We looked back a decade into the BarterNews archives and came up with these creative ways barter has been used in the marketplace…

• Perot Systems Corp., the closely held computer-services company started by Ross Perot (he owns 40% stake in the company), has bartered with its largest client, Swiss Bank Corp.

In exchange for providing its valued business to Perot Systems they hold stock and options valued at as much as a 25% stake in the company that grossed $600 million last year.

• The San Francisco ‘49ers ex-star quarterback, Joe Montana, did magazine and television ads for Franklin Funds in 1991.

Franklin Funds, a San Francisco-based financial services company best known for its mutual funds, honored Montana’s request for payment.

It was a bartered arrangement, wherein Montana received stock rather than cash. The amount of the stock was $740,000 at the time. By the time he decided to sell, his stock had appreciated to $1.47 million!

• E.W. Scripps Co. exchanges ownership in two small California newspapers for Knight-Ridder’s Daily Camera, in Boulder (CO).

The trade supports both companies’ strategy to build clusters of newspapers in various regions of the country.

• Barter has been used to settle a major lawsuit. Computervision Corp. said it agreed to settle a share-holder suit by issuing 2.7 million shares valued at $10.8 million to the plaintiffs.

• TWA, the St. Louis-based air carrier, has instituted a barter policy that awards 1,000 bonus miles to passengers on any domestic flight that arrives more than 15 minutes late. Passengers on canceled flights will also receive the miles.

• Jack Nicklaus is using the power of his name and golfing aura in a barter deal to b ring in dollars for his new public company—Golden Bear Golf.

Here’s the deal: In exchange for spending $35 for a special Nicklaus Visa card you can enter a monthly sweepstakes and get a chance to play a round of gold with Nicklaus himself. The program awards one point on every dollar charged. Enough points gets you golf lessons or clubs, in addition to the monthly sweepstakes round of golf.

• One of the best ways to see Cairo has always been from a felucca—the ancient sailboats that travel up and down the Nile.

Coca-Cola bartered for a two-year advertising contract with Cairo’s most popular felucca operator by providing them with new sails that sport the Coca-Cola logo!

• In a major newspaper article, superstar-singer Kenny Rogers was lamenting about how his investments in real estate and thoroughbred horse racing were virtual duds—financially speaking.

Not so, however, was a barter deal he made in 1991 with John Y. Brown, Jr., the former governor of Kentucky. Rogers received a 15% stake in Florida-based Kenny Rogers’ Roasters restaurant-chain (which was lionized on an episode of the hit sitcom Seinfeld) in exchange for lending his name and image to the operation.

And Rogers’ barter deal will undoubtedly soar in value as the privately held Roasters chain recently signed a deal to provide fast-food service to the 5,400 hotel HFS, Inc.

• Telecommunication’s giant Williams Communications Group, based in Tulsa, is providing $2 million in “service credits” in exchange for stock in Concentric Network—a growing company in the burgeoning telecommunications industry.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 5:02 am and is filed under Best & Brightest Barter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.