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NOVEMBER 17, 2000 VOL. 26 NO. 45 | SEARCH ASIAWEEK

Business Buzz
Dotcoms, Not So Wise?
By SONIA NAYAHAM

It's been a while since people stopped putting money into stand-alone, content-driven dotcom websites. You have to wonder what it was that made people spin business plans based on ephemeral revenue sources and lure otherwise hard-nosed investors who got starry-eyed when they saw the word "dotcom."

Which brings us to AsiaWise, right, a financial information website that employed a raft of well-respected writers and editors based in Hong Kong. AsiaWise's material was — is, actually, the site is still limping along — up-to-date, knowledgeable and well written. For a website (it recently upgraded itself from an e-mail newsletter) it was a quality act. But on Nov. 1, when Adam Schwartz, a key editor, was reportedly fired questioning a deal the journalists thought made no business sense, staffers knew they had a problem. Several staff members handed CEO Eugene Galbraith a proposal to restructure the business, which he rejected. The staff left, more or less amicably. Less friendly were the ensuing discussions over severance pay.

But was the problem only money? One of the site's major backers was Son Masayoshi's Softbank which, while in trouble itself, could keep the operation funded until it found its niche, if such a financially viable niche does indeed exist.

According to an AsiaWise staff member, "We lost confidence in the management's willingness and ability to execute business ideas and corporate governance." People are reluctant to get specific, but it is clear that the editorial team was miffed about how decisions were being made. Some felt problems were glossed over by Galbraith and his backer Gus Liem, an investment banker with a reportedly large personal stake in the project. Others said they disliked Liem's involvement in day-to-day operations. (Another financial partner, Jerry Hammerschmidt, kept his distance.)

There was talk of a coming tie-in with a major Asian portal, but the staff felt the terms weren't advantageous. Still, as one staffer put it "there is a role for journalists in Asia to provide high quality business reporting and analysis" but agrees that "there is a big problem in justifying websites' existence." Especially if they don't make money

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