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The Tuesday Report

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March 22, 2005

Written by Bob Meyer, Editor of BarterNews

We Want You To Know...When you sign up to receive the FREE weekly Tuesday Report announcement your e-mail address will never be sold, traded, or given to another party.


CFO’s Have Conservative Outlook On Economy

Financial executives appear to be cautious, yet hopeful, in their outlook for the economy, a new nationwide survey suggests. When chief financial officers (CFOs) were asked their opinion on the health of the economy for 2005, they ranked their level of optimism a six on a scale of one to 10...unchanged from responses given by CFOs to this question by Robert Half Management Resources, in the fourth quarter of 2004.

CFOs at small companies are more optimistic than their counterparts at large corporations, the results show. Nearly one-fourth (24%) of executives at firms with 50 to 99 employees rated their level of optimism for the economy’s health in 2005 at the high end of the scale, between eight and 10. (This same range was given by 16% of CFOs at companies with 1,000 or more employees.)


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Bentley Expands Network

Bentley Commerce Corporation (OTCBB:BLYC) has announced new affiliation agreements with five trade exchanges, expanding the Bentley Affiliate Exchange Alliance into new markets in Texas, Colorado, Massachusetts, Florida and Georgia. Bentley affiliates (using VirtualBarter software and participating in the online global marketplace) now are located in 38 states and 9 foreign countries.

“Based on our initial success of a new marketing campaign, next month we will expand our effort to market our trading technology, trade card and other revenue generating opportunities, to about 200 trade exchanges,” exclaimed Bruce Kamm, Bentley’s CEO.

For more information go to www.bentleycommerce.com.


eValues Announces New Swipe Card Program

Gary Lassiter, CEO of eValues.net, has revealed a new swipe card program for the trade exchange industry. Lassiter says the swipe card technology handles both cash and trade processing through one terminal.

For more information go to www:evalues.net or contact Ted Delong, eValues president, at (303) 840-7172, ext. 2.


Graham Moves to ICON

ICON International of Stamford (CT) has hired John C. Graham as Director of Business Development. Graham’s most recent position in the barter industry was with Lois Dale’s Barter Advantage located in Manhattan. Prior to that he was director and co-founder of the trade show division at Travel Agent magazine.


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(If you are not sure if your subscription has lapsed, e-mail your name, address, and zip code to bmeyer@barternews.com.)


From The Archives of BarterNews...

Auto Suppliers See Value Of Trading

Two major auto suppliers, Eaton Corp. and Dana Corp., traded entire businesses recently. Dana got Eaton’s axle and brake business in exchange for Dana’s clutch business.

It’s a sign of how globalization is reshaping suppliers, and forcing them to become more specialized in order to meet various automotive standards in different countries.


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From The Archives of BarterNews...

Creative Barter Arrangement Launched Paxson’s Home Shopping Network

Lowell Paxson, of Home Shopping Network fame (now Florida-based Paxson Communications), has assembled a group of 55 TV stations...with a value of $400 million. Like many, his enormous success began with a barter assist.

Paxson grew up in Rochester (NY) and spent 30 years in radio—as a disk jockey, salesman, general manager, and owner of small-town stations. He was still struggling to make ends meet when he stumbled into barter.

It happened when an appliance-store owner who owed the station $1,000 couldn’t pay his bill, and Paxson took 112 electric can openers in lieu of payment. The next morning Paxson went on the air and sold them all for $9.95 each.

Thus was born the Suncoast International Bargainers Club, a radio shopping show that migrated to TV after Paxson leased a channel from a local cable operator. At its peak Home Shopping Network (HSN) was selling over $1 billion a year of downscale goods, like imitation diamonds and porcelain plates. In 1991 he sold HSN, and ever since has been buying TV stations.


Every barter company in the world is listed on our web site, click through to our Global List of Barter Companies.


From The Archives of BarterNews...

Moores’ “Piece-of-the Action” Thinking Worked

John Moores, former programmer at Shell Oil, founded the Houston-based BMC Software company in 1980 which specializes in products for large corporate databases. Having little money, Moores began bartering ownership in the company right from the start—in order to attract top talent.

