It Pays To Be On LinkedIn

Tell us a little about yourself.

If you don’t know who Guy Kawasaki is…you should. He is an idol of mine. He was a technology evangelist for a little company named Apple and he is known for bring them back from the dead…twice. He has created numerous software companies, written a few books and I aspire to be like him, a technology evangelist. But this sort of title isn’t granted to someone over night it requires experience, knowledge, passion, drive and most of all time. I have most of the attributes listed above and am working towards acquiring the rest. We all have to start somewhere and that’s why I just interviewed for a promising start-up application design company today.

While I was sitting in the parking lot, because I arrived about 30 minutes early from lack of sleep due to excitement, I browsed the UTD (University of Texas at Dallas) EMAC student group page on Facebook and found a ‘Good short read’ about interviewing tips, posted by Dave Yeti. EMAC is an acronym for Emerging Media and Communication and acts as an umbrella for all emerging media. One of the main goals of this program is to adapt messages to audiences and technological constraints while retaining (and amplifying) the benefits provided by existing and emerging media. In this short but sweet article posted on LinkedIn, Nicholas Thompson, Editor of NewYorker.com, discusses when to “…present yourself as a specialist and sometimes as a generalist” (Thompson, NewYorker.com).

 

Thompson talks about how that NewYorker.com is in the process of hiring and he is conducting a lot of interviews. He states, “If applying for a job at a place that’s growing fast…be more general.” And that’s what I did. I assured my potential employers that I can offer what many other people cannot, an umbrella of skills that could possibly help the growth of this start-up application design company that is growing fastidiously and vastidiously (okay so maybe the last word isn’t really a word, but you grasp what I’m tossing at you). I was confident, humble and feel I have a good shot at getting the position…fingers crossed. Thanks Dave Yeti and Nicholas Thompson, I might just owe you one in the future!

Also, if you’re not on LinkedIn, you should be. In 2012, I was in the top 5% of most viewed profiles among 200 million users and I only have a standard free account with LinkedIn. This is how I received information about the job opening at the app design start-up and it could work for you too!

Resources:

Yeti, D. (JUL 24 2013) Facebook: EMAC Student Group. Link: A tip for job interviews. Retrieved on July 24, 2013 from: https://www.facebook.com/groups/EMACstudents/607686182584762/?notif_t=group_activity

Thompson, N. (JUL 23, 2013) LinkedIn post. A tip for job interviews. Retrieved on July 24, 2013 from: http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130723022529-7070331-a-tip-for-job-interviews

Image credit: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fbusiness-english.pl%2F%3Fp%3D344&h=0&w=0&sz=1&tbnid=45tJRi66Pe24iM&tbnh=192&tbnw=263&prev=%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Djob%2Binterview%26tbm%3Disch%26tbs%3Dsur%3Afmc%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=job%20interview&docid=wa2nhmcgjiOOKM&ei=PAjwUfDUNYuG9gT79YHIDg&ved=0CAUQsCU

The Top Grossing Summer Movies of all Time

Momma always said…

When I was barely a teenager, I remember going to the movies on hot summer nights with my friends, buying tickets to the PG movies and sneaking into “R” rated movies because we were not 18. At the time Forrest Gump was hot at the box office and my friends and I must have gone to see that movie ten times that summer. Granted, Forrest Gump, number nine on the top-10 list, was not an “R” rated film, it did however grant us enough time away from our parents to do “R” rated things in the parking lot…like sneak out to smoke cigarettes.

Wat iz this?

“Momma always said, stupid is, is stupid does” (Forrest Gump). Although I never understood what that “stupid” saying meant, I do understand that summer box offices usually fuel movie studios’ bottom line. In this entry I looked into the top-10 top grossing summer films of all times, in order to decide which publicly traded stocks might perform better due to the success of its children; the movie studio.

Because I like to stay up-to-date (haha), I found an article from 2011 at Marketplace.org entitled, “The Top Grossing Summer Films of all Time.” After viewing the list of ten, I then cross-referenced the movie titles at BoxOfficeMojo.com to figure out which movie studio produced the film. After figuring the movie studio, I then connected the dots to its umbrella, publicly traded stock. The results and recent acquisitions of certain film enterprises may surprise you!

