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January 7, 2008
Entrepreneur Quiz
Yale Press has published "The Illusions of Entrepreneurship" by Scott Shane and published a great quiz related to the book. I took the quiz and got 40%. Some very interesting stats from the quiz.
Among the ones I missed:
* What percentage of five-year-old businesses in the United States is home-based?
* What percentage of the U.S. labor force works in companies that are less than two years old?
* What percentage of the financing of new businesses less than two years old takes the form of debt?
* How much more likely are men than women to start businesses?
* What was the ratio of White to Black self-employment in 1910 and 1990?
* What percentage of start-up efforts each year have at least one employee ten years later?
* What is the most common reason why people start new businesses?
Posted by eubie at 9:13 PM permalink
CNet for sale
NY Times: Investors Said to Seek a Takeover of CNet
The company, founded in 1992, has more than 2,600 employees. It has been particularly hard hit because of increased competition in its core market from technology-focused blogs like TechCrunch, written by a handful of people at a fraction of the cost. In September, page views at TechCrunch surpassed those at CNet’s News.com, long considered the industry stalwart. In October, TechCrunch and its sister site had eight million page views compared with News.com’s six million page views, according to comScore Media Metrix.
TechCrunch adds this:
CNET is currently worth $1.3 billion, but many people argue that the value of the parts is greater than that, and have recommended that the company sell off more assets for cash. Last quarter, CNET lost $16.65 million on $99.5 million in revenue.
Another media company in play this year is Weather Channel. Tech Crunch: The Weather Channel On The Market For $5 Billion+
One more from NY Times: The Problem With CNet: No One Wants to Buy It
Usually trouble-making investors find undervalued companies with management that is resistant to being acquired. CNet, I suspect, would be quite happy to sell, but its big problem right now is that it is overvalued, especially to the established media companies that are its most likely buyers.
Posted by eubie at 8:40 PM permalink