Friday, October 13, 2006

The sound of a face hitting dirt at a million miles an hour sounds like my name.

I've been defeated or downtrodden a couple many times in my life. The first one I can remember distinctly in my mind can be described in two words: Lake Ontario.

That was the answer to a final round to the Arizona State Geography Bee that I missed. I said the Great Salt Lake - I don't remember the question.

I get to add to that collection of downtrodden and defeatist answers today: Enterprise Value. It refers to a value of a company used alternatively than market capitalization, if you really care.

Today I found my first deadline story idea that needed to be written for the wire. It was about a Hong Kong (and later Singapore) based company call Wh_e_elock Properties Ltd. Today its stock shot up 4.4 percent, which is a pretty significant climb for any stock. It was up 20 percent for the week -again a significant climb for any stock.

I noticed this company moving up what's called a HILO chart (52-week highs/lows)... and ran it by my immediates. We found out that an analyst report was put out yesterday night that said this company seemed, on a financial basis, to be open for a privatization option. Usually this is a big deal. It means the stock is worth less than what the market value of the company, and therefore, the stock is worth buying because it's undervalued. We assume the stock is doing well today because of the report -it's very common in stock stories.

I was told to write a quick 5-6 paragraph story about this and the analyst report. I felt pretty good. I finally did some of my own digging and found a decent story that needed to get on the wire. I wrote it, gave it to Darren, who've I've mentioned before, and him and I worked through the story to improve it. So far, so good. I then get to send it to what's called a Spot Editor, a editor who's available at the moment to edit the story and prep it for the wire. At this time, it's about 515 p.m.

Stop.

The editor has some major questions with my story. Legitimate questions. Things I didn't prepare myself to answer. Double Stop.

I'm asked, after 30 minutes of going back and forth, to rewrite the story. The questionable section, well, everything, but specifically: Singapore. I mentioned that above. In this analyst report, one of the reasons for why the company is doing well is because of the property market in Singapore. This is a Hong Kong company that has no property in Singapore.

Editor: "Have you spoken with the analysts who wrote this?"
Me: "No." (I didn't think about doing this... big mistake)
Editor: "Then, how do we answer how this report is legitimate?"
Me: "Um... (insert bullshit statement here... I really didn't know.... then proceed to look like an idiot.)
Editor: "Find a way to show that Singapore matters and some way to valuate this company's worth."

So, I have to find a way to legitimize this stock's value and why Singapore matters. I call the stocks editor in Singapore and ask. I find out there is a company in Singapore called the same thing and owned by the same people. It's also risen to a record high.

Bingo... I found it - it's a dually listed company (companies can list on many stock exchanges... this was one of them). We get the story back together, with the help of my stocks editor Andy, who stayed way past his time necessary to help me. It's 7 p.m.

I was pretty downtrodden at this point cuz I didn't get the story right the first time. I could have given the readers bad info... (I had originally said that there wasn't a Singapore company). However, I'm here to learn and then send off my revised story - feeling good that it answered all the questions necessary.

Editor: "Show me where this is a dually-listed company."
Me: "I asked the stock editor... and called the company."

The editor then shows a function on the terminal that shows if a company is dually listed it would appear there. It didn't. This Singapore company, while related, is not the same company's stock, and therefore, not a dually-listed company.

Editor: "Also... where's the valuation information I wanted you to put in here about the company."
Me: "I thought the Singapore thing would be enough to answer the question about legitimacy, so I didn't look into it." (I didn't know how to, so I didn't). "If you show me how to..."
Editor: "I don't have time to show you anything. I am the only one here and I have a ton of work to do."
Me: "Um..." (awkward silence)
Editor: "Listen, send me all you have on this and I'll put it together when I get time."

So, I prep material for him, hoping I can at least be somewhat helpful. I grab the report, the quotes I got, etc.

I then get a message on my terminal -it's a graph.

It's a graph showing the performance of this company's stock, compared with the Hang Seng Index. This stock has outperformed the market for years, therefore, it's not undervalued, and therefore...

Well, I don't really have a story, do I?

