Clad in a suit, arms crossed, Peter Kurz stared out at readers from the pages of evening newspapers in April. "Foreign investors listen to this man. Wouldn't you?" half-page color ads asked in Chinese.
That indeed is the question for this 43-year-old American whom the local media have dubbed "Mr Taiwan." Kurz, formerly head of research at Merrill Lynch & Co in Taipei, is something of an investment guru in Taiwan, where he's well-known for frequent television appearances and his Mandarin and Taiwanese language skills.
Now he's trying to capitalize on his star status to promote his new investment business and an eight-month-old Web site, mrtaiwan.com.
Seated in his offices beneath two Chinese characters that mean "go with the flow," he described his goal: to become the "Starbucks of the local investment advisory business" by catering to Taiwan's legions of small investors.
Since leaving Merrill more than a year ago, Kurz has spent US$4 million to set up a corporate-research business, his Web site and an investment fund. He employs about 40 people in Taipei and operates a branch office in San Francisco. Now the question is whether his startups can survive in today's tough market.
The nation's main stock index, the TAIEX, has slumped 42 percent from a year ago, and daily trading volume has fallen to NT$60 billion from NT$110.4 billion in the first three months of this year.
"I've had a few sleepless nights managing the company in the tough market environment," Kurz said. "In a down market, sales are small. We're concentrating on institutional clients."
Can Kurz really serve both institutional and small investors at the same time? He's trying. Besides selling subscriptions to his Web site, he's pushing another online service: wireless-linked personal digital assistants that give investors a research terminal in their pockets. Made by Eten Information Systems Ltd (
On the face of it, the opportunities are large. Individual investors account for 80 percent of turnover on Taiwan's stock market, Asia's third-largest by market value. Kurz says the 170 or so local and foreign securities companies haven't paid enough attention to these retail investors.
While basic access to his Web site is free, a "gold" subscription of NT$1,999 a month gives entry to market analysis, a daily column by Kurz and stock recommendations. "Platinum" members paying NT$8,888 a month get unrestricted access to all of mrtaiwan.com's research, including in-depth company and industry reports.
In Chinese society, the number eight symbolizes prosperity.
That's still a way off for mrtaiwan.com. The site has lost money since it opened in October, though Kurz won't say how much.
And the top picks? Last week the site recommended Asustek Computer Inc (
RealTek Semiconductor Corp (瑞昱半導體), a designer of integrated circuits, gained 0.6 percent. By contrast, Compeq Manufacturing Ltd (華通電子), a printed circuit board maker, fell 6.6 percent. The TAIEX rose 4.2 percent in the week.
A graduate of Dartmouth College and Columbia University, Kurz first came to Taiwan in 1980 to study. That year he also met his wife, who is Chinese. He returned in 1988 as country head at Baring Securities, now ING Barings, before moving to Merrill Lynch in 1997.
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