Copyright 1999 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
October 16, 1999, Saturday, FIVE STAR LIFT
EDITION
SECTION: BUSINESS, Pg. 9
LENGTH: 1377 words
HEADLINE:
TIPSHEET
BYLINE: Bloomberg News; Al Stamborski
BODY:
Martha Stewart, WWF launch
IPOs on Monday
The sweaty hunks of the World Wrestling Federation and
Martha Stewart, the doyenne of refined living, will step into the same ring when
they take their companies public on Monday.
Martha Stewart, plans to
raise $ 100.8 million by selling 15 percent of her company, which publishes
magazines and books on style, entertaining and gardening, and airs a television
program and web site.
A different kind of entertainment comes from the
World Wrestling Federation, whose offerings include glistening-domed stars such
as Stone Cold Steve Austin as well as magazines and a television show, "Raw is
War."
New York-based Martha Stewart Living plans to sell 7.2 million
shares (ticker symbol MSO on the New York Stock Exchange) at $ 13 to $ 15 each.
The transaction will give the company a market value of $ 679.4 million, and
Martha Stewart, who will retain the majority of the shares, a paper windfall of
about $ 477.8 million.
World Wrestling Federation, based in Stamford,
Conn., plans to sell 10 million shares at $ 14 to $ 16 each, raising $ 150
million. The sale of the 15 percent stake will give the company a market value
of $ 1 billion. The stock ticker will be WWFE on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
- Bloomberg News
Web site lets you give gifts of
dinner for two
Want to give a business associate a gift certificate to
Giovanni's without making a trek to The Hill?
A new Internet service,
Dinners for Two, is playing the middleman for a small roster of high-end
restaurants from California to Florida.
For a processing fee of $ 7.50,
customers can have a dining certificate sent to someone who is celebrating a
special occasion or has performed a valuable service.
The certificates
are available in denominations of $ 50, $ 75 or $ 100. They must be ordered
online at www.dinnersfortwo.com.
Dinners for Two currently has 14 cities
covered. It is shooting for a collection of 100 restaurants nationwide.
Olin Brass develops alloy for new Golden Dollar
The
people at Olin Brass in East Alton have made the people at the U.S. Mint very
happy. Olin researchers have come up with a hard-to-make alloy for the Golden
Dollar coin, which will make its debut early next year.
Industry
observers say the Mint thought it would be relatively easy to come up with an
alloy that would match the electronic "signature" of the Susan B. Anthony dollar
coin. Such a matchup would mean that the millions of vending machines in this
country wouldn't have to go through expensive retrofitting to accept the new
coin. But the mix of metals in the new coin would have to differ because the
coin has to be golden in color, according to Congress. No one wanted another
silver-colored dollar coin like the Susan B. Anthony, which most people confused
with a quarter.
The Mint missed several deadlines for announcing the new
alloy because none of the companies that usually do such work for it could come
up with the right formula. Olin Brass, a longtime supplier of metals for the
Mint, came up with the winning recipe this summer. Apparently, the "secret
ingredient" for the alloy was manganese, which was added to copper, zinc and
nickel.
- Al Stamborski
Looking for a hot stock?
Don't look in spotlight
Pssst. Want an investment tip? Look at the
Spotlight Stock of the week on this page and stay as far away from it as you
can.
If you'd bought 100 shares of the featured stock each week after
reading this page, you'd be down 11 percent by now. Tipsheet didn't go to the
trouble of calculating an annualized return, but this feature is less than 6
months old, so it's not a pretty picture.
These results may show the
pitfalls of buying something just when everybody's talking about it. A
closer look at the numbers reveals that four stocks are up since we put them in
the spotlight, while 19 are down.
The biggest gainer is MEMC Electronic
Materials, up 47 percent since we mentioned it on May 16; the biggest loser is
Laser Vision Centers, down 66 percent since July 25.
Part of the problem
is that it's been a tough time for St. Louis stocks, most of which are in the
small- or mid-cap sectors of the market. The Bloomberg St. Louis Index of 67
local stocks is down 3 percent so far this year.
Our spotlight feature
is simply intended to call your attention to a local stock that's been in the
news. It's not meant to be an investment recommendation, pro or con.
