A Bad Quarter Ends Today (But Will It Be a Happier New Year for Tech?)

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More BoomTown 2008 Tech Rep... from kara.allthingsd.com
BoomTown had no idea how much yammering took place between Yahoo Tech Ticker’s Sarah Lacy and me last week when we did an interview. But here is (hopefully) the final chapter of three videos about the tech scene, looking back at 2008 and forward to 2009.This one is about the most underrated and overrated in tech–and somehow I manage to call Facebook both. I also note that while Steve Jobs is not overrated, by any means–so back off, you Mac fanatics–the other key execs at Apple (AAPL) are underrated. Worst investor? Not even close: The winner is Carl Icahn, who has taken a very long and very cold bath investing in Yahoo (YHOO). Let’s hope he knows something we don’t for 2009.Here are the other Tech Ticker interview videos I posted yesterday, on what I would give tech execs for the holidays and also my likely inaccurate predictions for 2009.Here’s the latest video:
Dec
2008

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Dec 30, 2008
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Today, most companies in the tech and Internet sector will close the books on what is likely to be a very disappointing fourth quarter and also close out what has turned out to be a mucho depressing year, which got hammered starting in the third. While financial results will not out for some weeks–Yahoo will report on January 27, for example–one does not have to be a psychic to know what’s coming: A lot of weakness, with hopes for better days ahead. While those results are probably already pre-figured into tech’s weak stocks, the news will surely not be mitigated by the expected euphoria around the inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama in the same time frame. After all, while he is at least a little bit tech-savvy and seems committed to acting like the federal government cares a lot more about one of the most important sectors of our economy, there is no magic wand either he or his alleged CTO for America can wave to make it all better right away. And that’s leaving out the vast start-up sector, the hundreds of privately-funded companies that don’t have to report, but are still feeling the pain of lower revenues–if they had any to speak of. Those valuations have also been heading to the basement. It’s a far cry from how 2008 started out for every big public digital company, as you can see from the stock chart above (click on the image to make it larger). Consider the share prices on January 2, 2008 to today, which in every case has been halved: Yahoo (YHOO) was $23.72 and is now $12.19 today. Down 47.64 percent for the year. Google (GOOG) was $685.19 and is now $308.84 today. Down 55.64 percent for the year. Apple (AAPL) was $194.84 and is now $86.45. Down 56.31 percent for the year. Amazon (AMZN) was $96.25 and is now $50.26. Down 45.67 percent for the year. Microsoft (MSFT) was $35.22 and is now $19.40. Down 45.46 percent for the year. And eBay (EBAY) was $32.49 and is now $14.13. Down 57.46 for the year. Th
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