Western Sizzlin Corporation (Nasdaq: WEST) has completed its exchange offer for shares of ITEX Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: ITEX). The exchange offer expired, as scheduled, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on Tuesday, May 13, 2008.

Based upon a preliminary tally by (more…)

From the barter desk of Bob Meyer…05/13/2008

What’s The Message Here?

Only three countries in the world do not use the metric system…Liberia, Myanmar and the United States. For America to maintain it’s role in the world, it may be a good idea to think about joining it.


National Federation Of Independent Business (NFIB) Reveals. . .

“Recession fears are spreading and the economy is showing definite signs of slowing, even on Main Street,” confirms NFIB chief economist (more…)

Contents in the May 13, 2008 Tuesday Barter Report, published by BarterNews magazine, include the following (more…)

I remember a dinner I enjoyed with jack Utley, the Director of Countertrade & Offset for McDonnell Douglas, back in the fall of 1986. We were in Las Vegas for an American Countertrade Association’s Annual Convention, where I had been invited to speak. At the evening meal Jack wanted to talk baseball with me, and I wanted to talk to him about his many years in the countertrade business.

It was a most interesting conversation. And what stood out that night (for me) was his bold prediction that, someday, China would be competing with McDonnell Douglas in the manufacturing of jet aircraft. Quite a statement given the situation back some 22 years ago.

McDonnell had just entered into an offset agreement with China due to the efforts of (more…)

Sino Fibre Communications, Inc. (OTCBB:SFBE), a broadband and value added Internet services provider in China, announced that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (”MOU”) with BarterXchange (S) Pte Ltd. (”Singapore Barter Xchange”) to sell a 15% stake in Sino Fibre’s joint venture (”JV”), China Business Online Company Limited, to Singapore Barter Xchange for US$6 million.

This values the JV at US$40 million of which Sino Fibre will retain a 70% stake. Sino Fibre’s JV is with the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (”CASME”), which will explore the Chinese market and introduce e-business and provide barter trade services to Chinese small and medium sized (more…)

Here’s another example of how powerful, versatile and meaningful a tool barter can be in the right hands. It also shows the business acumen of Tom Cruise and his longtime associate Paula Wagner, who were dumped by Paramount Pictures, after a decade of success.

In November Cruise and Wagner stuck a deal with MGM’s chairman Harry Sloan to revive the long dormant United Artists (UA) movie unit. As part of the deal Cruise/Wagner will have (more…)

For me, I find reading some of my notes of years past is a good way to stay grounded. Here’s an example of what I mean.

“To make 10% consistently is a great achievement, very few people achieve it.”

—Philip Carret,
founder of Carret & Co., New York City

Years ago, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke (more…)

Which firms would you rather compete against? Those with no ad budgets, or those that spend excessively to create new business? The answer to this question is rather obvious, isn’t it.

Sometimes we get so caught up in running our company, we forget the importance of new customer development.

Always remember: we’re in the customer development business.

There aren’t many, if any, (more…)

On Friday, May 16, Black Enterprise magazine will name Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Inc. its 2008 BE100s Company of the Year. The announcement will be made before an audience of nearly 2,000 African American businesspeople and entrepreneurs at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo hosted by General Motors in Charlotte, North Carolina.

For those who gather that evening, Winfrey is not just a talk show host and more than a mere business woman. She is a legend, an icon—but mostly, a mentor. Her unprecedented success in American business serves as (more…)

Online industry leaders will be discussing “Restaurant Marketing in a Digital World”
at the 2008 National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago.

Online industry leaders will gather at the 2008 National Restaurant Association to discuss the state of Internet marketing in the restaurant (more…)