Gateway clearly defining its competitors.

[Taft]

Gateway is now running ads against Dell.

During the Lions vs. Packers game tonight they ran an ad showing a list of best value computers, with a Gateway on top, of course. The ad featured that annoying song that every high school band has played (duh-da-da...heh!...duh-duh-duh-da-da...heh!). At the end of the ad they display the text on the screen, "Dude, you still getting a Dell?"

Gateway is getting a little to big for its britches, me thinks. They need to be taken down a peg or two (I mean lower than they already were). Cocky bastards!!

Taft

[spuncan]

I agree Gateway is only making a last stand before they die. They have been trying to recover from their losses for awhile and this must be there last breath.

[oldMac]

Gateway seems to have enough cash and liquid investments to hang around for a year or two.

While they seem to be "on their way", it's a little too early to count them out.

[vniow]

There was a rumor not too long ago about them going private, but they say that they ain't gonna. It may not have been a bad idea for them to cancel debt that way, but I suspect they won't be around too much longer after their cash and liquid investments run out though.

click me once

click me twice

[topicolo]

Gateway can't get rid of any debt by going private. By going private, the future owners would have to buy all of the shares of the company available to the public (usually at a increased cost). Shareholder equity != debt. The only way they could get rid of their debt is to file for chapter 11.

[Taft]

Originally posted by edvniow
There was a rumor not too long ago about them going private, but they say that they ain't gonna. It may not have been a bad idea for them to cancel debt that way, but I suspect they won't be around too much longer after their cash and liquid investments run out though.

click me once

click me twice

That second click had some interesting info. I never thought about the lack of publicity in being private. When the markets aren't interested, advertising becomes so much more critical. Meaning more money down.

Taft

[Durandal7]

Gateway does seem to be on their way out. This seems to some desperate cry for help. No company in their right mind would do this unless they were in dire straits.

[Kethoticus]

Gateway, about a year ago (?), was shutting down its international operations. Now they're taking on Apple, a company with ~3.5% overall market share and who's not even a direct competitor. Kinda funny.

[TMay]

I read a short article not long ago noting that if the losses were to continue much longer, the shareholders might decide to dissolve the company before all of the cash was burned. This doesn't sound so far fetched assuming that this hail mary advertising ploy fails, which it very well might.

Certainly, a buyer would be hard pressed to pay much more than Gateway's cash position for the company in the current economic climate. Ted Wiatt is seeing his large stock position deteriorate as well, but pride forces him to continue, I suspect.

I would expect analyst reports to begin appearing soon regarding Gateway's advertising campaign.

[P-Worm]

This reminds me of a situation that I encountered while working at Papa Murphy's pizza. During this time, Papa John's pizza was doing a whole slew of advertisements that showed why it was better to get Papa John's pizza over Papa Murphy's pizza. These ads angered me and the rest of my fellow employees just like Gateway's ads are angering me and my fellow Mac Rumors posters.

Well guess what happened? After these ads started running, we saw an increase of sales. This was due to the fact that people would come into our store thinking that the ad told them to come to Papa Murphy's. They would ask us How long would it take us to cook it and we would tell them that it is Take-and-Bake. The ads would clearely show that Papa John's was the good choice, but all those ads really did was give us free advertising.

People, are stupid and they don't always get the jist of things.

When I see these ads by Gateway, all I think about is that they told millions of people about Dell's and the new iMac. I think that their new ad was a HUGE mistake because at the end it says, "Dude, you still getting a Dell?" If I had tuned in just at the end of that ad I would think that it was an ad sponsered by Dell telling me to buy one.

If anything, these new ads will meet the end of Gateway and their stupid cow...

P-Worm

[Chaszmyr]

Don't get me wrong.. i HATE Gateway. But they are still worth more as a company than Apple, so dont dismiss them too soon. (Gateway is worth about 11 billion, Apple is only worth about 8 billion).

[Taft]

Originally posted by Chaszmyr
Don't get me wrong.. i HATE Gateway. But they are still worth more as a company than Apple, so dont dismiss them too soon. (Gateway is worth about 11 billion, Apple is only worth about 8 billion).

Where did you get that figure?? From total assets?? Did that include debt (which I believe that have a considerable amount of)?? Market Capatilization??

Anyway, that has little to do with their security and profitability. Their credit rating is junk by most analysts standards and they haven't been doing well in the profit area. I think most would agree that Apple is a more sound investment decision and has a better looking future than Gateway.

Taft

[TMay]

http://investor.cnet.com/investor/qu...03-75-0-0.html

I don't know how you figure cash into this, but last I read, Gateway had about $400 M and Apple $4B.

Gateway isn't near 11B in market cap (they are at $932M) and Apple is over $5B.

That doesn't prove much accept that Gateway is in a pretty sizable quagmire (I always wanted to say that about Gateway!).

[iJon]

i agree with everyone else. apple is one of the few computers companies actually making a profit. gateway is dirt poor and even more poor after they pay their bills. they are just hanging on with one hand on a cliff and each time they go after a company another finger slips off the cliff. they are desperate and just trying to make some money before they go under.

iJon

[beez7777]

speechless.

[{1984}]

i'm sure everyone has seen the new profile 4 ads against the iMac... i really hate gateway....

[{1984}]

:-D