Top-10 All-Time Grossing Summer Movies

Fox, Universal, Paramount, and Buena Vista were the only four studios in the top ten. Fox produced four of the all time movies, Universal: three, Paramount: two, and Buena Vista: one. In case you were wondering, Fox is owned by News Corp., Universal is owned by GE, Paramount is owned by Viacom, and Buena Vista is owned by Disney. It is evident that FOX is the big winner, not only with the highest number of box-office hits, but also because it holds the number #1 spot in the top grossing summer films of all times with $1.3 trillion dollars. What did you say? TRILLION? Yes, I said trillion and the movie was Star Wars (the original), according to Marketplace.org.

Disney will rock summer movies!

But wait, didn’t Disney just acquire the rights to the Star Wars franchise from Spielberg? Yes, they did. So here is my prediction, with this new acquisition, Disney will hold the market share in the future for top-grossing summer blockbusters.

Refute it I dare you. Haha.

Resources:

Jefferson, M. (May 30, 2011). Marketplace.org. The top grossing summer films of all time. Retrieved from Marketplace.org at

http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/news-brief/top-grossing-summer-films-all-time

boxofficemojo.com

Hollywood.com

TWX Probable Profits

Pay me money.

Well, I lost some money in the stock market after investing in Time Warner (TWX) after the release of the Ben Affleck flick, Argo. Once again I learned why staking your money for such a short period of time based on a small portion of the overall profit calculation for TWX is not a wise decision. But at least I’m learning, we are learning together. As we follow up on what we learned from this experiment it is crucial that we take into account our findings, so that we don’t lose money in the same fashion as we did previously.

Today we look at a few different sources as they announce their position on the TWX stock overall, we incorporate this information, if credible, into our own analysis to assess the probability of profitability, if any such exist. We may find that it may have not been a wise decision to invest in TWX for a month as I did previously. The Street and Market Watch list TWX as a buy option, whereas Zack’s analysis maintains a HOLD status. But who is Zacks and what is their supporting data leading to a HOLD status of TWX?

By simply scrolling to the bottom of Zacks.com I was able to locate the About Zacks link. The first thing my eyes were drawn to a was the following in bold, “Earnings estimate revisions are the most powerful force impacting stock prices” Len Zacks PhD form MIT, founder of Zacks research. Like every other investment research company they humbly brag about being a leading industry resource and then on the same page they give it to you straight, just as The Street does, “Zacks rank is completely mathematical. It’s cold. It’s objective. The Zacks Rank does not care what the hype on the street says.” Therefore if they take out the rumors and assimilate their equations with raw data to analyze prospective stocks by means of analytical analysis.

It appears that the stock market has been doing for years, what analytical social media data is currently mimicking. Analysis of purely analytical information is the market research for stocks as well as consumers engaging in social media. That was purely a tangent but relevant for another blog entry in the future.

The Street and Market Watch are confident on the success of the TWX stock due to recent success and upcoming proven profitable ventures. In a nutshell, as reported on The Street, TWX earnings growth has helped raise shares by 26.69% within the past year, it has improved it’s earnings per share by 10.3% in the most recent quarter, and the debt-to-equity ratio is somewhat low at 0.66. One last point The Street points out is “The firm exceeded the industry average cash flow growth rate of 6.52%” (TheStreet.com).Market Watch reports the upcoming money makers that TWX is about to release, “Time Warner is excited about its prospects in films, especially with the success of “The Dark Knight Rises” and the promise of a “Hobbit” franchise in the works.”  To sum up, judging TWX’ performance in the most recent quarter, the low debt-to-equity ratio, and promise in upcoming projects, Time Warner investors may have something to look forward to for the upcoming 2013.

So who do we trust for our information? The Street claims to use cold, objective numbers just as Zacks claims, and yet the two have different outcomes for the status of the stock. It comes down to trust and track record of the research firm. All the numbers and data used between each firm is constant, their analytical calculations differ. The one thing the stock market isn’t…predictable. Therefore, I can run numbers on trends, past successes, and predict future trends, but never actually pinpoint the success of a stock. The only assurance I have are my knowledge of a stock, the market, and know my limitations. This may sound vague but it is a great stepping stone to getting your feet wet. Baby steps.

Contributing Sources:

http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/87337/the-zacks-analyst-blog-highlights-heartware-international-thoratec-news-corp-walt-disney-and-time-warner

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11772433/1/time-warner-inc-stock-buy-recommendation-reiterated-twx.html

http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-11-07/commentary/34964542_1_film-series-film-studios-time-warner

Money Image: http://nyaltnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/6551534889_9c8ae52997.jpg

 

Drum Roll…Me Down The Hill?

