My CEO Life

You just have to turn on the TV for one minute in any country to hear just how bad the economic situation is.  The reports flood in from around the world about how business is contracting, unemployment is rising, consumers are no longer spending and companies are focusing on cost containment rather than revenue growth.  However, it is in times like this, that companies should be looking to acquire new businesses – they are now trading at reasonable levels and many of them are looking to be acquired.  So why don’t managers take this contrarian approach?

My guess is that most business managers around the world are probably thinking the same thing.  Revenues will be flat or falling this year and that the business will have to focus on cutting costs – mostly through letting people go – to maintain profit margins (or minimise losses).  The funny thing is that if most managers in the same industry do the same thing, the status quo will probably be maintained.  The only changes will be that the little guys go out of business but the relative market shares of the leaders will remain steady.

The contrarian in me say that now is the time to acquire businesses – especially those that are poorly financed but in a good market position.  By taking this contrarian approach, businesses will be able to change the competitive landscape – potentially for years to come.

At Classified Ad Ventures, we have established an investment fund and are taking positions in online classified businesses around the world.  We believe that the movement to online classifieds will be accelerated in this down turn – especially as advertisers move away from traditional print media advertising.  At the same time, the current online classifieds businesses have been oversold and are now trading at attractive valuations.

When the economies recover, we believe we will be in a good position to capture much of the upside potential these businesses have to offer.

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