February 13, 2007

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Last Updated on February 13, 2007 by stlplace

Blue Nile, a leading diamond ring online retailer. I vaguely remember one of my friends bought the wedding ring from them a while ago (before the company went public in 2004). The company has an interesting story: the founder went to a tradtional jewery store to buy the ring for his financee, he felt he was not treated well by the associates. So he did some research and started his own venture.

The Knot, I heard this name from Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC’s “Mad Money”. One of the founders by a Chinese American (husband). He started the business with his wife. The reason they started is when they were gettting married, they found the whole thing is just too overwelming. So they started this web site to help people “to be married”.

Olympics Effect on Chinese Companies

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Last Updated on February 13, 2007 by stlplace

I listened to the conference call of Sohu and Ctrip lately. Not surprisingly, both companies mentioned the positive effect of 2008 Beijing Olympics. Sohu is the Internet content service sponsor, and Ctrip should enjoy the booming of China travel industry before Olympics. But I think this Olympics effect is already priced in the stocks, and to make things worrysome, the effect may not turn out as big as people thought. The SOHU and CTRP stocks got punished partly because of this “irrational exuberance”.

On the other hand, Chinese economy is still in fast growth mode and I am bullish on some of the companies whose growth does not solely depend on Olympics. Or at least their PR person does not mention Olympics all the time 🙂

2008 olympics pic