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25
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Western Sizzlin Discloses ITEX Offer Amendment
Western
Sizzlin Corp. (WEST), engaged in the operations of restaurants,
reported it has amended its exchange offer for ITEX Corporation (OTCBB:ITEX).
The new offer is for up to 2,700,000 shares of ITEX common stock, at
the same exchange ratio of one share of ITEX common stock, for
.06623 shares of Western common stock. The exchange offer is
scheduled to expire on Wednesday, March 26, 2008, unless extended.
Previously on
January 29, 2008, Western Sizzlin offered $16.4 million to acquire
Bellevue (WA)-based ITEX. Western Sizzlin said that the offer price
was higher than the current market value of $14.2 million and
representing a premium of 16% of ITEX stock.
Western
Sizzlin also noted that the combination of both companies would
increase the barter volume of ITEX through its other subsidiaries,
reduce redundant public company costs, and provide financing for
other acquisitions.
As a result of
its amended offer, Western has eliminated some significant
conditions to the offer such as 60% of ITEX�s shares being validly
tendered in the exchange offer and not withdrawn, Western being
satisfied in its reasonable discretion that the Nevada anti-takeover
statutes will not be applicable, the expiration or termination of
any waiting periods under applicable antitrust laws, the receipt of
all required consents under the terms of ITEX�s debt agreements, and
stockholder approval of the issuance of Western shares in the offer.
The complete
terms and conditions of the amended exchange offer are set forth in
the amended registration statement and the other offering documents
filed by Western Sizzlin with the SEC.
WEST closed
Thursday�s regular trading session at $15.01, down $1.24 or 7.63%.
ITEX closed Thursday�s regular trade at $0.97, down a penny or
1.02%.
Wall Street Journal Publishes Article On Barter
The
Wall Street Journal did a piece for the small-business owner
titled, �Barter A Bit and Give Your Cash A Rest�, by Kelly Spors.
(To
read the article
click here.)
Spectrum Bridge Will Handle
Radio Bandwidth Barter
Spectrum
Bridge has launched a company and a web site to help those with
excess or unused wireless spectrum to trade/barter it off to those
who need it. The company claims to be the first such online site,
and is developing tools that guide spectrum holders through the
process of creating secondary spectrum offerings to what it believes
is a large base of anxious users.
�There�s an
ecosystem of players to make this happen,� said Rick Rotundo, chief
marketing officer at Spectrum Bridge. �The FCC allows 5.5 GHz of
spectrum to be tradable on a secondary market and additionally
allows spectrum holders to disaggregate their spectrum on frequency,
time and domains.�
That secondary
market includes spectrum from about 200 MHz to 5 GHz and �at any
give time and place about 80% to 96% goes unused,� Rotundo
said.
While the
carriers are generally viewed as the most prominent spectrum
holders, others such as private non-profit institutions like the
Catholic Church, universities and private equity funds, that
purchased the spectrum on spec have air to barter.
On the
receiving end, large enterprises like ports, airports, logging
enterprises, petrochemical concerns and �even the big box stores
that are having issues with Wi-Fi in their facilities� are looking
for licensed bandwidth because the normal unlicensed bands don�t
seem to be working.
Of course
equipment manufacturers also have to be on board to make this all a
reality. While an increasing number of products are built with
frequency agility, getting the right equipment to run within certain
licensed frequency ranges can still be a challenge, Rotundo
admitted.
�The equipment
manufacturers are going to have to look at that and figure it may be
worthwhile to add that frequency to their WiMAX capabilities so they
can sell into this mass market for licensed spectrum,� he said.
While no one
really �owns� spectrum�it�s just being borrowed from the FCC for a
price�those with licenses and limited needs can share it with those
who have more specific needs. Bringing the two together, and then
brokering the transaction is what Spectrum Bridge hopes to be all
about.
�When a
transaction happens, we have a software certificate that gets
generated into these new WiMAX systems that automatically configures
them to take advantage of the spectrum that was just transacted,�
Rotundo said. �The end user doesn�t have to worry about how to set
up the system.�
And the
spectrum holder doesn�t have to worry about what the end user is
doing with the spectrum, including going beyond the agreed-upon
lease period. Spectrum Bridge will primarily earn its money as the
middleman.
