A reverse merger into LSGT???!!
biz.yahoo.com
rd.yahoo.com*http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/19990817/news/current/athm.htx?source=blq/yhoo&dist=yhoo
Excite@Home Leads $85-Million Strategic Financing Round in Tickets.com
Strategic Relationship Builds E-commerce Ticket Sales for Consumers
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Excite@Home (Nasdaq: ATHM - news) today announced a strategic investment and relationship with Tickets.com, a 'one-stop' resource for sports and entertainment tickets. Excite@Home has invested $15 million in Tickets.com and will invest an additional $40 million subject to regulatory approval, which is currently expected within 30 days. Excite@Home was the lead investor in what will be a $85 million round of financing for Tickets.com, along with Cox Interactive Media, a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. Cox Communications, another Cox Enterprises company is a shareholder and key MSO partner of Excite@Home. Excite@Home will also have a long-term strategic content relationship with Tickets.com where Tickets.com will pay Excite@Home $25 million. Tickets.com event, venue and ticketing information and ticket buying opportunities content will be directly integrated throughout the Excite portal and the @Home broadband service to give consumers an easy way online to find out about events and buy tickets to shows.
``We believe ticketing online is projected to be one of the top five online commerce categories and Tickets.com will emerge as a leader in the online ticket-buying category,' said George Bell, president, Excite@Home. ``This relationship underscores two of our core strategies -- investing financially in our partners and expanding our e-commerce opportunities with local content. We will provide our customers with detailed, easily searched information for thousands of events and venues and the ability to buy tickets without leaving the Excite service. On our @Home broadband service, consumers will be able to view video and other rich media materials featuring an artist or show as part of the ticket-buying decision.'
Excite@Home Makes It Simple to Find and Purchase Local Event Tickets
Excite@Home will integrate Tickets.com's localized content and tickets for sales throughout the Excite portal and the @Home broadband service. Users will be able to search on events and show information in their local area and immediately buy tickets. Tickets.com has over 3,800 entertainment organization clients worldwide and is one of the largest online ticket sellers. This service complements other entertainment content found on the Excite portal such as Event Finder (www.excite.com/entertainment), which finds local events by zip code, and movies.excite.com and tv.excite.com, two unique applications that offer local entertainment information.
``This deal exemplifies our willingness to make significant equity investments in our key partners, while enriching our content in areas that offer substantial growth opportunities online,' said Mark Stevens, executive vice-president, corporate and business development, Excite@Home. ``It also supports our goal of being a leader in providing content and functionality that helps consumers manage their daily lives through the Internet.'
``We are happy to receive this significant investment validating Tickets.com's business model, and delighted to be working with partners that share our online ticketing vision,' said W. Thomas Gimple, president and chief executive officer of Tickets.com.
About Excite@Home
Excite@Home is a global media company based in Redwood City, Calif. Through the company's narrowband portal, Excite (www.excite.com), and broadband services, @Home and @Work, the company uniquely offers consumers content and interactive services across both narrowband and broadband. The rich media advertising and database marketing solutions of Enliven (www.enliven.com) and MatchLogic (www.matchlogic.com) offer advertisers highly targeted interactive marketing and reporting services across all platforms of delivery. Leveraging the high-speed, always-on attributes of cable, Excite@Home empowers unique multimedia applications that go beyond current Web experiences. The company will combine the Excite brand-one of the best known names on the Internet with 70 percent recognition among Web users-with the @Home broadband service's broad distribution, a worldwide footprint of 67 million cable homes, to deliver on its vision of ``All Band, All Device, All the Time.'
For more investor information about Excite@Home, please call our stockholder services hotline at 888-924-9248.
Brand recognition statistics quoted are from Frank N. Magid and Associates, Inc. (1/99).
About Tickets.com
Tickets.com is an online source of entertainment tickets, event information and related products and services. The company sells tickets through retail outlets, call centers, interactive voice response systems and the Internet. At www.tickets.com, consumers can obtain information on thousands of events and entertainment organizations, purchase tickets and shop for related products and services. Tickets.com's automated ticketing solutions are used by over 3,800 entertainment organizations such as leading performing arts centers, professional sports organizations and various stadiums and arenas in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Latin America.
SOURCE: Excite@Home |