When he left in 1988 he was a multi-millionaire. BMC continued following Moores’ example, and still offers employees stock. Plus, software developers can own a piece of the sales that their products generate.

John Moores, incidentally, is doing just fine today. Besides buying the San Diego Padres baseball team, he invested in San Diego-based Peregrine Systems (a maker of software that helps corporate computer specialists solve user problems), instituting another programmer compensation plan.

In 1997 Moores took Peregrine public. His 63% of the company—which cost him $13 million—is worth $153 million.


From The Archives of BarterNews...

Adidas And Yankees Cut Barter Deal

Adidas, the venerable German shoemaker, is scoring major points in the U.S. market thanks to the marketing genius of their 51-year-old president, Robert-Louis Dreyfus.

He hit upon the idea of building loyalty in Adidas promotions by offering partial payment in Adidas stock. The first beneficiaries were the New York Yankees, when they agreed to a $100 million agreement wherein the baseball world champions would wear the Adidas logo.

Adidas officials say it’s likely that they will use stock payments to maintain brand loyalty with European soccer teams as well.


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Here & There...

  • The U.S. Tourism industry eyes sales of a trillion! The Commerce Department said tourism sales in 2004 were $960 billion, up from $900 billion in 2003. (Hotel accommodations and airfares accounted for $548 billion of the total.)
  • TripRewards, the loyalty-points program operated by Cendant, has joined Points.com, a site for swapping loyalty-program points. TripRewards members, who earn points staying at Cendant hotels such as Days Inn and Howard Johnson, or renting cars from Avis and Budget, can now transfer points with other Points.com partner programs.

    For example, members can exchange 7,000 eBay points for a free night—6,000 TripRewards points at a Cendant hotel. Points.com charges $9.95 for a single transfer, or $29.95 for a year of unlimited exchanges.
  • 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!

  • The low fare “discount” airlines also lead in customer satisfaction, according to a new survey by J.D. Power & Associates. JetBlue Airways does the best job, according to travelers, followed by Southwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines. Northwest Airlines was rated the worst in customer satisfaction.

  • Outsourcing isn’t as bad for European jobs as some have feared, says an unpublished European Union study. The study suggests outsourcing can help create high-skilled jobs and boost Europe’s flagging economy.

    The 16-page report was commissioned by the EU’s economic affairs department and reviewed by Dow Jones Newswires.

  • It’s oil today, but the World Commission on Water predicts water use will be the world’s major problem within three decades. By that time 40% of the world’s population—three billion people—will live in countries that hydrologists classify as “water stressed.”
  • Publicity pays! English inventor James Dyson saw his bagless cleaner become America’s No. 1 vacuum after guest spots on TV shows Friends and Will & Grace. Dyson’s clean sweep sells for $399 to $550 while an average vacuum costs $150.
  • The International Spa Association reports a booming business in resort and day spas—revenue in 2003 more than doubled to $11.2 billion from $5 billion in 1999.
  • Newsweek’s March 21 cover story on “The Incredible Shrinking Dollar” got massive coverage, but what really scares and frightens business executives are the tough new regulations in the Sarbanes-Oxley law, rammed through Congress after the accounting fraud at Enron and WorldCom.

    According to the Newsweek article, companies have discovered that complying with a provision that requires more oversight by auditors cost 30 times more than originally predicted. CEOs warn that SOX is simply enriching accounting firms, while impoverishing budgets for R&D, marketing, and hiring.

  • Bill Allen, the new CEO of Outback Steakhouse’s 885 restaurants, started out in the industry as a dishwasher. The 45-year-old quickly moved up the ladder, and in 1999 was the co-founder of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse with Paul Fleming, the “P.F.” in P.F. Chang’s. The Fleming’s Steakhouse chain now has 32 locations.

    Outback invested in Fleming’s shortly after it launched, eventually buying 90% of the company last year.

  • U.S. consumer debt is now at a record level—$2.12 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. The $11.5 billion rise in January was double analysts’ forecasts. Fifty percent (50%) of consumers are now making the minimum payment on their credit cards every month.
We welcome your comments, questions, and observations.
? Copyright BarterNews 2005. Redistribution of BarterNews content expressly prohibited without the prior written permission of BarterNews.

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