Today marks the 50th anniversary (July 6, 1957) of Paul McCartney meeting John Lennon in a church fete (fair) in Liverpool to form the core partnership that would become The Beatles. In 2007, there has been no "official" Beatles release or related material, but the world still looks on and music fans still buy up products by and related to the four members. Last month, Paul McCartney's 21st solo album Memory Almost Full debuted at #3 in the Billboard 200, while the collected works of the George Harrison supergroup Traveling Wilburys debuted at #9. Meanwhile, the John Lennon-fueled, various contemporary artists-filled Instant Karma compilation designed to aid Darfur debuted at #15.
While these numbers may be impressive for the products of the former Beatles more than 37 years after the band broke up, the music industry slowly and loudly falls apart in self-defeating decline. Luckily, we do not (and frankly cannot) look to The Beatles to save the industry. It's likely the band could not anyhow, despite the potential sales the digital catalog that may one day see light of day might pull in. With the uncertainty of that release on the horizon, all that is left now is the current state of the music industry, but it is not unlike the music industry that The Beatles entered. True, the early 1960s were not a state of decline, but when The Beatles started, the emphasis was not on albums. It was on singles. Is there any difference in the digital tracks that see higher downloads than albums? There might be, but fundamentally there is not.
If The Beatles catalog is ever released it will likely sell the same way many albums today sell. Yes, fans will buy the newest remastered versions from digital stores and relish in the joy of buying a Beatles album in a new way for the first time (akin to 1987's CD versions?), but new listeners (and maybe even some fans) will buy up their favorite tracks, destroying the core albums in the same way that albums are not bought today. Everyone says the album is dying, but in the industry it may never have been meant to be.
Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) shareholders sent a symbolic message yesterday about the heft of Chief Executive Terry Semel's $71.7 million paycheck, which was more than double that of any other Silicon Valley CEO last year, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Three top advisory firms have been urging institutional shareholders to vote against three members of Yahoo's compensation committee, one-third of the investors voted against the slate of directors at the annual meeting, up significantly from 2005, when nearly one-fifth of the investors withheld their votes for directors after a similar campaign.
About one-third of investors also backed a union pension fund's proposal to tie pay more closely to performance.
Reacting in part to shareholder discontent, Yahoo's board approved a controversial package in May 2006 that slashed Semel's salary from $600,000 to $1 but awarded him 6 million options to carry him through a three-year period. Those options were valued at more than $71 million.
Semel has cashed in a total of $446 million in gains since taking charge in 2001. During this time, Google Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) has come to dominate many aspects of Internet searching and advertising.
Meanwhile, investors continue to look for any signs of success from Project Panama.
Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) is essentially a rounding error when compared to Toyota Motor Corp.'s (NYSE: TM) market capitalization. Ford's market cap is about $14 billion versus $211 billion for Toyota. However, Ford is not so insignificant when it comes to revenue, generating about $166 billion versus Toyota's $190 billion, according to data from Reuters.
There is little doubt that there is a ton of upside if Ford could ever get its act together. To that end, Alan Mulally, who came to Ford after successfully running Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), supposedly held talks with Toyota on improving procurement costs and fuel cell technology.
Toyota management can tell Ford everything they need to know about running a successful automobile company. However, history tells us that even with U.S. manufacturers having the knowledge, it still does not mean they will listen. Mulally may be different though. He comes from a manufacturing industry that has a strong union employee base.
Ford is one stock to watch in 2007. If the fundamentals stop deteriorating, it could be worth getting into this stock.
* Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL) to hold 5 p.m. earnings conference call * BluePhoenix Solutions, Ltd (NASDAQ: BPHX) to hold 10 a.m. conference call on the acquisition of CodeStream Software * Bank of Japan to hold a 2-Day monetary policy meeting
Tuesday December 19
* Bally Total Fitness Holdings Corp. (NYSE: BFT) to hold 10 a.m. shareholder meeting * Circuit City Stores, Inc. (NYSE: CC) to hold 11 a.m. earnings conference call * Input/Output Inc. (NYSE: IO) to hold conference call to review financial outlook for 2007
Wednesday December 20
* The Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG) to hold an 8 a.m. 2007 financial guidance conference call * Biomet (NASDAQ: BMET) to hold 10 a.m. earnings conference call * Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to hold meeting at 10 a.m.
Thursday December 21
* Research in Motion Ltd.(NASDAQ: RIMM) to hold 5 p.m. earnings conference call * Discovery Laboratories (NASDAQ: DSCO) to meet with FDA on way to getting Surfaxin approved
Friday December 22 * PDUFA date for Schering-Plough Corp.'s (NYSE: SGP) Noxafi * Final Deadline for European Union Jurisdiciton in Ryanair (NASDAQ: RYAAY) Bid for Aer Lingus
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