Folks, here's the actual article. I like the part about Paul Allen's 16.8% stake in ctch as being instrumental in sealing the deal with Microsoft. Other comments?
-----------
Monday , Oct 11, 1999 Sun-Thu at 18:00 (GMT+2)
High Tech News
Microsoft, CommTouch to
Cooperate
By Shai Shalev
Microsoft is about to sign a cooperation
agreement with Israeli Internet company
CommTouch, one of the leading companies in
electronic mail on the Internet, Globes has
learned. CommTouch's products are expected to
be a part of the software solutions that Microsoft
offers to its business clients. The cooperation is
expected to contribute to CommTouch, both by
increasing the number of its customers and to
raising its revenue. CommTouch currently has
120 employees in the US and Israel.
CommTouch, which raised $48 million on Wall
Street in July of this year, is currently traded at
a value of $240 million, slightly over issue price.
The largest shareholder is Paul Allen, one of the
founders of Microsoft and its second largest
shareholder (after Bill Gates). Allen invested $20
million at time of share issue through companies
under his control, among them Go2Net. He
holds 16.8% of CommTouch's shares. It is
estimated that Allen's presence had a positive
contribution toward the signing of the
cooperation agreement with Microsoft.
Other shareholders in CommTouch include the
three founders, Amir Lev, Dr. Nahum Sharfman,
and Gideon Mantel, company president Isabel
Maxwell (the daughter of Robert Maxwell), and a
group of venture capital funds headed by
Evergreen, which also includes Apax Leumi,
Yozma, Gemini, Concord, and Etgar.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 10
October, 1999 |
