Just like you never want to hear a doctor say "oops" in the operating room, you never want to see a going-concern statement in a financial report about a company you own. Accountants throw these in when they've been over the books, talked to customers, and checked the horoscopes and have concluded there is "substantial doubt" about a company's ability to remain in business. In short, don't blame the accountants if the company files for bankruptcy protection.

You¿d reckon that a going-concern statement would be enough to send investors running to the exits, but it's not. True, many large institutions automatically bail when an existing company gets slapped with one of these, but many individuals (often wrongly) take a chance they know more than the bean counters.

During the tech boom of the late 1990s, many companies actually went public even though they had been hit with going-concern statements. Many of those companies subsequently disappeared. Enough said.

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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Microsoft, Facebook Strike a Search Deal

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FOXBusiness

Microsoft and Facebook have finally reached a deal to combine Web search and search ad platforms, according a report in the Wall Street Journal that cited people familiar with the matter.

The deal would route searches from Facebook’s 90 million users through Microsoft’s system, and is expected to be announced at Microsoft’s analyst meeting today.

Microsoft (MSFT) Chief Executive Steve Ballmer will reportedly announce the partnership, which will only enhance Microsoft’s exclusive contract to sell banner ads on Facebook.

The new partnership will only be available to U.S. Facebook members, and it is unclear whether the deal will be exclusive, according to the Journal.

The partnership will go into effect at the end of this year, and could threaten Google’s share of the search advertising market, according to the report.