Topps to Issue IPOs of Baseball Cards (Updated)

Are baseball cards the second coming of Internet stocks?

No. They're much stabler, insists Topps Co.

The trading cards company said it will offer "Initial Player Offerings" or IPOs, of limited-issue baseball cards that can be bought and sold on eBay's online auction site.

"The value will depend on player popularity and how he performs on the field,'' Warren Friss, co-director of Topps' Internet Group, told Reuters. "We might issue 15,000 Derek Jeters at $9 each, or 5,000 Benny Agbayanis at $6. The value will depend on supply and demand; you decide which player to buy."

Topps says it plans to launch its "etopps" line of baseball cards when next year's baseball season gets underway in April.

It also plans IPOs of basketball, football and hockey cards.

Topps figures the sports trading cards business generates between $400 million and $450 million wholesale each year.

Topps said it will still sell its signature packs of sports cards.

How exactly will etopps work? Participants will be offered a window of opportunity to buy specific cards at an IPO price determined by the card company's sports experts.

Then, cards could be traded on eBay. Like stocks and bonds, Topps will either send the mint-condition card to the owner or hold them for the customer so that it remains in mint condition.

From Four Cents to $7 in One Day
How do you get your stock to go from $0.04 per share to $7 overnight?

Oh come on, it's very simple. You just institute your typical one-for-156 reverse stock split.

That's what DevX Energy did on Friday.

Thursday night, DevX priced an offering of 10 million common shares at $7 each.

The company said its proceeds from the stock offering were expected to total $63.5 million. The underwriters were also granted an option to purchase up to 1.5 million additional shares to cover over-allotments.

The lead underwriter for the offering, which is expected to close Oct. 31, is Friedman, Billings, Ramsey while the co-manager is Stifel, Nicolaus.

Well, that's one way to avoid being delisted by NASDAQ.

OPEC to Hike Production
Well, say this for OPEC. It did learn something from the 1970s--if you raise the price of crude high enough, you destroy the global economy and ultimately your own economy.

With this in mind and the specter of rising inflation hanging over global economies, OPEC oil exporters said Monday they would raise production by 2% on Tuesday.

Global crude prices, which plunged Friday in anticipation of these moves, fell slightly this morning.

Before this production increase was announced, Iran's oil minister was trying to either calm crude customers or give a spin to OPEC's influence over oil prices.

On Saturday, Iran Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh predicted a sharp drop in oil prices in 2001 if current production levels are maintained, Reuters quoted the Resalat newspaper on Saturday.

"If OPEC carries on its current level of production, oil prices will sharply fall," it quoted him as saying. The Iranian Minister thinks this could happen in the second and third quarter of 2001.

Then, the only way prices could avoid falling is if the oil cartel lowers production by 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), he added. Otherwise, there would be excess supply.

Extra, Extra Read All About About
Well, it looks like not all Internet companies were created with smoke, mirrors and hype.

Case in point: About, Inc., creators of the About.com website, which offers more than 700 topic-specific Guide Sites and about 10,000 real live human beings as experts.

On Monday, media powerhouse Primedia, which publishes New York magazine and scores of specialty magazines, said it would buy About Inc. for $690 million in stock. Shareholders of About will receive 2.3409 Primedia shares for each share of About. Primedia will issue about 45.2 million shares in the deal, which values About at roughly $35.70 per share, a 50% premium from its closing price on Friday.

Corning's Convertible
What does a former high-flier whose stock is down do to raise a lot of cash? Issue a convertible bond.

This is what fiber optics maker Corning Inc. is planning to do. Possibly as early as this week, it is expected to offer $1.2 billion of zero-coupon convertible bonds.

Corning is trying to raise as much as $3 billion with sales of the bonds and 30 million shares of stock, in order to buy Optical Technologies USA, which makes lasers, components and fibers that transmit information at high speeds through communications networks.

Last month, Corning agreed to pay $3.6 billion in cash for Milan-based Pirelli SpA's 90% stake in Optical Technologies.

On Thursday, Cisco Systems exercised an option to exchange its 10% stake for Corning stock.

Corning's 15-year bonds will pay no current interest and are expected to yield 2.5% to 3% to maturity, and be convertible into common stock at a 21% to 25% premium over Corning's stock price at the time of sale.

Goldman Sachs is arranging the bond and stock offerings.

Corning enjoys solid credit ratings —"A2" with a negative outlook for its senior debt from Moody's Investors Service, and "A" with a stable outlook from Standard & Poor's, which is roughly similar to Moody's rating.

Say What?
SBC Communications said on Friday that it has agreed with the Federal Communications Commission to either sell its security and fire detection division SecurityLink or pay $1 million to the U.S. government.

The reason: Alleged violations of the 1996 Telecommunications Act by Ameritech Corp., an Illinois-based unit of SBC that owns SecurityLink.

And what was the transgression? SBC and the FCC won't say.

SBC said it has been ordered to either form a pact to sell SecurityLink by Feb. 9, 2001 or pay $1 million to the government.

Hard to believe the reason for the fine is not material information.

Guess they are still in compliance with Reg FD as long as they keep everyone in the world in the dark.

Once More, With DaimlerChrysler
Recalls continue to plague the auto industry.

This time, DaimlerChrysler Corp. is recalling 1.4 million minivans following reports that fuel-rail seals leaked in 43 instances.

The company is quick to point out that this small number of confirmed leaks isn't enough to establish a pattern. However, the cars are being recalled anyway "to give customers the added assurance that future problems will be prevented," says the company.

The recall affects 1996-99 and some 2000 model year Dodge Caravan and Grand Caravan, Plymouth Voyager and Grand Voyager and Chrysler Town & Country minivans with 3.3-liter and 3.8-liter V-6 engines.

DaimlerChrysler said the recall doesn't affect flexible-fuel vehicles and 2000 model year minivans built after September 1999. The new, redesigned 2001 model-year Chrysler and Dodge minivans aren't affected either, the company said.

Water, Water, I Need Water
Enron Corp., a wholesale energy marketer, said it will provide up to $275 million to finance the privatization of its ill-fated water services affiliate Azurix Corp. for $7 per share.

Enron spokesman Mark Palmer told Reuters the plan amounted to Enron offering to loan Azurix's board enough money to purchase Azurix's 38.8 million outstanding publicly traded shares.

Remember, back on Aug. 25 Azurix Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Mark resigned after a steep decline in Azurix's stock price since Enron spun the company off in an initial public offering at $19 per share in June 1999.

CFO.com Briefcase

• Palm Inc.'s stock will be added to the NASDAQ 100 index beginning Nov. 6.

• For the past two weeks, more companies pulled their IPOs than registered new ones, according to the Wall Street Journal.