertising expenditures surpassed $4 billion!
A significant shift in how advertising dollars will be spread
among the ad industry behemoths is likely to take place.
-
Reality TV czar Mark
Burnett is busy on another reality show with Martha Stewart.
The prolific producer pursued Stewart last fall and structured
a lucrative trade enabling him to gain a stake in long-term
revenue streams. Burnett secured the right to buy 2.5 million
Martha Stewart Living shares at $12.59 each. On February 2,
the stock was $32.93...having nearly tripled on speculation
that the company would rebound once Stewart put her legal woes
behind her.
-
Have you
signed up to receive a summary via e-mail of the Tuesday
Report every week? If not, go to the top of this issue
(right hand corner) and sign up!
-
Google’s incredible
jump in earnings (4th quarter profits improved 700%!) took the
analysts by surprise...and the company isn’t resting on
its laurels. Google is embracing barter as a tool to reward
top workers by distributing big baskets of restricted stock
to employees who develop promising technology. Google recently
awarded a total of $12 million in stock to two different development
teams.
-
New Jersey-based
Vonage sits atop the $3 billion-per-year voice-over-internet
phone business, although there are more than 400 smaller VOIP
outfits chasing Vonage. The head of Vonage is 34-year-old Jeffrey
Citron, a very accomplished entrepreneur who launched the company
in 2001...putting up $70 million of his own money
Before most of his
friends were out of college, he had earned his first $1 million
as a trader. At 25 he launched Island ECN, an electronic trading
system for brokers, that later sold for $500 million. By his
27th birthday, he’d turned his fledgling online stock
brokerage, Datek, into the nation’s fourth-largest. Ameritrade
snapped it up in 2003 for $1.3 billion.
-
Two real estate developers
in Toronto are racing to bring high-rise opulence to Canada’s
largest city. Harry Stinson, a prominent condo developer in
Toronto, is building the 81-story Sapphire Tower that will be
down the street from the 70-story Trump International Hotel
& Tower.
Donald Trump has
teamed up with Talon International Development, a Canadian investment
company, which holds a controlling interest in the $402 million
Trump project. It’s believed that Trump bartered the use
of his name for a minority stake in the project, as he has done
several times in the past.
-
Marketing with a
flair... Procter & Gamble’s idea of putting trivia
questions on Pringle’s potato chips contributed to a 14%
jump in market share!
-
The United Nations
World Tourism Organization has organized a conference that will
focus on how to lure travelers back to southern Asia’s
tsunami-ravaged coasts. Corporate sponsors and governments at
the meeting have agreed to provide assistance.
-
Millionaires
ages 54 and under will use real estate, in addition to other
means, to fund their retirement...more than double the number
of retirees who are currently relying upon this asset.
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