Spyglass to Seek Media Joint Venture
dailynews.yahoo.com
Monday February 7 3:12 PM ET
Spyglass to Seek Media Joint Venture
By Yukari Iwatani
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Internet consultant and software provider Spyglass Inc.
(NasdaqNM:SPYG - news) said on Monday it is seeking to form a partnership with a large
media company to create an interactive application that mixes broadcast content with Web-based
content.
Douglas Colbeth, chairman and chief executive of Naperville, Ill.-based Spyglass, told Reuters in
an interview that the company is currently in talks with potential partner companies and may
announce a deal in the next three to six months.
``I can't name names, but the next horizon that we're working on is what I call interactive
applications, not just Web-based applications but the mix of broadcast and Web,' Colbeth said.
In such a partnership, Spyglass would provide the technology backbone and the media company
would provide the content, Colbeth said.
Colbeth told Reuters that Spyglass is also seeking to make minority strategic investments in
companies that would introduce Spyglass technology to new markets. Currently Spyglass serves
content providers, service operators and device manufacturers.
The investments would be funded by proceeds from the sale of Spyglass' SurfWatch
content-filtering software division to British Internet software provider JSB Software
Technologies Plc (JSB.L). Including the $20 million in cash and the value of the 800,000 shares
of JSB stock that Spyglass received, the company made nearly $100 million from the sale.
Any partnership or investment that Spyglass makes will be related to the company's two main
areas of focus: interactive television or mobile devices such as cellular phones or handheld
computers.
In the interview before Spyglass' 10th annual shareholders' meeting, Colbeth also said the
company hopes to add two new strategic solution centers per year, which are technology
development and service facilities that are built exclusively for large clients to serve their specific
needs.
Spyglass currently has two solution centers: one for Motorola Inc.'s (NYSE:MOT - news)
Broadband Communications Group to work on set-top box technology and the other for
Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - news) to work on technology for Web telephones and
other Windows-based terminals.
Colbeth said he was currently in talks with three or four potential customers.
He reiterated Spyglass' goal to exceed $100 million in revenues by the end of fiscal 2002. In
fiscal 1999, ended Sept. 30, the company had reported revenues of $29.6 million. |
