Fidelity's Performance Returns to Earth, Sales Plummet, Marketing Exec Blames Misspent Ad Dollars ...
From The Wall Street Journal
It always comes down to performance. The Journal reports that so far this year the relative performance of Fidelity's fund returns, though still above average, have slipped, and so have Fidelity's fund sales. The paper reports that 51 percent of Fidelity's stock and bond funds are besting their peers, down from 60 percent in 1999 and 67 percent in 1998. Fidelity now ranks number 10 in sales, according to Financial Research Corp., with just $4 billion in net sales in 2000. Neal Litvak, Fidelity's president of retail marketing, explains that sales have been hurt by Fidelity's many "offerings in unpopular parts of the market, such as value-oriented funds." He adds that Fidelity's spending of ad spending was too weighted to its online brokerage business and not enough to its funds. Fidelity is now shifting advertising to funds to boost sales. Still, the news is mostly positive at Fidelity. This year's $22.6 billion of sales in its fund supermarket surpass those of Schwab and its net income has more than doubled to $1.2 billion.

More on Cap Gains
From Investor's Business Daily
Yet another article on the coming capital-gains distribution season appeared today in Investor's Business Daily. The article adds little new to the discussion. Instead, it covers the basics for fund investors.  

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