National Post from Toronto, Ontario, Canada • 37

CANADA C5 FINANCIAL POST, FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1999 Ivey Business Leader Award winner outlines Fairfax's recipe for rapid growth airfax Financial Holding led by 1 Tl 4 MOVERS you." I Fairfax strives to have a strong financial position, as this financial flexibility allows the company to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. I The company employs a policy of full and open disclosure in its annual report Fairfax discloses its negative as well as its positive attributes because once the negative points are known and acknowledged, employees will work harder to correct these problem areas of the business. The Ivey Business Leader Award honours an individual or an organization that has made a significant contribution to the advancement of business in Canada and reflects the ideals of the Ivey Business School. Financial Post vr.u aim ciiairuiau rrem vvaisa, was presented with the annual Ivey Business Leader Award at a dinner this week in Toronto. In delivering his ac a group of colleagues.

"If I could do it, any of you could do it here." Mr. Watsa then outlined the six reasons leading to the company's success: I Fairfax focuses on earning a return for shareholders. It defined a better-than-average return as 20 per annum and put it in writing as a quantifiable objective for the company. I The company also focuses on building long-term value, although Mr. Watsa defines long-term as meaning "one year at a time." All the company's initiatives consider the long-term value for both its customers and its employees.

I Fairfax has an entrepre neurial structure and a decentralized management that gives the company a competitive edge. The company's small, very talented group of employees work together as a team and, most importantly, have "no egos" to get in the way. I Fairfax "treats people well" and doesn't compromise the company's integrity. The name Fairfax itself stands for "fair, friendly acquisitions, and Mr. Watsa said he and his employees take this meaning to heart.

"The advantage over time is that inside the company you see ordinary people doing extraordinary things, and outside, people trust ceptance speech, Mr. Watsa recounted the factors contributing to the success of the company which has evolved from a relatively small financial company into Canada's largest property and casualty insurance conglomerate with a market capitalization of $7-7-bil-lion. "Our company went from earning something like $17-million to $7-billion in 13 years," said Mr. Watsa, who acquired the company in 1985 along with POCKLINGTON'S 7 'fMw Montreal for junior resists call exchange Shockwave is ready to roll on Internet CARLO ALLEGRI NATIONAL POST Web site designed to showcase company's software By David Akin Toronto With a rallying cry of "Remember Recess!" Rob Burgess is on a mission to get people to have more fun with the Internet. This summer, Mr.

Burgess' company, the San Francisco-based software maker Macromedia will take the lid off of a new Web site called which he promises will be chock full of cartoons, puzzles and interactive games, all of which can be viewed and played by any of the 100 million people around the world who have Macromedia's Flash and Shockwave players already installed on their personal computers. Consumers should soon see some marketing material for Shockwave.com, which will use the taglines "Remember Recess!" and "Time is precious; waste it wisely." Mr. Burgess, a youthful 41-year-old whose first business opportunity was running a Dickie Dee ice cream truck up and down the streets of Toronto, his hometown, believes fervently in the Internet and its power to change consumers' entertainment and shopping habits. "English is still a required course in high school and university, right? Well, learning the Internet should be, too. Having Internet experience, in fact, is more important for getting a job," said Mr.

Burgess yesterday in an interview Toronto. He is speaking today at a conference of new media professionals. He has just one word of advice for Canadian chief executives trying to figure out how the Internet will change things: "Panic. This is a tsunami. I think the Internet is underhyped.

It is fundamentally going to change retail. It is fundamentally going to change consumers." is being positioned to 1 jyr-- 1 a "underhyped," and should be a tools, specifically Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Director. Macromedia derives most of its revenue from sales of these products. Mr. Burgess has lined up an A-list of content creators for Shockwave.com, including Comedy Central, Fox Interactive, Hasbro Interactive, and Sega of Americas all of which are eager to reach the 100 million computer users who already have Macromedia's Flash or Shockwave player.

(Like Adobe Systems' Acrobat Reader, the players are distributed free over the Web and are now bundled with most new PCs and browsers.) "We've been equipping developers with a new generation of tools. Now we want to equip consumers to enjoy this Web experience," Mr. Burgess said. Financial Post PAINTING PLAN FALLSTHROUGH TWO OF FIVE ALREADY SOLD By Carol Howes CALGARY Peter Pocklington's plan to sell five oil paintings from his extensive art collection order to pay his legal bills has a glitch two of them have already been sold by Alberta Treasury Branches for a total of $360,000. Mike McCabe, lawyer for ATB, said yesterday he was surprised by an affidavit filed this week in the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench by the formerly high-flying Edmonton entrepreneur, stating he wants to sell the art ATB has had security on two of the five paintings, Mr.

McCabe said. Moreover, the provincially-owned bank sold them late last week in an auction in Toronto. The two paintings sold were Al-goma, by Lawren Harris and Early Snow, by A.Y. Jackson. Their combined sale price of $360,000 was significantly less than the $475,000 value put on them by a Toronto appraiser, according to a recent valuation submitted in court by Mr.

Pocklington. Mr. Pocklington's art collection, the value of which has been estimated at was included in an order last fall by Justice Myra Bielby of Alberta Court of Queen's Bench. The order froze the sale of Mr. Pocklington's personal assets amid the legal battles between Mr.

Pocklington, ATB and the Alberta government. Mr. Pocklington, strapped for eash, will apply in court June 14 to have the ban lifted. 'He needs at least $550,000 to pay a retainer to Edmonton law firm Duncan Craig. The firm is him in his ongoing legal battle against the Alberta government over the seizure of meat packer Gainers Inc.

in 1989. -Mr. McCabe said proceeds from the sale of the two paintings by ATB will go towards debt owed by Mr. Pocklington's holding company Pocklington Financial Corp. Receivers also recently sold off Mr.

