QVC Debt Concerns

The Wall Street Journal reports on mounting concerns over QVC's debt load (subscription required). Its not that QVC is going to go bust anytime soon, its just that John Malone's Liberty Media empire (which owns QVC) is so difficult to keep track of with all of its asset juggling and tax advantage oriented transactions.The article suggests that Malone may not have treated some debt holders too well relative to other classes of investors.
Another thing I don't like about Liberty Media is its tracking stocks (for instance, QVC is assigned to the Liberty Interactive tracking stock). I would never buy a tracking stock; even though I have an MBA I've never quite understood what I'm getting with them (just my opinion).
Another thought about Liberty Media-if it does need more liquidity would it consider unloading its 90% or so position in TruePosition of Berwyn? I think it might, if the tax implications are favorable. I don't see a strong fit with most of the other activities Liberty Media is engaged in, though I might be missing something strategically.
Other Liberty Media holdings in the area include a stake in GSI Commerce, and ZoomBak, which sells GPS locators.

Editorial: Philadelphia story
Transparency in education is a rare thing -- which is why Microsoft and AIE are to be commended (eSchoolNews-Free Registation)
A report card on Philadelphia's School of the Future.

Bill banning forced identity-chip implants clears House (Philadelphia Inquirer)

BI Number Games

It was a little surprising when Information Week reported last month on Gartner's Business Intelligence market share estimates for 2008. It cited that report as implying that SAS Institute (which historically has a large Philadelphia area user base) grew its BI revenue from $752 million in 2007 to $1.29 billion in 2008, a growth rate of 72%. I thought this couldn't be correct; in fact it was a virtual mathematical impossibility since SAS revenue grew only about 5% overall and BI revenue (as estimated by Gartner) represented almost 60% of overall SAS revenue.
Gartner confirmed to me that the Information Week figures were, in fact, incorrect. The reporter apparently compared the 2008 numbers to a previous Gartner release about the 2007 numbers, but it was not apples to apples since Gartner had added another category to the 2008 figures: Analytical and Performance Management applications, areas in which SAS is strong. (These numbers were also reflected in the revised 2007 figures.) SAS BI revenue actually grew about 5% in 2008, according to Gartner.
On the other hand, Gartner showed SAP's BI revenue rising by 46% in 2008, apples to apples including all Business Objects revenue in 2007, as it upsold its enterprise application customer base as well as its own legacy BI customers to Business Objects solutions. (SAP closed the Business Objects acquisition in January 2008.) This is a vastly different than IDC's recently released numbers, which shows SAP's growth rate at 17%, and that would appear to account for most of the difference between Gartner's overall market growth rate of 22% and IDC's rate of 11%.
A summary of the IDC report, including a breakout of the major vendors' revenue and market share, is here. Two other Philadelphia area companies are also included; rapidly growing QlikTech of Radnor, which appears to have continuing momentum in 2009, and Arcplan of Berwyn.
Also, see Cindi Howson's take on the IDC numbers in Intelligent Enterprise.