This was in the fool.com
Disney and Infoseek
On November 17, Walt Disney's Internet properties -- including ABC.com,
ABCNews.com, ESPN.com, and Disney.com -- were combined with the
portal/search firm Infoseek, in which Disney already owned a 42% stake. This
created a new business called Go.com. Both Disney and Infoseek have been
publicly traded companies, of course. But with the creation of Go.com,
Infoseek no longer exists. The SEEK Nasdaq ticker was retired and replaced
by GO, the ticker of Go.com on the New York Stock Exchange.
The new GO thus "tracks" the performance not only of the former Infoseek
but of Disney's Internet properties, which for better or worse had been
"locked" within Disney, the company, as well as within DIS, the stock. The
Disney properties have, in effect, gone public without actually having to issue
an IPO, and without Disney having to jump through the hoops of a full-fledged
spin-off. |