Editor: "Well, the stock still rose a ton, we need to get something out there. Can I have the materials?"
(Hands materials over)
Editor: "Where's the analyst report?"
Me: "Right there" pointing to a 3-page packet.
Editor: "This report is 37 pages long, what you have is a summary. You cannot write a story off a summary. Look here. Eh, nevermind. Go home, I'll work on this when I get a second. You did a lot of work on this. But go home."

I tell him I want to stay until the story is out. It's my story. I want to see it through, no matter how screwy I am....

Editor: "I don't have time to walk you through your story. Go home. I'll see you at the picnic tomorrow."

So I left.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

A letter he won't read

Dear President Bush,

I know you're an avid reader of my blog and I appreciate your time to be an audience member of this humble piece of Internet real estate.

Could I ask one favor though? Please, for the love of all that's good and holy... talk to the damn Koreans before I find out how it feels to:

a) Get a Tan in 15 seconds
b) Grow a second head

If North Korean officials are saying to newspapers "we're going to fire a nuclear missile," at that point if I was you, I would start thinking about a holiday fruit cake for Kim Jong Il or maybe a nice cheese tray.

Cuz, yea... I may not be in Japan or Taiwan or Korea right now... but I am down wind from them. And radiation is just not fabulous.

Talk to the damn Koreans, please.

Mind the Gap, sir.

~Ken

Monday, October 09, 2006

News

Sometimes news happens. Some stories are bigger than others. I honestly never got that news rush over the agenda to the Columbia City Council. Sorry Matt H.

Enter North Korea and its nuclear test.

7:30 a.m.
I get into work like I usually do. My job in the morning is to write the Hong Kong Stocks preview - basically what's going on in the world that might affect stocks. It's nothing big, I work on it every morning. Because it was coming off a holiday in Asia, it was suspected to be a very quite day on the market. U.S. economic indicators playing possible drag on U.S. market, along with liquidity flowing out of the market in preparation for the $19.1 billion ISBC initial public offering. So, pretty much an uneventful day, I made plans in my schedule to work on a Espr*t story on my down time.

9:30 a.m.
I send my stock preview story to the wire and then spend the morning prepping to call fund investors to get a comment on what happens with the market.

10:00 a.m.
Market opens. Hang Seng is trading down as we suspected, no biggie.

10:37 a.m.
Market loses 200 points in five minutes. Wires start talking about an earthquake in North Korea. The Bureau realizes what's most likely happened.

(Insert Blurry Time Figure Here)
Hong Kong is B-Berg's central Asia bureau. Everything is cooridinated from here. So, everything starts going crazy. "North Korea claims nuclear test" starts being the first things we throw up on the wire.

I call my mom and freak her out. Sorry about that. I also call Jenna... Hi Jenna!

My immediate supervisor and full time stock writer, Darren, throws me on the phones. He wants as many comments about what is going to happen to the market as possible. His boss throws him on covering Korean stocks, because obviously the S. Korean bureau has their hands a little full at the moment.

So, that leaves me with the Hong Kong stocks story for the day. The Hang Seng ends up closing 22x.xx points down from records set on Thursday. But, yea, I was given a story that I pretty much built for the most part on my own. I got all the quotes for the story, helped construct it. I got some help from Darren (who could be reading this blog... howdy mate).

That was my part in the North Korean bomb thing. I covered it.... I think? Who knows.

It was a freakin' rush though. I was thinking back. I haven't had a news rush in a long time, one of a bigger scale like this. I was not writing at the time of 9/11 - yea, Derek, I am not that old...

But this was pretty cool. I was in Asia for big story like that. I wasn't studying in South Korea or something, which, honestly, would be even cooler. At least I have a couple interesting stories to come back with.

I hope I am doing well at B-berg. I sometimes wonder. I'm doing a lot of reporting, but not a lot of writing. I'm going to work on a few stories on my own the next couple weeks to build some clips here.

Anyways, sorry for not writing this more eloquently. I'm bloody tired. However! I refrain from using my traditional closing line for these more popular pop culture references:

"Somebody set up us the bomb!"

Kim Jong Il: I'm so Ronery / So ronery / So ronery and sadry arone / There's no one / Just me onry / Sitting on my rittle throne ...

Nothing better to end a important day with making fun of Kim Jong Il.

~Ken