Mbl Share Discussion Threads

[timesmoney] 21/9/2011 20:05

CurvedAir
Two issue. 1. Domains registration and use are due to change .com and .co.uk will remain but companies will soon use phrases such as .hotel eg ritz.hotel and .departmentstore as in debenhams.departmentstore. Existing .coms will only have a goodwill value if they have goodwill (which bee.com does not)
2. The R&A informed us that the £300k was paid for the trademark bee.com
Which I can find no registration of.

[curvedair] 21/9/2011 19:01

Timesmoney. In Bee.com's defence the sum of £300k paid these days for such a memorable and highly marketable domain name is not unrealistic. In fact I would goes as far as to say this was a bargain price given that Bee.com has the potential to yield great brand value. Compare it with the price paid for 1 years rent for a prime site in a shopping centre and it's a no brainer. Bee.com at least has some resale value. I know my onions in this field as I have a retail background. What however is unacceptable is the amount of Top Sellers that are out of stock. This is real basic stuff to get right and whoever the buyer responsible for replenishing this stock should be sacked rather than the poor girl that got kicked out for questioning the Olympic tickets. BUT...there is definitely life in Bee.com!

Windsong seems to be a great little business but they must be feeling the pinch by now given the lack of supplier credit terms and the resultant fill rate must be poor which can only result in reduced customer satisfaction.

[accountsgirl] 21/9/2011 17:31

Hmmmm. Think i might pre-order Harry Potter from Bee.com. As a valued customer I should then be in the running for a stack of Olympics tickets. Missed out on the ballot.

[timesmoney] 21/9/2011 17:30

Alunmoris
You confirm that bee.com is a Dead Duck, a fact I predicted months ago.. Another Ill conceived strategy or more likely a pocket lining exercise for TA. £300k for a domain name.... Don't make me laugh. Follow the money see where it went?
Interesting to note now how all the posters who managed to draw some potential upside in MBL have gone very quiet (encarter where are you) recent posts are 100% negative and angry and a majority of which are now of the view that some very naughty stuff has gone on here. Many scratch their heads to wonder why PC hangs on given that he is danger of being tarred with a very dirty brush.
surely time is running out here on all fronts.

[alunmorris] 21/9/2011 16:53

Would you buy from bee?

I checked Amazon's top 5 TV & film items:

1. Downton Abbey - Series 1 [DVD]
Buy new: £8.77 bee.com £13.99 out of stock

2. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides [DVD]
Buy new: £9.99 bee.com DVD Not listed

3. Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) (Blu-ray)
Buy new: £60.00 bee.com £67.49 out of stock

4. The Inbetweeners - Series 1-3 [DVD]
Buy new: £13.00 bee.com £17.99 out of stock

5. Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 [DVD]
Buy new: £8.47 pre-order bee.com £13.99 pre-order

So only 1 of them available from bee (and that's a pre-order at 65% more).

Surely bee's own top sellers will be available
Four of the first five are out of stock. The one that is costs 67% more than Amazon.

[kimboy2] 21/9/2011 15:29

So the £60k of Olympic tickets were to support sales at Bee.com

The bee.com sales in the 4 months to March 31st were £0.3m.

I would also point out that the Alexa traffic rank of bee.com during the Christmas period was about 3,000. Today it is 86,000.

[effortless cool] 21/9/2011 13:52

David's a busy guy - meeting LoQ management shortly (and, hopefully, much more positively), so probably tied up with that just now.

[curvedair] 21/9/2011 13:43

Davidosh. As you appear to be leader of the pack can you enlighten us on your meeting with PG yesterday. Thanks.

I hear through a reliable contact that PG confirmed at the meeting that MBL had infact bought the Olympic tickets for promotional purposes in support of Bee.com. If this is fact then why was the posting about the Olympics tickets removed from this site last week. If the tickets were bought legitimately (and I'm not suggesting they weren't)why did someone loose their job as result of it. I don't recall what else was in the original posting and if I go back I think someone has copied and pasted it. Maybe its the the other info that was sensitive. What was this?Anyone know?

[charliebrown2000] 21/9/2011 09:57

What was the outcome of the meeting with PC on 20th??

