“The only update I can give you on the investor network is we’re rolling out an internal pilot for friends and family, and I’m hoping in the future to be talking more about that with a very excited tone.”
That statement was made by Rich Daly, CEO of Broadridge Financial Solutions (NYSE: BR) on his company’s Q1 2009 earnings conference call on November 6.
He said that 11 days after we publicized the fact that The Investor Network was live on the web.
In fact, at the very time he uttered those words, any of the analysts on the call could have found that Broadridge was actually advertising on Google for people to join The Investor Network. (See the screenshot below)
Hardly what you would call an “internal pilot for family and friends.”
Of course, Mr. Daly not pointing analysts to www.theinvestornetwork.com has nothing at all to do with the fact that this new project has been unable to attract even 250 members yet.
Nor does it have anything to do with the fact that individuals so obviously connected to Broadridge are anonymously touting the company’s stock, something regulators don’t look upon kindly.
And it definitely has nothing to do with it being a flop that won’t fly unless Broadridge manages to somehow convince a certain regulator to force every company in America to use and pay for it.
And that could well happen, according to Daly’s comments on the prior quarter’s call (Seeking Alpha transcript).
I really hope it doesn’t because Broadridge’s investor network is a poorly conceived concept that adds no more value than can be achieved using free software that is widely available on the web. And, judging by the lack of interest thus far, no one really cares.
A CEO who directly contradicts what is plainly visible to anyone who cares to look doesn’t inspire confidence in me. I’m no longer a shareholder.
Dominic, in case you missed it, the AGORACOM small-cap community reported the following for the 12-month period ended October 31st
* 1.24 million unique visitors
* 7.6 million visits
* 101 million page views
(full announcement http://tinyurl.com/agoracom-traffic)
Now that we’ve proven our model in the small-cap world, look for us to enter the large-cap space in 2009. Competing with Broadridge will be fun…and we won’t compel companies to use it against their will.
Clearly, Broadridge does not understand the spirit of Web 2.0 and community building. You have to provide both companies and investors with a great platform that they want to use, not have to use.
Regards,
George
George,
It’s hard to miss anything your firm does because you’re so good at making sure we know
Yep, guilty as charged. I hate doing it – but this post was so on point that it was impossible to resist
George
Nice to see some other competitors out there like AGORACOM-there are so few of us around…This will not be a game-changer for them and they will struggle on a field where they cannot move the goalposts…
@ George, jcj You’re welcome any time.