| Go Shopping Via Reverse Auctions
I've found myself in an interesting and illuminating loop lately. In February, I wrote an article offering some money-saving shopping tips. Good enough, right? Well, I quickly heard from some folks who offered me additional advice, especially about where to find great discounts and coupons online. So I then wrote about how to be a smart online shopper. And then -- you guessed it -- I heard from more folks. So here's my next installment, this time focused on ... (drumroll) reverse auctions. With traditional auctions, such as you'll find at eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY), buyers bid on items, driving up the price until no one wants to bid anymore or the time runs out. With reverse auctions, an item's price starts out high, and then drops -- until someone buys it, ideally. This is similar to the "Dutch auction" concept, which Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) used for its IPO.
Historic Century Farms not immune to struggle
For more than 100 years, Windy Bluff Farm was a tranquil 250-acre cattle, horse and hay farm in Greene County near the South River and the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. "It was my great-great-grandfather's farm," said Tommy Shelton, the farm's owner. "It goes way on back." Yet when Shelton's father passed away in 2001, tracts of the farm were sold off. The bulk of the land became another family's goat farm, another cattle farm and South River Vineyards. All that remains today of the historic Windy Bluff Farm is a 5-acre sliver of farmland. "The way this real estate is getting more and more valuable, it's kind of foolish to hold on to it," Shelton said. Windy Bluff is one of 59 farms in the Charlottesville region that has been in continuous operation by the same family for more than 100 years.
Elsewhere in basketball
Rob Evans, a former head coach at Mississippi and Arizona State, has joined Arkansas' staff as an assistant to John Pelphrey, the former UK player who this month was hired away from South Alabama. Evans, who has 38 years of college experience, was fired by Arizona State last year after an 11-17 season. At Ole Miss from 1993-1998, Evans led the school to consecutive Southeastern Conference Western Division titles and NCAA Tournament bids. In 1997 he was named SEC Coach of the Year. .
Nestle bids for India's Himalayan water - report
MUMBAI, April 16 (Reuters) - Nestle Waters, a unit of Nestle SA (NESN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest food company, has bid for India's Mount Everest Mineral Water Ltd. (MEMW.BO: Quote, Profile, Research), the Economic Times reported on Monday. India's Tata group had also bid more than 2 billion rupees ($47 million) for the company, which sells the premium Himalayan brand of bottled water, the paper said, citing unnamed sources. Nestle, which sells the Perrier brand of bottled water, launched Nestle Pure Life water in India in 2001 but pulled the brand a couple of years later. The Tatas were "close to clinching the deal" with Mount Everest, a part of the Dadi group, and were also likely to launch other beverages such as fortified water, the paper said.
Net auctioneer's profit jumps
EBay Inc., the world's largest online auction company, says its first-quarter profit soared 52 per cent after the company raised fees on items for sale and held more auctions outside the United States. Net income climbed to $377.2 million (U.S.), or 27 cents a share, from $248.3 million, or 17 cents, a year earlier, eBay said yesterday. Excluding some expenses, eBay earned 33 cents, three cents more than analysts estimated. Revenue increased 27 per cent to $1.77 billion as a weaker U.S. dollar and demand in western Europe boosted results internationally. Last year, eBay chief executive officer Meg Whitman more than doubled fees for merchants selling goods at fixed prices. A higher percentage of listings are now leading to sales. "They're still the gorilla," said Rachel Wakefield, portfolio manager for Coldstream Capital Management in Portland, Ore.
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