TWX – Time Warner Inc

If you haven’t checked the stock TWX lately, then you probably did not notice that we’ve, or I have been losing money on our initial investment. We bought at $45.01 and it closed today at $44.61. Add two $7.95 trade fees for a grand total loss of -1.24% (See Math Below).

Bought: (45.01 * 100) + 7.95 = $4508.95

Sold: (44.61 * 100) – 7.95 = $4453.05

LOSS -$55.90

Percentage loss: Difference between initial investment and ending balance(4508.95-4453.05 = 55.90)/ Initial Investment ($4501 + Trade fee (buy) 7.95 + Trade fee (sell) 7.95 = 4516.90) = .01237, or 1.24%. 

But was this experiment a failure? I do not think any experiment ever is a failure, it is only an opportunity to learn and evolve from the process while changing the way you think about, well anything relative. We predicted the unpredictability of the stock market, just as countless other analysts before had stated.

 

 

What Do Ed Cumall, Stan Lee, & George Lucas Have In Common?

http://storify.com/simpsontweeter/what-do-ed-cumall-stan-lee-and-george-lucas-have-i

Storify-What Do Ed Cumall, Stan Lee & George Lucas Have In Common?

If you haven’t heard already, last week DIS bought the Star Wars franchise from George Lucas for over $4 billion. The Atlantic reports it best by saying, “Even if Episode 7 is worse than George Lucas’s prequels, at this point the franchise is modern folklore: destined to live forever by enraging old fans and minting new ones” (The Atlantic). It is a story written by man that has evolved to something bigger than a story. It is a folktale that teaches lessons in life, love, and war in a way that is understood and adopted by, it seems, every generation.

It’s not to hard to figure out why Lucas sold the franchise. He obviously didn’t do it for the money. Lucas carries his Star Wars legacy alongside some of the greats like Walt Disney, Ed Cumall, and Stan Lee to name a few. These revolutionary men contributed their unique imagination and talent through visual arts and interaction. Cumall, the 3D design innovator, paved the  way much like Disney, but in the end decided hand over the reigns of Pixar to the most magical place on earth. Now that Lucas has piece of mind with his legacy and is a major stock owner in DIS, I have decided to buy more DIS.

Info: How to Create Your Own FREE Investment Portfolio Online

Shortlink this blog entry: http://wp.me/p29JVv-7D

If you don’t already know how to do this by now, it may come in handy. I’m talking of course about how to create a FREE investment portfolio online for your stock research and tracking. This week, to test performance among the major media companies in the stock market i will create a portfolio on and track the major 7 competing media companies with an inception date of 10/12/12. Therefore, whatever the stock opened at on that day, for the purpose of this experiment I invested in 1000 shares, and we will be able to track performance, compare stats, analyze, and report on these investments.

Two of the easiest to use free online portfolio tracking is CNBC.com and of course the awesome entity Google Finance, my favorite. Google Finance is much more user friendly and self explanatory, not to take anything away from CNBC, because they have a great UI as well, but I prefer Google Finance a hair more, I would say. Here we go:

CNBC.com (see below for screen shots)

1. Create Account if you don’t already have one.

2. Hover mouse pointer over INVESTING, move pointer down to PORTFOLIO

3. Create a New Portfolio

4. Name Portfolio

5. Enter information accordingly

_______________________________________________

1. Create Account

Create an account

2. Hover mouse pointer over INVESTING, move pointer down to PORTFOLIO

INVESTING –> PORTFOLIO

3. Create a New Portfolio (upper right box)

Create a new portfolio

4. Name portfolio

5. Enter information accordingly

__________________________________________

Google Finance (see below for screen shots)

1. Sign in/ up Google Account

2. Access Google Finance Application

3. Click Portfolio (left menu)

4. Click create new portfolio (upper right corner)

5. Enter Symbols

6. Edit by clicking ‘Edit transaction’ on menu bar

It should look like this for the current experiment this week, to test performance among the major media companies in the stock market:

Google Finance Screen Shot

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Image Screenshot Sources:

CNBC website screenshots retrieved via CNBC.com on 10/24/12

Google Finance screenshots retrieved via Google.com/finance on 10/24/12

Release Schedule For Oct. 15th-19th

Potential Profit Calendar: October 2012

TWX is down $0.09/ share today. Boo! Well the show must go on. We just finished a huge weekend at the box office and it’s Monday so I will release the links to DVD’s and Films today. We are almost halfway through the month of October, if you couldn’t already tell from all the Horror film releases, and the rest of this month will be exciting for movie goers, but not so much for investors. For a large view of my Potential Profit Calendar (remember that TUE = DVD Releases & FRI = Theatrical Release) click below:

October Calendar

Like I said before, the rest of this month is not peaking any interest in my studio investment arena, so I will keep you posted on anything else that might be coming up. But for now, keep your eye on Ben Affleck’s ‘Argo’ and its predicted success. Here is a link to the trailer if you haven’t seen it yet.

