Predictit.com's President Andrew Merkatz was a guest on
CNNfn's "Biz Buzz" last night. Merkatz, on the company:
"Predictit is a prediction exchange where people go to make
predictions about upcoming sporting events, or the stock
market, or the Academy Awards, or what have you. People's
performances in making these predictions is measured over
time. People are then rewarded based on the quantity and
quality of predictions. ... It's not really betting because
people aren't risking any money." Merkatz, on the site's
growth: "We've grown from about 5,000 users a year ago to
250,000 users today, so growth is just extreme." Merkatz,
on the company's stock price, which closed yesterday at 1
5/8, with a 52-week high of 4 3/8, after going public last
year: "We've been pretty under the radar in terms of getting
the story out about Predictit. We've been really focusing
on building the business, and based on our numbers, we've
been doing a good job of that. Within the next 12 months, I
think you're going to see us going from being off the radar
screen to on the radar screen, and when people start to
understand the Predictit story" ("Biz Buzz," 3/28).
