Sun Microsystems is changing its ticker symbol from SUNW to JAVA in order to better reflect the company’s role in new network infrastructure, and maybe — just maybe — to give its shares some added juice. (CEO Jonathan Schwartz gives his reasons on his blog.) Here’s 10 companies that we think could use an extreme ticker makeover.
1. Apple (AAPL) to (JOBS) in homage to their feared and revered leader, Steve Jobs.
2. Sprint Nextel (FON) (S) to (XHM) since they are betting the farm on their WiMAX networks.
3. Qualcomm (QCOM) to (MMOB) since almost everyone is suing them, just like the mob back in the 1980s.
4. AT&T (T) to (IFON) because we all know what is juicing their market share and revenues.
5. Yahoo (YHOO) to (NOGO), which is short for Not Google. You could also take it literally.
6. News Corp (NWS) to (TOM) — after all, who doesn’t want to be MySpace Tom’s friend?
7. Motorola (MOT) to (RZR), because they’re hoping for lightning to strike twice.
8. Vonage (VON) to (GON). Yup, the VoIP service providers are falling like flies.
9. Microsoft (MSFT) to (LIVE) on Nasdaq and (WIN) on NYSE. It’s in keeping with their brilliant branding strateg(ies).
10. Viacom (VIA) to (SUX). No commentary needed.
GigaTeam had a fun time brainstorming these, but we’d love your suggestions. Help us out in the comments.
LOL, that is too funny… what would be the symbol for Facebook if they go IPO ..INF ? – In Your Face ;-)
GigaOM (TIC Tongue-in-cheek) to GIGO … oh, sorry, that didn’t come out right. [WEG]
Google (GOOG) to (TUBE).
Adobe (ADBE) to (SWF) or (FLA).
There are still 3:
Baidu, CNET, and EBay, but I can’t come up with new names for them…
http://www.hobnoblover.com
Alas you are too late in doing this .. 10 years ago I conjured the following for Chrysler purchase by Mercedes.
DUMB – Dodge Und Mercedes Benz
MAD – Mercedes And Dodge
BAD BUM, CUM, PUB .. etc.
This merger did produce nothing positive.
Your list is pretty much on money … except Windows Live is Brain Dead, so I would change the symbol to DEAD as the stock has been for the past 5+ years.
ON GROKKING SUNW BECOMING JAVA
HEAD-SHAKER Well, Sun Microsystems (aka SUNW on Nasdaq), is renaming itself JAVA, adopting the name as it’s ticker symbol starting Monday. No, it’s not April Fool’s. You can read all about it this incredible move right here on the CEO, Jonathan Schw…
uhh, sprint/nextels ticker is (s)
VZ -> FIOS (or FIRE)
WPO -> KAPL (most of the money comes from Kaplan, not The Washington Post)
NYT -> ABUT (most of traffic online is about.com)
How about BALLS (Ballmer, S) for Microsoft and LIVE for Google – since LIVE can scrabbled for Google’s favorite word ‘EVIL’ from their co. slogan and would potentially make BALLS implode :)
Great post Om – much needed humor in technology and business!
[...] CEO Jonathan Schwartz, so leveraging it as a brand makes the business sense. Om Malik ventures into how others can follow. It is all the better for me, the developer and the common man. I am not sure about stock market [...]
[...] has more fun with corporate restocking strategies: 4. AT&T (T) to (IFON) because we all know what is juicing their market share and [...]