- Take one part Paul. Add all of the feminist hate mail in his box right now. Throw in a half cup of chopped onions, three tablespoons of honey mustard -- grind.
- Mince words. "Jill of all trades, master of none." While clever, Paul forgets that content titans like Yahoo! <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: YHOO)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: YHOO)") end if %> and America Online <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: AOL)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: AOL)") end if %> are in fact Jacks of all trades. Would Paul have told Jeff Bezos that Amazon.com <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AMZN)") else Response.Write("(Nasdaq: AMZN)") end if %> should just stick to books? Besides, when Jack and Jill ran up that hill, Jill was the one that didn't break her crown on the way down.
- "iVillage's content is weak relative to the competition." I found iVillage's health site, AllHealth.com, to be as thorough as Paul's heavyweights and more clearly defined since it knows its target audience. If I were a woman and my doctor found a lump in my breast, you can be sure I'd be more likely to go to iVillage, where breast cancer information and support groups are a clear priority, rather than a site with doctor or MD in the title.
- Paul knows seven women who don't like iVillage. With iVillage's fan base more than tripling over the past year, I'll let the numbers speak for the merits of larger sample sizes next time my Foolish bud goes Gallup on me.
- "Women don't need iVillage." What most women don't need is to be accosted with "Hey baby, let's cyber" Instant Messaging every time they enter a non-iVillage chatroom. Trust me, as TMF Edible I got plenty of that from AOL folks who were too lazy to check a profile.
- Ninety-nine percent of Fortune 500 companies are headed by men. Paul fails to see the glass ceiling. He fails to understand why there can be a need for kinship and community over a minority that is actually a majority. Again, I'll hush up and let the sheer size of the community speak for itself.
- Paul can't recognize any "sustainable competitive advantage" for iVillage. As first to arrive (1995) and first to scale, that is clearly not the case. iVillage has built a community wide enough to cater to all interests and pursuits. You can't build that overnight. You can't topple that overnight either.
- iVillage's business model is flawed? Where exactly? Paul fails to accept that SOME women enjoy a site devoted to women. But, just as importantly, ALL advertisers strive to target their marketing campaigns. iVillage caters to the most lucrative female age group, and by the very nature of being online represents a group that is more educated and with more disposable income than the demographics average.
- There's something rotten in Femme-mark? Paul belittled the site, taking no prisoners. But I see the executive shuffle at the top as a positive. How can it not be when the stock is trading for less than a dime on last year's dollar? The traffic keeps coming, though, and that is a credit to the front line that remains in place. If the top ranks can't effectively communicate the stock's merits to Wall Street and run the company efficiently, good riddance.
- Legal tender bonfire? It's important to note that almost half of iVillage's quarterly losses come from money that was already spent -- it gets written off in chunks under the depreciation and amortization headings under the balance sheet. So, yes, the company reported a loss of just over $25 million for the March quarter. However, absent an NBC marketing deal, the company only shed $11 million of its cash hoard. That rate continues to improve. The $95 million on hand will go a long way if the trend continues -- hopefully to the point of profitability. As more and more advertisers clamor for less and less sites, don't you think ad rates will creep up? Don't you think e-tail will have more pricing flexibility. Look ahead. Tell me what you see?
- While we're on the subject, Paul's never made me a burger. Still, I bet it would be pretty boring.
- Paul thinks iVillage is a good deal at these levels. At least that's the only real way one can take his comment that a secondary offering even at these levels, where the company would receive the cash equivalent of the market price for new shares, is "brutal" dilution. OK, OK, he clearly meant each shareholder would own less of the company. Still, it's my rebuttal and I'll half-glass of water it if I want to.
- If the Lifetime cable network is doing so well that Oxygen and even SoapNet have recently been launched, doesn't that validate the need for female-specific programming?
- Shady revenue recognition? New CFO? One begets the other and that, again, is a positive.
- I'm running out of items here. Why wasn't it just "15 Ways to Spice Up a Burger"?
- But, while I'm here, I might as well point out to any fuming fans of iVillage that I, Rick, was the bull here. Not the bear. I mean, be fair to my good friend Paul, too. But, again, I was the bull.
- Oh, did I mention that in the past year, spending on Product Development & Technology has gone from 27% to just 9% of total revenues. The company is moving away from the start-up phase. Clearly. But because sales have soared it was actually able to spend a little more this quarter and still achieve those nice results.
- Because of the company's huge cash position relative to its paltry market cap (after all, when you have $3.60 a share and the stock drops to $7.25 last week, it makes you think), the company was fetching less than a buck for each monthly page view in enterprise value. And, yes, the monthly view counts keep growing and growing.
- Paul, you blew it by not shorting iVillage last summer. Me too. You'd also be blowing it if you do short it this time around, in my opinion. Go long?
- "Have Fun Discovering Your Secret Scent" Paul -- I think it's called Eau de Opportunity Lost.
This Week's Duel
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