Floyd Norris is a business columnist for the NY Times and has a well-deserved reputation for being the sharpest pencil in the box. In my professional life I've only had one encounter with him and, I'll tell you the truth, it's a heart-stopping moment for a public relations professional when he hears Floyd Norris is holding for you on line two. In my case, I was working for 3Com at the time and we were in the process of spinning off Palm and had issued a tracking stock for the new company. The tracking stock did Very Well, while the 3Com stock Wasn't Doing So Well. In fact, the situation was that the valuation of the tracking stock compared to the performance of the 3Com stock indicated that 3Com was being valued less than the cash we had in the bank. --And I hope that never happens to you.
Our strategy was to hold our collective breaths and hope no one noticed and that worked out pretty well until one afternoon when I got the call from Floyd Norris. The truth of the matter is that it was one of the easiest press inquiries I ever handled. Mr. Norris asked me if he had done his math correctly and I affirmed he had. Mr. Norris asked me what I thought about the situation and I told him that, on the record, we couldn't comment about the fairness of how the public values our stock. Off the record, I told him I thought the situation was rather silly and he completely agreed with me and his column streeted on Saturday and the column said the situation was silly and that was that.
In today's paper, Mr. Norris explains the Entire Economic Mess for us. He explains it in simple terms that even I can understand. I Highly Recommend that you read it.
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