Not Quite Right

Are they thinking at all?

Last year, I blogged this, suggesting that Telecom's board really aren't doing a very good job of acting in the best interests of their shareholders.

Today, we are treated to this and this, which both add up to rather ominous tidings for the Evil Empire.
The first link, Computerworld, gives some indication of the degree of institutional arrogance within the company. Their "take it or leave it" attitude, coupled with a product that will wholesale with wafer-thin margins, suggests that they expect the rest of the industry to cave in order to avoid losing customers in bulk as people flock to Xtra because it's faster than anything their ISP can offer.
The second link says that, finally, we have a Prime Minister with the attitude toward Telecom that has for so long been absent from Premier House. There's no doubt that Uncle Helen has the balls to take on Theresa, the issue is whether she will dare to take the flak from the political right that will inevitably come from what can only be a strike against the property rights of a major traded corporation. With this kind of writing on the wall, my earlier post seems almost prophetic. A friend messaged me on MSN this afternoon, and said "If I owned any Telecom shares, I'd be selling them right now." At the point where people start to consider divesting themselves of stock for reasons related to impending doom, a board has failed in its duty. It's horribly tempting to buy the minimum parcel of shares required to attain voting rights, and then commence a campaign against Telecom's board to seek the drastic strategic change in direction that is required to avert wholesale slaughter at the hands of a maddened Government.