Beppe Grillo's Blog: Stock Exchange Games

Stock Exchange Games

Imagine that you’ve got some shares.
And that after 5 years these shares have halved in value.
And that these shares allow you to keep control of the biggest Italian company.
And that the company is called Telecom Italia.
And that no one draws your attention to the fact that you have to devaluate them.
And that if you devaluate them you lose control of Telecom.
And that to avoid devaluating them you have to fork out the difference, but you don’t have the money.
And that the company with the shares halved is called Olimpia.
And that 80% of Olimpia belongs to Pirelli.
And that the other 20% is owned by Benetton that has however updated the value to that of the market.
And that the tronchetto dimezzato {Tronchetti who has been halved} has still got all his team in command at Telecom.
And if the value of Olimpia’s shares were brought up to date by more than 4 Euro on the Balance sheet by about a half, then Olimpia would no longer be anything.
And that all Tronchetti’s men would no longer be in the top jobs.
And that Tavaroli is trying to involve Buora.
And that Buora answers in kind in the Gazzetta dello Sport that he is a CEO ltd. A CEO of limited responsibility.
And that he didn’t know anything.
And that perhaps Sismi {Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare = Italian secret service} replies to Buora with a communication about Mickey Mouse.
And that all the small Telecom shareholders want to have the value of the shares at more than 4 Euro.
And that they ask their banks to do this.
And that their banks give them written explanations why it’s yes for Olimpia and no for them.
And that the shares must all be the same.
And that it is incredible the extent that they are playing around with us.

PS The Shareaction initiative is continuing. Soon I will give you an update.

Comments

whoops! Sorry, I called you Terenzio, but your first name is Charles!
;-)

Posted by: Raffaella Biferale | October 23, 2006 08:09 PM

Hi Terenzio, welcome on the blog!
I saw your web site, I needed 10 minutes to download the schockwawe player but it was worth the effort!
Very nice!
As for the topic, I'm afraid you are right.
:-)

Posted by: Raffaella Biferale | October 23, 2006 08:08 PM

Beppe,

I have returned home from my first trip to Italy 3 weeks ago. It is an amazingly beautiful country (from what I saw), with very kind people.

I saw one of your books in the Mel Bookstore in Florence, and when I came home, I decided to see if you had an internet presence, and I came across this blog. I have been reading it daily for about 2 weeks.

It seems to me that between RAI and Telecom, there are very few people in these organizations that are actually concerned about *any* information content (whether the information is true or not) being carried to the people of Italy in a consistent and/or affordable way. I also agree that there should be a de-centralization of technology based information delivery, whether it's telephone or television.

The internet is the most obvious solution to these dilemmas, whether people are using VOIP (Gizmo or Skype) for telephone calls or YouTube for broadcasting video content. My concern (especially here in America), is that once internet access becomes a "regulated utility" (like electricity or water), someone else will be in charge of delivering the technology based information, and when that happens, it's very possible (and almost probable) that the content will suffer, and be affected by the same type of irrelevant politics that is happening now.

One of the founders of Google has joined the board of directors for Apple Computer. Google has just purchased YouTube a few weeks ago, and Apple has previewed a "set top" box that they are developing. If everything goes correctly, this means that Apple computer will provide a media center that will be controlled through your television. This media center will centralize your computer(s), internet access, and television broadcast, *all through one box that sits on your television*. The hot term for this is called "covergence". However, even in forward thinking technology, someone still has to get up at 5:30am, go to the server room, and make sure all this is being pumped out. Once someone has to get up and make sure this is all happening, politics start. Because that person needs a boss. And the boss needs a boss.

It is my feeling that this is a very old story, and one that certainly isn't exclusive to Italy or America. For the "decentralization" initiatives that keeps services competitive, there is a contradictory concept called "convergence" that forces them back together. I feel that "convenience" will win over "content".

Sorry for the rambling - I think you are doing a great job with this site. In my opinion, www.beppegrillo.it is one of the best blogs I have seen.

Thanks for your time,

-Charlie

Posted by: Charles Terenzio | October 23, 2006 02:12 PM