Dot-Coms' Pride Will Seal Their Fate

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What should be happening in the shell-shocked dot-com world? Why, mergers of course. Right now is when the powerful new brands could be set up that could give Yahoo! and AOL a run for their money and create bargaining levers. Right now is when a consolidator could come in and create a brand-new portal of great names with traction. Right now, companies could combine and make something big and lasting happen.

But they won't. Too much pride. Too much hubris. Too much memory. Too much, "I'll be the last man standing." Wall Street would welcome consolidation with a higher stock price for whoever does it and takes out costs and becomes profitable even in this gawdawful environment, because there is something there. People do stare at and read the Web. It is every bit as good of an advertising medium as the side of a bus or a phone booth, maybe better because it is quantified and qualified. But everyone is determined to wipe each other out. So what will happen -- as surely as if it were etched in stone -- is that everyone will get wiped out.

Stupid people running these companies. Stupid and stubborn and prideful. As bad as those who ran Bethlehem Steel or Armco into the ground. Makes me sick to my stomach.

Pass the Pepto. It ain't going away any time soon.

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James J. Cramer is manager of a hedge fund and co-founder of TheStreet.com. At time of publication, his fund had no positions in any stocks mentioned. His fund often buys and sells securities that are the subject of his columns, both before and after the columns are published, and the positions that his fund takes may change at any time. Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks. Cramer's writings provide insights into the dynamics of money management and are not a solicitation for transactions. While he cannot provide investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to comment on his column at [e-mail].