===
SPOTLIGHT STOCK
May Department Stores Co.
(NYSE: MAY)
May's stock hit a 52-week low Friday after the company
announced the acquisition of the Zions stores in Utah and Idaho. The shares are
down 11 percent so far this year. Analysts are lukewarm about the company's
prospects; Bloomberg finds six "buy" and 10 "hold" recommendations.
===
ON THE AIR
Tuesday's TV
KETC
Nightly Business Report: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Investor's Business Daily "Net Investing 2.0" reported by Pete Barlas, 10 p.m.
Weekdays TV
CNBC
Squawk Box: An unscripted
fast-paced pregame financial news program, Squawk Box helps viewers get a jump
on the business day by taking them live inside the trading rooms of major
investment banks and onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, 6 a.m.
Friday's TV
CNNfn
If you like talking
about stocks, and who doesn't, then tune in to CNNfn every Friday at noon when a
featured expert will answer your questions about what's hot and what's not. It's
your chance to get some street-wise advice about your portfolio and maybe some
tips about where you should be looking for value in today's topsy-turvy markets.
Noon.
Thursday's Radio
KWMU-FM
Talk
of the Nation: Melinda Penkava, 1 p.m.
===
ON THE
WEB
Today
6:30 p.m.: "Labor Express" is a show dedicated
to organized labor. Go to http://www.freespeech.org/express/
Monday
11 a.m.: "Job Searching Chat" lets you chat with other job
seekers about what works and what doesn't on the way to getting hired. Go to
http://jobsearch.about.com/mpchat.htm
Noon: "Flex Workers Round Table"
is a place where flex workers can talk about challenges and benefits. Go to
http://community.monster.com/
Tuesday
10 a.m.: "Interview
Tips" is a show about just that - tips for interviewing. Go to
http://community.monster.com/
11:30 p.m.: "Negotiating a Good Package"
centers on how you can negotiate a package with your future employer that
benefits both you and your new company. Go to http://community.monster.com/
1 p.m.: "Careers" centers on ways to choosing, changing and finding your
career path. Go to http://community.monster.com/
Friday
8
p.m.: "Work at Home Ideas," a discussion of the pros and cons of working at
home. Go to http://www.parentsplace.com/ppchat/weekly/
Source:
www.yahoo.com, keywords "Net Events" and "Jobs"
===
Site of the week:
The Silicon Investor has been in operation since
1995 as a financial discussion site. On Silicon Investor's message boards, users
can discuss stocks with some of the top financial minds. The site also offers a
comprehensive charting service and stock research resources. In addition to the
latest financial news and market information, The Silicon Investor allows users
to track fast moving companies, expected stock splits, and bond market data.
http://www.siliconinvestor.com/
This week on
postnet.com:
Sunday's business section will feature a story on Ozark Air
Lines' making a comeback to Missouri's skies, flying between Columbia, Mo.,
Chicago and Dallas. Are you willing to drive two hours to help get Ozark back
off the ground? Let us know your thoughts at www.postnet.com/business - Or
discuss the new Ozark Air Lines in postnet.com's Current Affairs forum at
www.postnet.com/currentaffairs
Last week:
Should retail
sales on the Internet be taxed by local, state or federal government? Of the 96
people responding through Thursday to last week's postnet.com poll, 68 (71
percent) do not want Internet sales taxed. Ten respondents (10
percent) think only state taxes should be charged on
Internet sales, but nine readers (9 percent) think all three
government entities should receive sales tax.
GRAPHIC:
PHOTO, GRAPHIC (1) Color Photo headshot - Martha Stewart, Refined living
(2)
Color Photo headshot - Stone Cold Steve Austin, WWF hero
(3) Color Photo -
The 2000 Sacagawea coin features the Lemhi Shoshone girl who traveled with Lewis
and Clark from the plains to the Pacific Ocean and back in 1804-06. (obverse of
the coin)
(4) Color Graphic/chart - SPOTLIGHT STOCK
May Department
Stores Co. (NYSE: MAY)
(Line graph from Fri. 10/8 through Fri. 10/15)
Friday close: $ 35 1/2
LOAD-DATE: October 16, 1999
