And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Y2K Fears Start to Surface (M. J. Zuckerman, USA Today) http://www.usatoday.com/money/mds1.htm This piece begins: "Corporate America is exhibiting nervous ticks and twitches as the Year 2000 nears. For almost two years, companies made mostly rosy predictions about their ability to handle the Y2K computer glitch. But now, some of the nation's largest corporations are expressing reservations in quarterly Y2K status reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission." This article, and two sidebar pieces, take a look at information and trends gleaned from recent Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Highlights include: "Companies are recognizing that there are likely to be failures resulting from the complex relationships of systems. Mobil Oil, for instance, says the failure of one or more systems that individually are minor could 'trigger a cascade of other failures for Year 2000 reasons, the combination of which could have a material adverse effect on Mobil's operations, liquidity and/or financial condition.' Enron, one of the world's largest suppliers of energy, admits that it, its suppliers and other firms on which it depends won't be able to find and fix all its embedded chips. Philip Morris reports that it considers 700 of its 6,000 'key business partners' likely to suffer some Y2K failures. Reebok International has been overhauling its information technology worldwide and told the SEC it was relying on that conversion to protect it from Y2K. But in its most recent SEC filing, Reebok says that because of technical difficulties, it has decided to delay full implementation until after January 2000. The firm will address Y2K by modifying its existing software, a project it expects to have done this fall." The sidebar pieces: A Worst-Case Y2K Scenario http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/ctg390.htm takes a look at the "worst-case scenario" in energy giant Enron's SEC Y2k disclosure. Expected Y2K Expenses http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/ctg389.htm lists 80 of the largest corporations and what they expect to spend on Y2K. The Top five are: Citigroup $950 AT&T $756 General Motors $628 General Electric $575 IBM $575 SEC filings can be searched for using the EDGAR Database. http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm Another easy way to find SEC filings is with FreeEDGAR. http://www.freeedgar.com/ Vital U.S. Industries Harbor Y2K Laggards; Many Large Companies in Telecommunications, Pipelines, and Airlines Rated 'Low' or 'Below Average' for Y2K Readiness (Business Wire) http://www.businesswire.com/webbox/bw.101199/192840239.htm Weiss Ratings, "the only provider of Y2K readiness ratings," came to some conclusions based on second quarter SEC filings. Highlights here include: "In the telecommunications industry, 73.3% of the 19 rated companies were in one of these two categories, including MCI WorldCom (rated below average), Bell Atlantic Corp. (below average), and Comcast Corp. (low). Among companies involved in vital oil, gas and other pipelines, 5 of the 6 rated companies were rated unfavorably, such as Dynegy Inc. (low) and El Paso Energy Corp. (below average). Even in the U.S. airline industry, supposedly further along in fixing its computer systems than its counterparts in most other countries, half of the eight rated companies received Y2K ratings of 'low' or 'below average.' The largest among them were UAL Corp. (below average), Northwest Airlines (below average) and Trans World Airlines (below average)." This piece includes this explanation: "Although not intended to be an exact evaluation, the Weiss Y2K ratings are believed to provide an approximate indication of each company's relative progress. Overall, among the 552 Fortune 1000 companies making complete disclosure on Y2K budgets and costs in their second quarter 1999 filings with the SEC, the aggregate budget estimate is $30.5 billion. But only $19.6 billion of those budgeted funds had been allocated to actual expenditures. All other factors being equal, a company should have spent at least 70% of its budget by mid-year in order to qualify for a Weiss Y2K rating of 'average.'" Companies that rates "high" include Exxon Corp., Mobil Corp., AMR Corp., American Express Co., AlliedSignal, Walgreen Co., Rockwell International Corp., Publix Super Markets, and Texas Instruments. Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
