CNBC- POWER LUNCH
INTERVIEW WITH ALTAVISTA PRESIDENT AND CEO RODNEY SCHROCK
JUNE 28, 1999
SUMMARY: Schrock comments on Compaq's (CPQ) negotiations to sell AltaVista to CMGI. Schrock describes AltaVista's new network of services, which includes a more powerful search engine and an e-commerce site.
Sue: On to AltaVista. It's debuting its next generation network today. The Internet portal is expanding its services to include a more powerful search engine and a shopping site with a 125% satisfaction guarantee. AltaVista made some big news as well last week when Compaq confirm talks to sell the search engine, perhaps to CMGI. Joining us with more on that and his plans is Rodney Schrock, the President and CEO of AltaVista. Mr. Schrock, good news you. Thanks for coming by today.
My pleasure. It's great to be here.
Sue: Let's start out. First of all, with the new unveiling that you had today of this kind of revolutionary way that you're going to change the way we search using AltaVista. Tell me a little bit about that.
Well, really today we announced that we're starting the journey to unlock the potential of AltaVista. We've been a great search site for 3 1/2 years. We are, in fact, the first search site on the Internet, but today we're offering an entire network of services, well beyond search, but including search, to create a real exciting environment for our very experienced Web-savvy users.
Sue: So, what do you consider to be the keystone of that?
The cornerstone of everything we do is our search site. That's really the gateway to all the services we provide. So, we have an enhanced exciting new search site, has new multimedia searching capability. You can search the entire Internet for images, video clips, and so forth, but beyond that, we have an exciting new e-commerce destination site and shopping.com and an exciting new microportal.
Sue: Although you certainly are a very popular site and search engine, you're number 10 in terms of hits and the number of people that really visit you every year. I would assume that all of this is designed to up that and make you more competitive against the likes of Lycos and Yahoo!.
Well, it is. We are number 10 in the United States. That's great position to be in when you realize there are five million Web sites in the United States. We're actually in a global top five position worldwide. We're very strong internationally. We have about 35 million unique users worldwide. That's a very strong base, that if we basically just provide an exciting service for those users, we're going to continue to grow at very dramatic rates.
Sue: And I can't let you go without asking you about the talks that were rumored in the market last week about CMGI and a possible sale there. What can you tell me?
Well, there's, can't confirm any news at this point. I can say that the talks are ongoing hot and heavy through the weekend.
Sue: Close to a deal?
Pardon?
Sue: Close to a deal.
These things typically happen very quickly. So, we'll know shortly.
Sue: So, you've made progress?
Progress is always under way. That's right.
Sue: I'm trying here. Mr. Schrock, thank you very much for joining us today.
My pleasure.
Sue: Rodney Schrock, the President and CEO of AltaVista, and he join us from Stanford, California. Now, as for how Compaq has been trading and, of course, they own a large part of AltaVista, Compaq is down 3/16 at 22 3/16. CMGI shares took a bit of a hit last week when the rumors were out there that they might be the ones acquiring AltaVista. We'll get a quote on that in just a few minutes down 4 1/16 at 90 3/16, continuing the downdraft that we saw in last week's trading session. |
