November 25, 1999 07:14
INTERVIEW-InfoUSA sees Net IPO next yr
NEW DELHI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Database firm InfoUSA Inc has created the legal entity to spin off its Internet business, Infousa.com, into a separate company and plans to take it public next year, its chairman said on Thursday.
Vinod Gupta told Reuters in an interview that several venture capitalists had shown interest in investing in the California-based spinoff from the Nebraska firm that creates and licences business and consumer databases like white and yellow pages.
"We have not announced yet but pretty very soon we will be announcing one deal on the dot com side," Gupta said.
"Once we get the funds, we will be creating a new entity, infousa.com....We have already created the legal entity," said Indian-born Gupta, who is on a private visit with former U.S. Senator
Larry Pressler to India.
"In the second phase we would raise more money for the brandname and marketing. If everything goes right, then that would be done sometime in January. If eventually everything goes right we hope to take it public sometime in the first quarter or second quarter," Gupta said.
He said the parent company, InfoUSA, Inc. may change its name after the spinoff.
Gupta said he saw big potential from advertising revenue earned by searches, besides revenue from sale of content and licensing of databases to Internet portals like Microsoft Corp's network and Yahoo, Inc.
"The white page and yellow page search has a market potential of 380 billion searches a year...Even at 10 dollars per 1,000, its a lot of advertising potential," he said.
"Our content revenue roughly more than doubled last year," Gupta said. "Last year was roughy $1.8 million...This year (1999) we are forecasting $4.0 million plus," he said. "Next year we are forecasting nine million plus just for the content side."
Asked what the InfoUSA.com spinoff would mean for the parent company, Gupta said it would still be the creator of data, and licence its database to both the Internet spinoff and other customers.
But three white page and yellow page services will be exclusively licensed to InfoUSA.com, he said.
"The parent company is still the creator of data," he said. "The market is still growing."
Gupta said he expected InfoUSA Inc to make a key database firm acquisition in the coming days, and raise its revenue sharply.
He said 1999 revenue was estimated at $290 million, up from around $190 million in 1998.
"If we do this (acquisition),...we'll be forecasting in 2000, roughly 500 million and then in the year 2001 $550 plus."
"It's very small right now...(It) does not reflect the dot com value," he added |