Pocklington's private jet for $2-million (US) His lawyers also have claims against that asset. Financial Post TD online brokerage ranking drops By Kim Hanson Toronto-Dominion Bank's prized online brokerage, TD Waterhouse Securities fell in the latest online brokerage scorecard, according to a survey compiled by U.S.-based Gomez Advisors. Waterhouse, the third-largest discount brokerage in the United States, dropped six spots to number 14 from number eight in the latest quarterly report. Meanwhile, one of Waterhouse's biggest competitors, Charles Schwab rose to number three, up from number five in the previous survey. A total of 53 online brokerages in the United States were ranked.

Dan Burke, an analyst with Gomez Advisors, a research firm in Massachusetts, said Water-house lost some ground because it did not "keep pace" with other firms that "overhauled their Web sites" to offer customers more investing options. New online features include options to invest in initial public offerings, greater access to institutional research, more bill payment services, and "tax lot accounting," which keeps track of stocks for tax purposes as customers buy and sell securities. Gomez Advisors ranked firms based on ease of use, customer response, on-site resources and overall The research firm also surveyed brokers and customer service representatives. Financial Post of the most vocal opponents of the restructuring, was not swayed by the ME's arguments yesterday. "The ME still has not come up with any real evidence that serious damage won't be caused to the Quebec small-cap sector.

They won't get the same quality of service and Montreal won't have any policymaking function." Ms. Giguere, outlining an updated version of the March 15 proposal, said all four Canadian exchanges are ready to listen to critics during restructuring Financial Post Takeover rumour pushesupprice of First Marathon By Katherine Macklem and Barry Critchley First Marathon share price shot up yesterday on rumours that it is back in takeover talks this time with New York-based Donaldson, Lufkin Jenrette one of the few major U.S. brokerages that does not have a presence in Canada. Two weeks ago, First Marathon, one of Canada's last large, independently owned brokerages, broke off talks with National Bank of Canada, which would have folded First Marathon in with Levesque Beaubien Geoffrion which is 75 owned by the bank. "The song has not ended.

The dance is not over," said a source who added the recent runup in First Marathon's stock price and the big increase in volume indicates that talks are under way. "Look at the stock. That's really the answer, the stock, the volume, the price increase." The price DLJ is willing to pay is much richer than National Bank's price, the rumour mill said yesterday. DLJ is offering 0.44 of its own stock for one First Marathon share, a much higher offer and one closer to the price demanded by Lawrence Bloomberg, First Marathon's founder, chairman, chief executive and controlling shareholder, sources said. First Marathon's class A shares closed up $2 at $25.75 Financial Post in those jurisdictions where they may Bilingual service planned for Calgary, QJSC hearing told By Robert Gibbens MONTREAL The Montreal Exchange is resisting calls for Quebec to retain its own exchange for junior companies, regardless of whether a national exchange restructuring plan goes ahead.

The new Western Exchange will have 2,000 to 3,000 listings if the March 15 proposal for a broad restructuring of all Canadian stock exchanges goes through. The new junior exchange is to be headquartered in Calgary, with operations in Vancouver. But Quebec-based junior companies are guaranteed the same level of service as they get now from the ME, said Marie Giguere, executive vice-president of the exchange. "They will get the same quality of service they have been used to in Montreal and from the same place, the same people and in their language of choice," she told the first day of the Quebec Securities Commission's public hearings into the restructuring. The QSC later will make a recommendation to the Quebec Government on the issue.

The restructuring would centralize trading in senior stocks in Toronto, while the Montreal Exchange would take over all derivatives trading. All junior stocks would trade on the new Western Exchange, which would have offices in all the country's financial centres, including Montreal. The Caisse de depot et place ment du Quebec, Canada's biggest equity investor and with heavy commitments to many of Quebec's small and medium-sized businesses, and several other Quebec organizations said it can accept the broad aims of the national restructuring. But it is worried that small companies might be hurt by the absence of a Quebec-based exchange. Several critics of the restructuring have said Montreal should retain a junior exchange that would list stocks of smaller Quebec-based companies, provide liquid markets and help them get access to new capital.

Dominic Dlouhy, chairman of Dlouhy Investments Inc. and one Investor Protection Fund. Rob Burgess says the Internet is required course of study in schools. ride the Internet wave. It is a separate but wholly owned business within Macromedia, with its own financials, its own CEO Stephen Fields, a Disney veteran and $25-million (all figures in U.S.

dollars) in funding. It will be Mr. Fields' mission to turn Shockwave.com into nothing less than a specialty cable channel with the reach of network television. Mr. Burgess said the advertising will supply the bulk of the revenue for Shockwave.com, although there will also be some sales of a software product called Shock Machine, which will allow consumers to sort, store and easily retrieve an unlimited amount of Shockwave.com content.

Shockwave.com has been created specifically to show off content created with Macromedia's professional content creation XT business name of Charles Schwab Canada, legally be offered. Charles I ill S7l Patrick B. Keeley Director of National Sales Paul Bates, President and CEO of Charles Schwab Canada, is pleased to announce the appointment of Patrick B. Keeley to the position of Director of National Sales. Prior to joining Charles Schwab Canada, Patrick held the position of Vice President, Sales Manager and Senior Investment Advisor with a major Canadian full-service firm, where he was a member of the Chairman's and President's Council of Top Producers.

Patrick will be responsible for growing the sales force at Charles Schwab Canada. Pat is a graduate of Trinity College School and Bishop's University. Charles Schwab Canada, Co. is Canada's first full-choice brokerage firm offering both self managed and advisory services. Charles Schwab Canada is a registered Co.

Products and services offered by Charles Schwab Canada, Co. are only available Schwab Canada, Co, Member Canadian Canada's only full-choice brokerage firm. 4.