To Find Out Why Internet Stocks Are So Hot, Just Log On

The Medium Itself Has Bred A Culture That Values High-Speed Speculation

Ominous Signals for 1999

By George Anders
Staff Reporter of the Wall Street Journal

    What would it take to double or even triple my company's stock price?

    That question tempts thousands or corporate bosses each year. Maybe an acquisition spree or a research breakthrough will send the stock soaring. Maybe years of cost-cutting and layoffs are needed. Or maybe it just isn't possible to do anything so breakthrough that investors will leap to their feet, cheering wildly.

    In the age of the Internet, though, it's much easier to be a hero. Ask Herm Rosenman, who runs Bikers Dream, Inc., a Riverside, Calif., motorcycle maker. Until a few months ago, he was an online neophyte. Then his wife sent away for BISyman, a standard software package that she calls "an online store in a box." Mr. Rosenman told a reporter for a financial Web site that the company could sell cycle parts over the Internet. Suddenly, Bikers Dream became the hottest stock in America.

All In One Day
    On Dec. 29, Bikers Dream jumped 167%, to $6.84 a share, on Nasdaq composite volume of 7.9 million shares. In essence, each of its one million shares changed hands eight times that day, as frenzied day traders swapped the stock back and forth....

For the full article, refer to Page 1 of the Wall Street Journal. January 4th,1999.