10 Things you won’t see after the recession
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/15598/10_things_you_wont_see_after_the_recession.html
This article has some solid ideas when you think about them in an investing light. I don’t agree that the internet is the driving force for many of these changes, but I agree that most of the items listed are going to happen.
One of the major items on the list that I don’t really agree with is that Yahoo is going away. I totally agree that Yahoo is a poorly run company that someone with the right vision needs to restructure the company. And by restructure, I mean 90% of Yahoo probably needs to go. Yahoo is an idea cadidate for someone to take private and turn the company into a cash cow. If someone can swoop in at the bottom of the recession, pick up the company for a song, take it private and know WTF they are doing, Yahoo will make someone who is already really rich, much richer. Yahoo will also become a much much smaller company focused on its revenue generating strengths.
After this latest debacle in the finance industry, I am a firm believer that most companies should be held privately. When the upper management are actually partners who have a vested interest in the future profitability of the company, and are making decisions for the long haul, instead of maximizing value targeted at their option maturity date, we are going to see better run companies. Take a look at Goldman Sachs the private company versus the public company.
Back to the 10 things you won’t see after the recession. I believe none of them are actually happening because of the internet and every one is actually happening because our over consumption lifestyles no longer have the funds to continue. What the internet allows is for the diversity that we have come to enjoy in retail to continue to exist with a much lower overhead. For the products that can be sold well online, this diversity will move online, but for the products that don’t, that diversity will disappear.