Monitoring newsgroups to understand what issues are gnawing at your customers or what perceptions linger in cyberspace about your company has become a key part of corporate reputation management.
Because of that, PR NEWS commissioned eWatch, a White Plains-N.Y. based Internet monitoring service, to get a client's perspective on Internet monitoring. More than a month ago, we gave eWatch the keyword Cendant and asked it to scan for that name.
Cendant has been in the limelight for accounting irregularities. Most recently, a 100-page-plus report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (based on a report to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors of Cendant Corp.) concludes that "senior management failed to have in place appropriate controls and procedures that might have enabled them to detect the irregularities in the absence of actual knowledge."
But what eWatch's tracking points to is a far less formal analysis of the corporation's reputation. Online users make references to the improprieties, but their main concern appears to be its core operations and products. We believe this shows how business concerns can vary among audiences, especially among consumers immersed in popular industries such as gaming, in which Cendant plays a part.
What follows is an edited chronology - but still a diary of the verbatim messages that appeared in reports forwarded to us since Aug. 10. We bold the first reference to Cendant in each message:
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.sports
Subject: Re: SIERRA's BASEBALL PRO 99 IN '99: PC Sports Games Release News
Sierra's games are being now being listed as released under the name of Cendant (?)
Cendant Software has been the parent company of Sierra, Dynamix, Blizzard, Papyrus, Bezerk, etc. for quite some time.
Our Take: Crises don't halt the stream of consumer interest for your products.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.- strategic,comp.os.os2.games
Subject: Re: Entrepreneur: what a game!
There are bonuses for providing good customer support. Because I believe a lot of people are getting tired of buying buggy games and tired of getting no updates after they've spent a good chunk of change.
And I think that the time is at hand that smaller companies can make up for their lack of marketing resources by getting "Grass roots" support from gamers by giving gamers what they want instead of forcing some marketing type's idea of a game down their throat.:) Let me explain: Stardock is a relatively small publisher. When you go into the stores, all the PC games pretty much come from one of 6 companies (GT Interactive, Electronic Arts, Eidos, Cendant, Activision, or Microsoft). That's because getting into the stores is very expensive and painful.
Our Take: It's wise to heed words of wisdom when they provide insight into how customers view customer relations.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.flight-sim
Subject: Sierra to be sold..
Source: http://cnnfn.com/hotstories/companies/9808/12/cendant
"Meanwhile, Cendant said it has engaged Credit Suisse First Boston to analyze the third- party sale or initial public offering of its entire consumer software business unit. The business includes Knowledge Adventure, Blizzard Entertainment, Davidson & Associates and Sierra On-Line."
Our Take: Gamers are a loyal bunch and follow companies closely.
Newsgroups: rec.games.mecha
Subject: Re: [MW3] Microprose and Hasbro
Just because Microprose is being bought by Hasbro doesn't necessarily mean operations will change. Sierra and Blizzard were both bought by Cendant (publisher of Entertainment coupon books) and their operations didn't change, even though Cendant's bastard board of directors got into some illegal activities and killed my Sierra stock (dammit).
Our Take: Proof that angry stockholders are everywhere.
Forum: 1315042 S7/Stocks: General
Subject: #1314944-Instinet updated Quotes?
Bob: What you're asking for would require greater Washington bureaucratic involvement, not less. The markets have been built on pure capitalism, not democracy.
Any two people can conduct a legal stock transaction any time of the day or night if they agree on a price and method of transfer. The "level playing field" you're looking for would be an excuse for political manipulation. The next step would be for the politicians to outlaw market losses or charge a SEC fee to create some massive insurance system to make people "whole" when they bought Cendant at 40 and watched it drop 60%. (Articlesclipped from CompuServ)
Our Take: The Internet is indeed a place where ideas and opinions flow freely.
Newsgroups: alt.fashion
Subject: Fashion Trip software
For those of you interested in the Fashion Trip software - I talked to Cendant software today and they told me that the release has been delayed until mid October. They've been sending betas out to the media and getting a lot of press - but the actual software is not on the shelf.
BTW - the Cendant marketing staff was amazed (and excited) to know that we found the Web site and that there was interest in the software. Once again, we take the lead!!
Our Take: Pass on online kudos to personnel.
Newsgroups: rec.autos.simulators
Subject: Re: New Add-On For Nascar2
Not confirmed one way or another, but Papy had mentioned an interest several months back (late '97 as I remember), but considering the current development of GPL, the swing-over to their next sim (N3), not to mention the recent Cendant fiasco, raises some doubts about whether we'll ever see such a patch.
Our Take: News of crises can rear its head any time, any place.
Newsgroups: misc.invest.stocks
Subject: Cendant With Over 20,000,000 Shares Traded
This high flyer has come down to earth. Once a 40 dollar stock which I just bought at 12. I like this company and expect good things once their accounting irregularities are cleaned up. I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on Cendant and where they think the stock is headed?
Our Take: Questions will keep coming and coming and coming.
Newsgroups: sci.research.careers
Subject: Understanding... what is hype?
That issue of PC Computing has a "feature" on the top 100 computer companies (etc. etc.) and little nuggets on each one. So... you look over on page 116, top left, and.... there it is... the little nugget on "company #42 (from the top)"... which is... Cendant Corp. The first sentence says: "This multi-industry giant hit a snag in 1998 when it twice announced that accounting irregularities (resulting in part from the logistics of the December 1997 merger of CUC International with HFS) had diminished 1997 earnings and sent the company's stock reeling."...
Friends, there have been no less than a couple dozen articles in the Wall Street Journal in the last 3-4 weeks on Cendant. The one article I'm going to talk about here is in the Thurs, August 13, 1998 issue, front page, far right. title: "How whistle-blowers set off a fraud probe that crushed Cendant" subtitle: "They say superiors ordered them to cook the books; phony sales, false profits" - by Emily Nelson and Joann S. Lublin
A few sentences from a large and detailed article..."Since then [months ago], Cendant says it has uncovered evidence of far more wide-ranging fraud."... and audits found that "...about $500 million of revenue reported by CUC from 1995 to 1997 was simply invented. It says that 61% of CUC's 1997 net income was fake."
Our Take: Customers don't forget words like fake and false.
(eWatch, 914/288-0000)
Focus on Finances: One message From the Bunch
Newsgroups: misc.invest.stocks
Subject: Re: PFG (PennCorp Financial)
Does anyone have comments on the stock's unbelievable nose dive?
With a market price of $1 3/4 looks like the market thinks they'll file for bankruptcy. A lot went wrong this week for PFG: the SEC re-opened a probe; they took a $140 million write down of a division up for sale; there's no deal on the division's sale yet; their credit rating dropped; an investor group canceled a cash infusion & they're running out of money.... The Con's: Conspiracy theory: PFG's sharp falls occurred on no news: seemed the stock fell first, then PFG announced the bad stuff later...which usually means some smart traders had inside info....I wonder if somebody (e.g., the investor group that reviewed PFG's books) leaked info. about, maybe, hidden Cendant-type problems to traders who are profiting???