SIMPLE LIFE: Adam Smith, our man on easyCruiseOne, relaxes in his minimalist, if colorful, cabin
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There's only one answer to that, but bright color hasn't always translated into business success. EasyCinema has failed to expand beyond its flagship. EasyCar, launched in April 2000, has never broken even. The once buzzed-about easyInternetcafés have had a rough time, too. After the business was launched in Britain in 1999, investors soon valued it at $150 million — though there were only four cafés open for business. "We were all carried away by those days," admits Stelios. Rapid expansion followed, although home Internet access was growing and mobile phones were becoming more Net-friendly. The result: easyInternetcafé lost around $170 million between 2001 and 2003. But having since franchised most of the 70 easyInternetcafés worldwide, the company hit profitability last year.
The granddaddy of the operation is still easyJet. Although Stelios stepped down as its chairman in November 2002, he and his family remains the carrier's largest shareholder. In 2002, the airline earned record annual profits of $135 million. But brutal competition from rival budget carriers and moves by legacy airlines to restructure their own short-haul services drove the share price down, provoking talk last year — dismissed by Stelios — that he would take the business private. The share price has recovered of late, and with a cash balance upward of $950 million, the carrier is "unburstable" in the face of fare competition, insists JPMorgan analyst Chris Avery.
Stelios appears to have learned a little caution. A proposal for an easy-branded undertaker service got nixed. So did a cosmetic surgery service he's since dubbed easyBoob. Outside investors are now encouraged to shoulder more of the risk in return for use of the easy brand. Under a 30-year licensing deal, for example, Danish telecom firm TDC rolled out in March the British virtual network operator easyMobile, leasing spare capacity from T-Mobile. "We're not trying to become experts in every individual business," says Stelios. "We're partnering with the right people." The danger, some analysts think, is that he will spread the brand too thin. Easy-branded companies market goods costing from as little as $0.50 for a digital music track to $1,900 for a week-long cruise. With that mix, "any brand consultant would tell you you're crazy," admits Stelios.
Back on board easyCruiseOne, it's now 4:37 p.m. I know that because I'm wearing my easyWatch, the product of a licensing deal between the easyGroup and British watchmaker Zeon. Will I be wearing it when we hit St. Tropez? Sure. It's not exactly bling, but it keeps time. Still, did it really, truly, have to be orange?