John Mulqueen

Day trading is getting cheaper. Tradescape, a leading day-trading firm, has begun paying its retail customers one penny per share for certain orders that are placed and executed over its electronic trading network, MarketXT. The move was meant to boost revenue and build network traffic, company officials said. If a customer trades 1,000 shares, he […]

Its not news that venture capitalists are watching their checkbooks like a mother guarding her firstborn. Yet, while some executives recognize the dangers of investing, they also see the opportunity. Take Gerry Smith, founder and chief executive of Toronto software maker Changepoint. He knows of companies that raised $40 million from leading venture capitalists and […]

Profits are coming hard to telecom carriers, with voice revenue shrinking and data not yet taking up the slack, but theyre still buying optical equipment at a frenzied pace. Thats very good news to optical equipment makers, which continue to post impressive revenues. Ciena and Sycamore Networks last week continued a monthlong parade of record […]

The dominant enterprise router and switch vendor, Cisco Systems, will have to field new optical and other products to return to the hyper growth rates of recent years. After Ciscos disappointing second-quarter earnings announcement, analysts said the company would be at the mercy of general economic conditions, the capital markets and competitors with optical networking […]

A lot of people have advisers to help them invest their money. Some may have more than one: an accountant, a lawyer, a broker or two. Not many have a company, but Terrence Matthews, founder of Mitel and Newbridge Networks, has 21 professionals looking after only a small part of his wealth. They work at […]

With the economic downturn, so-called “Vulture capitalists” are snapping up Internet companies for pennies on the dollar. Plurimi, a San Francisco company that makes Web-based electricity monitoring products, was recently a target. “They have first-rate management, with the right technology at the right time in the right place, but they cant raise the $1 million […]

Revenue and profit margins for optical carriers targeting businesses are skyrocketing, while Internet companies delivered mixed results. Broadwing, the company formed after Cincinnati Bell bought IXC Communications in November 1999, said total revenue for 2000s final quarter rose 27 percent to $561 million, and 23 percent for the year to $2 billion. Data supplied 70 […]

Despite market concern over the heavy debt loads of European telecom players, British Telecom had no trouble attracting investors to two of the biggest bond offerings on record — totaling nearly $20 billion. BT raised $10 billion in the capital markets in early December and another $9.15 billion this month, all amid cautionary tales by […]

Odds are that the Nasdaq will stay at less than 2,500, and maybe even go to less than 2,000, according to the Puke Point Poll. Admittedly an unscientific survey and probably weighted at the negative end of the investment sentiment scale, the Puke Point Poll nevertheless has accurately forecast the downward trend in the market […]

Telecommunications carriers may be cutting back on purchases of circuit switches and legacy transmission equipment, but they are shelling out billions of dollars for high-end routers and optical networking gear in 2001 in hopes of cutting operating costs and supporting new revenue- generating services. Several manufacturers of the routers and optical equipment were so positive […]