• by August 20, 2004

SOUNDS MORE LIKE "GOO-GOO" - The best part about Google finally going public is that we can now read about it on Yahoo! Not surprisingly, the first sentiment to be posted on Yahoo! Finance's investor message boards was: "Goog Way Overpriced." But that posting by "Gaazn," made at 9:51 a.m., was more than just a financial insight by a Google stock-watcher. It was a source of day-trader pride, and maybe even an important milestone in Wall Street's pop culture lore.

"Congrats, gaazn! You were the first! I agree," gushed "downtrajectory" in apparent admiration 13 message postings later at 9:53 a.m. He or she added: "This pig will be trading @ <$10 w/i 6 months." That seemed to be the general sentiment, on the Yahoo! boards anyway, where "sellers" far outweighed "buyers" through 1:04 p.m. (see table below).

But overall, posters seemed more taken with their postings, then with the potential returns of Google's shares. "I'm third on the board. Whoohoo!!," exclaimed "Asleep.On.The.Couch," the third poster on the board, while the fifth poster, "jcm33168," bemoaned, "Snooze I loose. I don't even get the bronze here!!!"

No. 4 poster, "appleseed2203," was more sanguine, enthusing, "Yay. I'm buying puts on this baby when [they're] issued. I'm honored to be among the 1st posters here." He or she then added the inexplicable reference, "I like chocolate syrup."

Confections aside, the Yahoo!'s Google postings indicate the offering has turned into something of a convention, with investors (or wannabes/want-not-to-bes) talking about Google shares as some form in terms that sounded more like self-actualization than a financial investment strategy.

"The BEST thing about GOOG stock is it makes u FEEL so COOL to own it!!!," chirped "pumpty_dumpty_16," advising other posters to, "BUY LOTS!" Frankly, we'd recommend Prozac. It's cheaper. Better still, buy an iPod.

Google Stock Sentiment

Strong Buy:    40 
Buy:            7 
Hold:           8 
Sell:           6 
Strong Sell:   60 

Source: Yahoo! Finance's Google message board through 1:04 p.m. (ET)

NOTHING GREY ABOUT SIR MARTIN'S PLANS - We all know that Sir Martin Sorrell wants to acquire Grey Worldwide. The question is why? Aside from his fetish for seminal agency brand names (he's already swooped up J. Walter Thompson, Ogilvy & Mather, Young & Rubicam and the remnants of Ted Bates), the answer seems to be that size must matter to him. He must not like being No. 2 behind Omnicom, and the acquisition of Grey would clearly make WPP the world's largest advertising and marketing services organization by a comfortable margin.

Bragging rights and ego aside, there is a certain logic and some economies of scale to be gleaned by the acquisition, but we've got to wonder about all those potential client conflicts analysts keep pointing out. But that hasn't deterred Sir Martin in the past, and somehow he has seemed to make even the oddest fits work.

An even bigger question was raised in an equities research report issued today by Merrill Lynch's Steve Liechti: "Grey, if acquired, could imply equity fund raising and questioning over strategic direction given its limited exposure to emerging markets and marketing services."

By that, Liechti means Grey's heavy reliance on the North American marketplace, which hasn't and isn't expected to be the biggest growth driver of the ad business. But we think Sir Martin's real ambition may be Grey's MediaCom unit, which after losing Procter & Gamble's media planning account, represents less of a threat and more of a fit with one or both of WPP's media networks: MindShare and Mediaedge:cia. And if that's the case, Sir Martin may be thinking about emerging markets that have less to do with geography and more to do with types of agency services. For the answer to that question, you need look no further than WPP's first half 2004 financial release, which indicates that media services were one of the biggest contributors to WPP's growth.

ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO GIVE AWAY OUTSIDE THE PORT AUTHORITY - A while back we reported on how New York's freebie newspaper wars were beginning to put pressure on established papers, which have stepped up their newsstand price discounts. Even the Gray Lady has been seen hawking half-price editions of The New York Times outside Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal. In fact, a recent Merrill Lynch analysis of data from the Audit Bureau of Circulations shows that the Times is among the biggest newsstand price discounters, selling 85.1 percent of its daily copies at "50 percent or greater of basic price." But were surprised this week to receive a copy of Thursday's edition handed out for free. Actually, it was a better deal than free. The issue was being handed out with a $15 discount at New York electronics retailer J&R, which was sponsoring the paper's giveaway.