DEFLATION HITS NET IPOs The market has spoken: unless e-commerce companies begin showing profits, the money tap is going to dry up, and all that's left of dot-com euphoria will be a major hangover. According to research by Investor's Business Daily, 165 high-tech companies that went public since the beginning of 1999 are now trading below their initial offering prices, despite a 90% gain in the Nasdaq over that time period. Hardest hit are the business-to-consumer operations that hawk everything from PCs to pet food over the Net. "A lot of companies out there might just be the walking dead," says a senior portfolio manager at Munder Capital Management. "Access to capital is going to be a big issue." And where has the capital gone? A lot of it is sitting in the coffers of advertising companies, who've profited nicely from the dot-coms' desperation to build their brands. (Investor's Business Daily 6 Apr 2000) -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chico, CA 95929 530-898-5321 fax 530-898-5901