For more
information go to
http://www.spectrumbridge.com.
Google Unveils New Dashboard To Advertising Agencies
Google�s North
American president of advertising/commerce, Tim Armstrong, gave a
keynote address March 7 at the American Association of Advertising
Agencies (AAAA) Media Conference in Orlando. It was noted that
annual advertising in the U.S. is $198 billion, and $479 billion
worldwide.
In his
address, Armstrong unveiled Google�s �top secret strategy� for
helping agencies transform the way they plan, buy and manage,
media...not just online, but across all their media options. He
showed a new �dashboard� approach developed for managing buys.
�It basically
takes a mix of different media types and puts them together,� he
explained, adding that the system, which is still being developed,
was part of a suite of new tools Google is building to make the
lives of media buyers easier.
He said the
new dashboard would enable buyers to manage mixes of off-line media
like TV, radio and print campaigns, with their online display and
search advertising, and to harness their data streams to show how
one platform influences traffic to the others.
Google has
recently begun striking alliances directly with agencies, such as
its much publicized hook-up with Publicis, which Armstrong said was
all about building tools to help the ad agencies scale.
Giant U.S. Public Relations Firm Helps Russia With Really Smart PR
Flush with
foreign reserves from oil and natural gas sales, the Kremlin is
pumping tens-of-millions of dollars into various forms of public
diplomacy. The Russian government has hired the U.S. public
relations firm Ketchum Inc. �to help the government tell its story
of economic growth and opportunity for its citizens,� said Randy
DeCleene, an executive at the firm.
As part of the
PR push, the official government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta
is funding monthly supplements in newspapers in India, Britain,
Bulgaria and the United States, including a paid supplement in the
Washington Post.
Russiaprofile.org,
a news and analysis site funded by government news agency RIA
Novosti, features a range of opinions...including some quite hostile
to the Kremlin. RIA Novosti also hosts an annual Valdai Discussion
Club, where 30 to 40 Russia experts and prominent journalists,
mostly from the United States and Western Europe, are wined and
dined in the company of Russian policymakers and political analysts.
The Hoover
Institute�s Michael McFaul (an adviser to Barack Obama�s campaign)
called the Valdai events, which featured sessions with
then-President Vladimir Putin, �really smart PR.� A previous
disclosure noted Russia also has a new think tank, the Institute of
Democracy and Cooperation.
(Source: Washington Post, March 6,
2008)
Hotel
General Managers
Work With Audio/Visual
Vendor On Barter
Collect cash, as usual, from the guest accounts staying at
your facility that require the use of professional AV
services. And rather than shouldering your ongoing employee
costs, or your current vendor�s cash agreement for AV
services, here�s a much better alternative:
Work with a proven national vendor (a sterling 25-year track
record) who will provide all of the AV services for your
hotel on a 100% TRADE BASIS! (Payment to be in the form of
trade dollars.)
Your hotel�s annual AV billings must be a minimum of
$200,000, and this offer is available only in the
continental United States.
For a confidential introduction contact Bob Meyer via
e-mail:
bmeyer@barternews.com.
Attention Trade Exchange Owners:
If your member hotel(s) have a minimum of 10,000 sq. feet of
meeting space and annual billings of at least $200,000 for
AV services this is a great opportunity to earn substantial
cash service fees on the hundreds of thousands of trade
dollars your hotel member will be paying the vendor. Contact
Bob Meyer at the above e-mail. |
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The Growth and Use of Secondary Capital (New Money) Creates
Unprecedented Wealth In Today�s New Age Of Possibility
There are
many forms of secondary capital�which can be defined as any
financial instrument that measures and communicates value in a
common language. Would you like to see and learn more about the many
forms of secondary capital?
We have 70
free, informative and inspiring, articles for you in our �Secondary
Capital Section.� Check it out...
www.barternews.com/secondary_capital.htm.
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