[goonertone] 21/9/2011 00:41

David

Unfortunately these two meeings have come a week to early and I very much doubt that I will now make the AGM which I am very disapointed with. However my newborn, the cause of some of my time constraints, more than makes up for it :)

GT

[davidosh] 21/9/2011 00:30

Any more for the Agm in Leyland on 26th

marben100
davidosh
myrtle1000 (TMF)
OliG (TMF)
DesWalker
Manxman
jeffian
Mr Contrarian (TMF)
Hillsy
devymaster (TMF)


Any more ?

[miamisteve] 19/9/2011 18:09

David - I can't make it unfortunately as am not in the UK( fortunately for Cowgill). Please all give him and Trevor Allan hell!

Interested to know what transpired with GMV since our the Matt Porter meeting. The business model was all about having ther clients finance the business. We were told they were just about to launch downloads? What happened to that? The imobily deal is Saudi is another one.

I actually don't believe anymore that trevor allan acted within the law. I believe that he, members of his family and Livesey defrauded shareholders for personal gain. A poor mans Conrad Black.

My sincere thanks to all those attending the meetings, and hope if we do not recover anything, we can at least get Trevor Allan struck off and sent to prison somewhere down south.

[davidosh] 19/9/2011 14:01

Incidentally nothing on the GMV blog for over six months now.



This was supposed to be the future and no reason why some of the work there should grind to a halt unless further investment was stopped as soon as Morrisons became a problem ! Shame they handed out millions for UXplore and then had no money so starved GMV if that is the case !!

[strollingmolby] 19/9/2011 13:31

Hi David - pls count me in for tomorrow.

[rbcrbc] 19/9/2011 13:25

David - Sorry but I will not be able to make it tomorrow.

I was planning to ask about the alleged interest in takeover / offers and if TA/friends/family had been planning to make an offer at any stage - but I'm sure there are too many questions on your list already - Have Fun !

[kimboy2] 19/9/2011 11:15

Has MBL got anything that The Hut would want ?

I think that The Hut is profitable, or at least has been. I expect that they are wanting to raise cash for additional bolt on acquisitions;



I think MBL and The Hut make interesting comparables.

I doubt they would see Uxplore as a good bolt on.

[davidosh] 19/9/2011 11:10

Now changed thanks.


Any more for the meeting with Peter Cowgill at 89 New Bond Street W1 on Tuesday at noon....

Meeting with PC on 20th

marben100
davidosh
Jaknife (TMF)
OliG (TMF)
rthak
fft
MaxCashFlow
devymaster(TMF)
strollingMolby

[fft] 19/9/2011 11:07

DD,

you missed me off the list for the meeoing tomorrow !

[davidosh] 19/9/2011 10:49

I do not think The Hut is making profits yet so they were probably looking to raise some money at the same time and allow early investors to sell some shares so I doubt that will be improved by just reversing into MUBL. It may be that The Hut has a business that is not going to be profitable at all for years.

[jeffian] 19/9/2011 10:14

TDK,

Because the underlying problem is finding punters to put in the fresh capital (IPO), not just finding a 'shell' company to achieve a listing. Anyway, I doubt The Hut would want to be tainted by the shenanigans going on at MBL.

[yump] 19/9/2011 10:09

...and if they could just line up a few selected VIP's from MUBL to stand in front while the Hut is reversing, all the better...

[trevorsdogkeith] 19/9/2011 10:05

Here's a thought....Why don't the shareholder's invite The Hut to reverse in to MBL. Solves everyone's problems! This is not such a silly idea.

[trevorsdogkeith] 19/9/2011 10:01

Davidosh.

I suspect the delay of The Hut's IPO is in part also down to the uncertainty surrounding the future of LVCR from the Channel Islands. This is currently under further review by HMRC with intense pressure from the European Commission to close this loop hole. Changes could include lifting LVCR from all entertainment software (CD,DVD's, Games etc, Cosmetics and Eye Wear,the result of which will impact on The Hut's bottom line. Needless to say the same scenario applies to Bee.com and related online activity as they too use an offshore fulfillment solution.

[davidosh] 19/9/2011 02:35

Final call

Any more for the meeting with Peter Cowgill at 89 New Bond Street W1 on Tuesday at noon....

Meeting with PC on 20th

marben100
davidosh
elwyn (TMF)
myrtle1000 (TMF)
TrafficCop (TMF)
OliG (TMF)
rthak
RBCRBC (possibly)
kramch
MaxCashFlow
goonertone (possibly)
devymaster(TMF)