This could explain the CEO's refusal to appear on CNBC.
From the SEC prospectus filed on 9/23,
RISK OF RELIANCE ON RECENT PUBLICITY
On September 22,1999, a Reuters news article appeared containing statements resulting directly or indirectly from an interview with Robert Apollo, an officer of eGain. The statements in the Reuters article were not intended to be relied upon by potential investors in making an investment decision to purchase common stock offered hereby. Further more, eGain disclaims all the information contained in the Reuters article for purposes of this offering and prospective investors should not rely on such information or any other information not contained in this prospectus
The article itself :
Wednesday September 22, 7:35 am Eastern Time
INTERVIEW-eGain sees big customer service market
NEW DELHI, Sept 22 (Reuters) - eGain Communications Corp, which is listing on Nasdaq with an initial public offering this week, is eyeing a huge market in Internet-based customer relations software, a senior company official said on Wednesday.
The U.S.-based company, which has developed software to sift, organise, process and answer e-mail from customers, has placed a strong emphasis on undertaking wholesale technological service contracts from corporate clients, Vice-President Bob Apollo told Reuters in an interview on the margins of an Internet conference.
``If you look at the overall e-commerce market, people are today talking about $500 billion by 2001,' Apollo said.
``If one percent of that is devoted to servicing customers, you could end up with a $5-billion market just for customer service,' he added.
eGain's share offering were to be priced in the United States later on Wednesday, Apollo said.
The e-mail services company plans to offer five million shares in a range of $9-$11. ``We have had some very positive reaction' to the company's IPO, Apollo said.
The company's competitors include e-mail management software providers Kana Communications Inc (Nasdaq:KANA - news), which is also debuting this week, and Silknet Software Inc (Nasdaq:SILK - news).
Apollo said eGain had a market advantage because it leapfrogged straight into an Internet-browser mode unlike other conventional network-based e-mail software.
He said eGain also expected to be strong in the market because of a flexibility in business practices.
The flexibility involves offers to take up wholesale technology management services for corporate clients who use eGain software. Under this model, eGain hosts the software for its clients who otherwise would have to learn and manage the software.
``Half of our customers have chosen to go for the hosting route,' Apollo said.
---------------------------------------------------------
If my reading of this situation is correct, it provides a great buying opportunity.
-Srini |
