NetGravity's Shares Surge on Speculation Rival DoubleClick May Acquire It
Sun, 04 Jul 1999, 10:46pm EDT
By Anthony Massucci
NetGravity's Shares Rise on DoubleClick Speculation
San Mateo, California, July 2 (Bloomberg) -- NetGravity
Inc., an Internet advertising-software vendor, rose 16 percent on
speculation that the company may be a takeover target of
DoubleClick Inc.
The company's shares rose 3 1/2 to 25 1/4 in trading of
3 million shares. Internet advertising company DoubleClick's
shares rose 3 3/16 to 95 1/4.
DoubleClick has swiped such NetGravity clients as iVillage
Inc. and is offering credit to customers who switch companies in
an effort to dominate the online advertising industry, analysts
said. Last month, DoubleClick agreed to buy market researcher
Abacus Direct Corp. for $1 billion in stock to use its data to
provide targeted online ads and broaden its reach.
''If they are not converting over the NetGravity customers
as quickly as they hoped, they may be interested (in buying
NetGravity),'' said Tara Long, a C.E. Unterberg Towbin analyst
who has a ''strong buy'' rating on DoubleClick. ''Strategically,
it makes sense.''
New York-based DoubleClick, with customers like the
AltaVista online directory and USA Today, may covet NetGravity's
customers such as Excite At Home Corp. and CNN Interactive, Long
said.
San Mateo, California-based NetGravity, with $11.56 million
in 1998 sales, and DoubleClick, which had $80 million in 1998
sales, had no comment. Both companies make software that tracks
how Web advertising campaigns are performing and allows customers
to target ads to online users.
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