B2B Draft Results Unveiled
We didn't have the glaring
ESPN
lights or the chanting fans. Nobody booed or hissed when
Ask Jeeves
(ASKJ)
went for $125,000, or when no one chose
Sapient
(SAPE)
. And the style -- random names drawn from a hat -- took away from the drama and tension of the first-round drafts.
But it was good theater nonetheless. So let me do my best to describe it. The bidding was done in $25,000 increments, with no bids below $25,000. You could pass, but nobody got last licks, meaning that if I passed and
Matt Jacobs
bid $25,000, I could up him. Each captain had to budget for 10 picks, which meant for a lot of gamesmanship.
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I drew
CareInsite
(CARI)
as my first pick out of the bag. I was conscious that Chairman Marty Wygod is a moneymaker, and as the brains behind CareInsite, he was too good an asset to pass up. I bid $25,000, the minimum, and Matt passed.
CareInsite was mine.
BEA Systems
undefined
came up next, and Matt wanted it bad. He bid $50,000 to start. I countered with $75,000, then back to Matt for a hundo and finally my $125,000 bid took it all. I was starstruck by the CEO of the company on
CNBC
last week and didn't want to pass it up.
Matt and I both have a jones for
VeriSign
(VRSN) - Get VeriSign, Inc. Report
, so it was no surprise when he took the bidding up to $175,000. As much as I love this one, I wasn't going to trump him with $200,000 and leave myself wide open for some lousy drafts down the line.
Sapient then got drawn, and we both passed. So much for those hybrid players.
Then
pcOrder.com
(PCOR)
came up, and we both passed again. No vote of confidence there.
Next thing I know, Ask Jeeves was on the table, and I paid $125,000 for a company I scoffed at a few months ago. Got to have my Jeeves.
Chemdex
(CMDX)
got drawn next. Nobody liked the gross margins, so we both passed.
Then Matt overpaid for
Scient
(SCNT)
, bidding $125,000. Just one man's opinion, but I wouldn't pay that much for a site-meister.
As luck would have it, we picked Sapient again. The piece of paper was folded so well it felt like a new one from the outside. We passed again.
We also passed on the next draw --
E-Stamp
(ESTM)
. Nobody liked the business model.
But
Proxicom
(PXCM)
drew spirited bidding, and I snared it for $100,000.
Twice more Sapient got picked. Incredible coincidence. Twice more we passed.
Matt then picked
Stamps.com
(STMP) - Get Stamps.com Inc. Report
and got it for $50K. No thanks.
Matt pulled out all the stops to get
BroadVision
(BVSN) - Get BroadVision Inc. Report
, the next pick, paying $175,000 for it. I wanted it badly and made him pay severely.
I then reached for
Viant
(VIAN)
for $50,000, which I thought was a steal compared to Matt's pick.
Net incubator
Internet Capital Group
(ICGE)
was everybody's top pick going into the draft, so it wasn't surprising that $175,000 got it, nor that it was Matt who paid for it. He had shelled out for BroadVision, VeriSign and ICGE, and he had earned them.
But now he was short cash, and I could have my way.
I nailed
Retek
(RETK)
for $25,000 -- a fabulous buy, I think.
Then a moment of awkwardness when
Oracle
(ORCL) - Get Oracle Corporation Report
came up and nobody bid on it -- despite
Cramer Berkowitz
being long it. Small-cap bias perhaps.
Matt then snared
Siebel Systems
(SEBL)
for $50,000, which I think was $25,000 too much.
I grabbed
VerticalNet
(VERT)
for $150,000. VerticalNet was my fave name going into it, so I thought I did pretty well.
Oracle came up and got passed over again.
Then Matt took
Tibco
(TIBX)
for $25,000. I think I will regret not bidding $50,000 for that one.
pcOrder came up again, and this time we just threw it on the discard pile and didn't put it back.
Then Matt took
Razorfish
(RAZF)
for $25,000 -- again, something I think I will regret.
Commerce One
(CMRC)
was mine. I wasn't going to lose it, and Matt knew it. The bidding stopped at $125,000.
We then redshirted Chemdex.
Oracle got picked again, and this time Matt took it for $50,000.
He then finished by taking Sapient for $150,000. He only had room for one more player on his roster, and he had to use all of his cash.
I then grabbed
Ariba
(ARBA)
for $150,000, giving me three of a kind -- Commerce One, Ariba and VerticalNet -- which made me very happy.
Then I burned $125,000 on
PurchasePro
(PPRO)
to finish out my roster.
All in all, a draft well done. I do hope you will follow along with us, and I am told that the site will try to update our portfolio valuations regularly
James J. Cramer is manager of a hedge fund and co-founder of TheStreet.com. At time of publication, his fund was long Ariba, BroadVision, Oracle, Siebel Systems, VeriSign and VerticalNet. 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
jjcletters@thestreet.com.