Click to Watch Trailer

Below you will find a list of the upcoming film releases for this week, complete with a link for more information so you will have plenty of time to plan for your weekend.

Friday 10/19:

Directed by Rob Cohen, Starring Tyler Perry

Alex Cross  

Crime Thriller – Summit Entertainment – PG-13

Will the fourth installment compare? Go see it.

Paranormal Activity 4 

Horror – Paramount – R

My Sources:

Stock quote pricing, performance chart, and news retrieved via CNBC from:

http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/twx

DVD/ Film information retrieved from Box Office Mojo from:

http://boxofficemojo.com/schedule/

Movie trailers retrieved from YouTube from:

http://www.youtube.com/

‘Obscure’ to Patent My Ideas/ Property?

Julian Assange Wikileaks named Man of the Year by Le Monde by Abode of Chaos

Is the practice of paying to use someone else’s legal property usually regarded as unclear or obscure? Whenever you download a song on iTunes, is it unclear or obscure to you why you have to pay $0.99-$1.29 per song? Well that is what Geoffrey Ingersol would have you believe as cites Enigma, of TorrentFreak.com. In, A Super Obscure Patent Now Blocks 3D Printing Of Weapons, Food, Prosthetics, Even Human Skin, Ingersol starts with the following, “The future of 3D printing was bright, until an obscure patent filed in 2007 passed just the other day.” It is my understanding that patents are set in place to protect proprietary rights. Getting a head start on fair and reasonable licensing should only be seen as obscure to persons who plan on unlawfully ripping and replicating 3D designs in the future, or has done so in the past. Do me a favor and follow this link to Cramer’s Soundboard page and push the ‘Sell, Sell, Sell’ button rapidly, because I’m not buying what Ingersol is selling.

Retrieved 10/13/12 from: http://www.cnbc.com/id/18724672/

This statement, to me, suggests that it is obscure for a company to patent their own legal property. Ingersol references Enigmax claiming that he/ she “goes into great detail” when discussing the print copying, movie, and music copying industries. I found no such documentation by Enigmax from the links provided in Ingersol’s post. The only evidence I did find was a single sentence stating the following,”During the last 20 years inkjet printers made an unholy mess of the short-run commercial print guy’s business, enabling just about anyone to print on anything from paper to plastics with a relatively tiny outlay” (Enigmax, TorrentFreak.com). The logic that accessibility hindered the print copy industry is valid, but the argument that the new patent being adapted will negatively affect the personal 3D printing industry, is half correct at best.

(c) 2012 Loius Seigal// seigalphotopgraphy.com

If Ingersol’s argument is that these patents will call for only licensed individuals to own and operate these complicated machines, then I may argue that having a professional operate these machines might not be such a bad idea because it may bring down the costs of, for example, going to the dentist. In the case of 3D Systems (DDD), a 3D printing company that is revolutionizing the industry, recently released a new way of printing dental film that, as written by GlobeNewswire in 3D Systems’ VIDAR Digitizer makes Dentistry Today Readers’ Choice, retrieved from eresearch.fidelity.com, “…can also digitize x-ray films for integration into patients’ digital records to achieve a completely digital workflow at a fraction of the cost of digital panoramic solutions.” Therefore, lower operating costs for the business owner, could potentially relate to price savings in services and products for the consumer.

All companies have and will suffer from affordable internet and peer sharing, not only the film and music industries. Whenever I go to a printing store, nowadays, not only do I see the same printing options seen before the inkjet printer boom, but also a multitude of other internet services, hardware upgrades, and various other options that I might not have otherwise seen. Because more and more inkjet printers were affordable and accessible small printing, scratch that, all printing companies had to overcome, evolve, and set new policies in place to keep pace with innovation and adaptation to the market. Even the copying industry was affected by “affordable internet and peersharing.” We are now witnessing the early stages of that cycle once more with 3D printing and its evolution to become more accessible.

