Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsI am invaluable-I didn't know what was going on!
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2003
Though much of the financial carnage associated with the companies chronicled in Broadbandits is well documented, I found Om Malik's coverage of the human element and motives involved to be both fascinating and illuminating.
His timing on publishing this book could not be better, given the backdrop of ongoing investigations and legal action against many of the companies or principals he writes about. I find it ironic that a number of these "visionaries" and "promoters" who were paid like kings because they were supposedly so invaluable to their companies or firms, now use as a defense that they really didn't know what was going on in their companies. It is amazing people like Bernie Ebbers who made literally hundreds, if not thousands, of presentations to knowledgeable investors, who ask insightful questions, could now make this claim. Also, where are the other research analysts on Wall Street. It is one thing for Grubman to be an active co-conspirator, but where was the independent research that should have debunked these charlatans before they got started. The easiest myth to debunk of all is the myth that the Internet was growing 100% every four months over a sustainable period and press releases that claimed dial port consumption was increaseing 10% per month. Any reasonably asstute person could do the calculations on this and realize that there are not enough people or information to sustain this growth rate for more than a fleeting moment. In a matter of a couple of years everyone in the US would have had to have been signed onto an individual dial port twenty-four hours a day. Om Malik makes it clear how phony these arguments are and how dishonest and disingenuous they are. Future generations will look back on this much as we look back at the Tulip Bubble in Holland and wonder how did anybody ever believe any of this. This is a great first book for Om Malik.