is hotcopper a share discussion forum?, page-8

Hotcopper has a great future. Read below:

HotCopper takes on stock brokers' fees
MELBOURNE: An Australian
website aims to lure customers
from traditional stock brokers
by sharing half the commissions
for initial public offerings
(IPOs) with investors.
The HotCopper website, better
known for its forums
where investors discuss listed
companies, began offering
IPOs last week.
Already four companies
have granted HotCopper a
share allocation, HotCopper
Services managing director
Greg D'Arcy said.
Under the plan. HotCopper
will pass on to investors who
buy the stock, half of the
broker's commission paid by
the listing company.
"Historically, the broker
fees for IPOs have been a wellkept
secret," Mr D'Arcy said.


HotCopper push ruffles feathers
SEAN SMITH
Online gossip forum HotCopper has
ruffled the feathers of Perth stockbrokers
by expanding into the IPO market,
twinning direct access to floats
through its website with an offer to
split commission fees with members.
Having secured an Australian
Financial Services Licence last
month, HotCopper is now able to
market initial public offers to its
110,000 members, adding a new revenue
stream to a business model
previously reliant on advertising.
It has so far listed four ASX-bound
companies in return for a float allocation
for its members, while another
has sounded it out about acting as lead
broker to its raising.
The expansion has fuelled some
angry feedback from stockbroking
firms fearful HotCopper's initiative
will reduce their flow of float fees.
Such firms traditionally charge up
to 7 per cent of the amount raised to
underwrite a float and provide access
to their client base.
HotCopper managing director
Gary D'Arcy said phone calls he had
fielded from brokers suggested "a few
aren't happy". "But there's nothing
they can do about it," he said.
The companies using HotCopper
are likely to be resource exploration
juniors seeking to tap its big membership
base to ensure they secure the
shareholder spread required to list.
And HotCopper is hoping its offer to
rebate half of its own 5 per cent fee to
members will fuel an appetite for the
listed floats, ensuring a steady stream
of interest from other companies.
Such rebates have usually been
reserved for big institutional investors,
not retail shareholders.
For example, a HotCopper user
successfully subscribing for $20,000
of the $500,000 of shares reserved for
the site's members by exploration
hopeful Siburan Resources would
receive a $500 rebate.
Mr D'Arcy said HotCopper was
forced to look for alternative revenue
streams after advertising collapsed in
the wake of the global financial crisis.
"I'd thought it would be a battle," he
said. "But everyone knows about
HotCopper and they're quite happy
to get the exposure. They know how
many members we have and they're
after the spread, which we can provide."
Business had been picking up since
November and bookings for February
and March were "pretty good".
ASIC records show HotCopper is
controlled by ZettaServe Pty Ltd,
which lists Nathan Harman, of
Nedlands, as its major shareholder.