According to USLegal.com, “Proprietary information assets are critical to the success of many, perhaps most businesses,” and I think that any artist, business owner, or patent holder would agree. I found another article by Enigmax entitled Paramount Cease and Desist Targets 3D Printer ‘Pirate’ that talks about a designer who illegally distributes replicated objects/ merchandise from feature films and was issued a cease and desist order. Enigmax was defending the ‘pirate’ by ending with, “Hollywood created the replicator, but will they and other rightsholders be able to kill it?” (Enigmax, TorrentFreak.com) After reading Ingersol’s, A Super Obscure Patent Now Blocks 3D Printing Of Weapons, Food, Prosthetics, Even Human Skin, I get the perception that he himself see no wrong doing by the ‘pirate.’ His favorite source is Enigmax, of TorrentFreak.com; case and point.

Sources:

Ingersoll, G. BusinessInsider.com. A Super Obscure Patent Now Blocks 3D Printing Of Weapons, Food, Prosthetics, Even Human Skin. Retrieved 10/13/12 from: http://www.businessinsider.com/new-super-obscure-patent-blocks-3d-printing-of-weapons-food-prosthetics-even-human-skin-2012-10

Stock Quote Pricing via CNBC.com. Retrieved 10/13/12 from: http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/ddd

Enigmax. TorrentFreak.com. 3D Printer DRM Patent To Stop People Downloading a Car. Retrieved 10/13/12 from: http://torrentfreak.com/3d-printer-drm-patent-to-stop-people-downloading-a-car-121012/

Staff. US Legal. Proprietary Information Law & Legal Definition. Retrieved 10/13/12 from: http://definitions.uslegal.com/p/proprietary-information/

Staff. Globe Newswire via eResearch.Fidelity.com. 3D Systems’ VIDAR Digitizer Makes Dentistry Today Readers’ Choice. Retrieved 10/13/12 from: http://eresearch.fidelity.com/eresearch/goto/evaluate/news/basicNewsStory.jhtml?symbols=DDD&storyid=201210100921PRIMZONEFULLFEED10007886&provider=PRIMZONE&product=FULLFEED&hlinks=vnhl

Enigmax. TorrentFreak.com. Paramount Cease and Desist Targets 3D Printer ‘Pirate.’ Retrieved 10/13/12 from: http://torrentfreak.com/paramount-cease-and-desist-targets-3d-printer-pirate-110628/

Important Investment Blogs Compared

What’s your favorite investment blog?

When I started this blog one of the largest problems I faced was finding an investment/ finance focused blog that would talk about the entertainment business, more importantly film studio investing, on a regular basis that would also cover other subsidiary companies under the same umbrella of large corporations. After searching, I discovered a couple of very different blogs that offered relevant film news.

Business Insider, my preferred blog, and Freakonomics are very forthcoming with information, have a multitude of options to browse and retrieve for news and they are focused on all aspects of business which, in the long run, contribute to the overall possibility for profit when investing in corporations with film production studios, like Sony and Time Warner. I prefer Business Insider because the blog roll is instantaneous with a picture and a headline that entices the reader. Freakonomics is still a very important and useful source, but for different reasons. Freakonomics user interface is not as busy, or complicated with as many tabs as Business Insider, and it is a single home page without the need to scroll down to see all the content.

Both blogs include search boxes and social widgets towards the top of the page, but with Business Insider you don’t have to worry about navigating any tabs at the top to begin reading, if you don’t want to, so it is instantaneous. On the other hand, you know what you are getting with Freakonomics every time. One at a time, five featured, self scrolling blogs are available to view and their are tabs to help you navigate to different services. I recomment both blogs as credible, instant, and interesting forms of engaging information.

Which #1 Studio Has Grossed $1.3 Billion In 2012, So Far?

Who is #1?

According to boxofficemojo.com, the movie studio with the most market share, at 16.1%, is Sony/ Columbia. This percentage translates to a $1.3 billion total gross from 22 movies in 2012. The highest grossing movie, thus far, for Sony/ Columbia is The Amazing Spider-Man, starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, with $262 million at the box office. In second place, we find MIB3, starring Will Smith, Josh Brolin, and Tommy Lee Jones, which grossed $179 million.

Previously, I invested in SNE, just before MIB3 was released on 5/25/12, and held it for a month. According to CNBC.com, SNE stock opened at $13.30/ share on 5/25/12. One month later, 6/25/12, SNE stock opened at $14.10, which amounts to an awesome 5.67% gain. Therefore, count a victory against the market for us! If I were to invest in a bond, sit on it for 6 months to a year, I might gain 3%, but we almost doubled that amount in one month with our reasonable, well-researched, and analyzed experiment.