INPR makes W.S.J. for 1-04-2000
January 4, 2000
Technology Briefs
AOL Says Members Boosted Spending Strongly
America Online Inc. estimated online spending by its members more than
doubled to $2.5 billion during the 1999 holiday-shopping season from
$1.2 billion a year earlier. AOL's estimates echoed optimistic forecasts by
market-research firms for the crucial holiday-shopping season. Forrester
Research of Cambridge, Mass., had predicted Internet users would spend
$4 billion online between Thanksgiving and Christmas. AOL, which has
about 20 million members, said its research suggested AOL subscribers
accounted for more than 60% of that figure. AOL produced the shopping
estimates through an e-mail survey of AOL users conducted by Internet
Research Group, of Wayne, Pa. The online-services giant said 1999 total
online spending on AOL amounted to more than $10 billion. At 4 p.m.
Monday, AOL was up $7.50, or 10%, to $82.75 on the New York
Stock Exchange.
Replay Networks to File for IPO
Replay Networks Inc., a closely watched player in the digital set-top box
field, said it plans to file shortly for an initial public offering with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Replay, a Mountain View, Calif.,
maker of devices that record television programming to a hard disk, said it
hasn't yet filed with the SEC and didn't provide a timetable for its
registration. The company said it intends to use proceeds from the offering
to increase working capital and cover corporate expenses.
Epicor Software Issues Profit Warning
Epicor Software Corp.'s stock fell 14%, following a New Year's Eve
announcement that it will post a fourth-quarter operating loss and will cut
11% of its work force over the next few months. The Irvine, Calif., maker
of business-application software said it expects to post an operating loss of
between 24 cents and 29 cents a diluted share for the quarter. Analysts
had been looking for an operating loss of about 11 cents a share,
according to First Call/Thomson Financial. The estimate excludes charges
related to "a reorganization of the company along strategic product lines"
and write-downs "related to the impairment of certain intangible assets." At
the 4 p.m. close of trading Monday on the Nasdaq Stock Market, Epicor
stood at $4.34375, down 71.875 cents.
Computer Network May Miss 4th-Quarter Estimates
Computer Network Technology Corp. late Monday warned of
lower-than-expected fourth-quarter results, blaming a change in buying
patterns because of year-2000-related purchasing freezes. In addition,
citing "exaggerated volatility" at the end of the quarter, the
Minneapolis-based company said it will take "several management
actions," which were unspecified. Computer Network also said it plans to
investigate the divestiture of its EIS unit as it focuses on its
networking-services unit. The maker of computer hardware and software
expects to report a fourth-quarter loss of about 10 cents a share, on
revenue of around $36 million. The company said the results will include
charges of about six cents a share from lease payments due on its
manufacturing and engineering facility, and the write-off of some products.
The mean estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial is
for earnings of 13 cents a share in the fourth quarter. In the year-earlier
period, Computer Network earned seven cents a share, on revenue of
$35.9 million. At the close of trading Monday, the company's stock was
down $5.188, or 23%, at $17.75.
PeopleSoft Completes Purchase of Vantive
PeopleSoft Inc., Pleasanton, Calif., said it completed its acquisition of
Vantive Corp., a supplier of customer-service software that is used to
manage a sales force and monitor customers, for stock valued at $547
million. PeopleSoft, which makes software that enables businesses to
manage human resources and finance, said it issued about 28 million shares
of common stock and options at an exchange ratio of 0.825 PeopleSoft
share for each share of Vantive, of Santa Clara, Calif. PeopleSoft said the
deal, which was first announced in October, added 30 new products to its
suite of enterprise software and 500 new employees.
AppNet Garners MCI Contract
AppNet Inc., Bethesda, Md., has secured a contract with MCI
WorldCom Inc. to provide e-commerce solutions valued at $30 million
during the next 18 months. Under terms of the deal, AppNet will provide
custom applications for businesses to deliver services over the Internet
while using MCI WorldCom's global network to provide those services.
The companies will sell the services jointly. "This is one of the larger
agreements we have signed," said Ken Bajaj, chairman and chief executive
of AppNet. "Both companies are committing resources to sell the
services." MCI WorldCom, Jackson, Miss., confirmed the agreement,
saying it reflected the company's focus on e-commerce.
Inprise to Release Beta of Linux Software
Inprise Corp., a Scotts Valley, Calif., software developer that announced a
Linux-related collaboration in December, is releasing the beta version of its
InterBase 6 database on its Web site. The company said Monday that
InterBase 6, the new version of its SQL database, will be released in early
2000 in open-source form for multiple platforms, including Linux,
Windows NT, and Solaris. Inprise shares closed Monday up $2.875, or
26%, at $13.938 on Nasdaq market volume of 3.8 million shares.
Average daily volume is 2.9 million shares.
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