Hear Hindery Roar: Tech Glut's Too Much

There are plenty of executives out there who will tell you a tech recovery is on the way, but Leo Hindery isn't one of them.

As CEO of YES, the network that George Steinbrenner set up to push cable TV operators for the right to televise New York Yankees baseball, Hindery might not seem the best-placed prognosticator on tech. But given his well-chronicled penchant for staying a step ahead of disaster, Hindery's semiannual assessment of tech, telecom and media tends to command attention from some financial trend spotters.

On Monday night, Hindery again delivered a sobering message. The nation's economy is threatened by a "pervasive overcapacity" in nearly every market, Hindery told a dinner hosted by securities firm Friedman Billings & Ramsey. And with few antidotes available to combat the tech and telecom glut, the 55-year-old executive says investors should prepare for more big, expensive failures.

Take communications gear, for instance, an industry in which a vast supply of equipment far outstrips feeble demand. Though the big players in the sector continue to struggle gamely to remake their floundering businesses, at the end of the day there's simply not enough money to keep staid old-line outfits afloat, Hindery warned. ...