Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
> ____/ Mark Kent on Monday 29 October 2007 14:28 : \____
>
> > Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stg-cxZawWs
> >
> > He grasps the reasons for it, and also, seems to grasp the inevitability
> > for it, as well as the point that most people "trust" the right thing to
> > happen.
> >
> Above all -- he's a _businessman_.
Yeah, yeah.
http://web.archive.org/web/20000511111717/http://www.ottawacitizen.com/hightech/000424/3981326.html
------
Monday 24 April 2000
Red Hat boss looks through rose-coloured glasses
The Ottawa Citizen
Andre Forget, The Ottawa Citizen / Red Hat president Robert Young exudes
confidence about his company's chances for long-term success.
Talk about moving at Internet speed: Four months ago, Red Hat Inc. and
Robert Young, its Canadian founder and chairman, were riding the stock
market boom for Linux operating systems. Today, Red Hat stock is trading
at $26.25 -- 81 per cent below its $143 high (all figures in U.S.
dollars) and most other Linux stocks are in the same trouble. Citizen
reporter Bert Hill talked to Mr. Young at a recent Linux industry trade
show in Montreal.
[...]
Q: How has the Linux stock boom changed the industry? (In February, Mr.
Young and his wife sold Red Hat stock worth $30 million.)
A: This isn't the business I knew when we used to run it out of our
homes. We didn't come to a trade show to spend money; we came to sell
boxes over the counter in order to get the money to pay hotel bills at
the local Holiday Inn, if we were lucky.
Q: You face a tough competitor in Microsoft's products to create a
market for open-source Linux-based products.
A: The analogy to look at here is the car industry. The question to ask
is, 'Would you buy a car with the hood welded shut?' The answer everyone
gives is 'no'.
The next question is why should you care if you can open the hood of the
car? The answer is, if you can open the hood of the car, you've got
control, and the guy who sold it to you no longer does. If he doesn't
fix it, overcharges you or refuses to install the musical horn you
always wanted, you've got one of a hundred thousand other car repair
shops you can go to.
Q: Red Hat and other Linux company stocks have plunged almost 80 per
cent since December. What do you tell people who bought Red Hat at high
prices?
A: Keep in mind that, in the short term, stock prices are being driven
by day traders. I believe there is an efficient stock market which holds
true in the long term, but not in the short term.
The message I give to our shareholders is that our goal is to build a
great technology company ... and we figured it would take us 20 years.
The IPO was simply a tactical step on that road. So whenever someone
asks me about the share price, I basically say check back with me in
five years. I'll take responsibility for the stock price in five years;
I can't take responsibility for daily fluctuations.
------
Now, checking back after more than five years...
A kind of "daily fluctuations": from $143 down to $26.25 (2000) and down
to $21.something on 10/30/07.
regards,
alexander.
--
"The revolution might take significantly longer than anticipated."
-- The GNU Monk Harald Welte
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