Up 40% today on NSOL/VRSN acquisition for $21 B.
By the way, this following company knocked Register.com out of the slot for Intuit's domain-name partnership.
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Dow Jones Interactive Publications Library
INTUIT DEAL PUSHES MELBOURNE IT LTD SHARES HIGHER
02/11/2000
Asia Pulse
(c) Copyright 2000 Asia Pulse PTE Ltd.
MELBOURNE, Feb 11 Asia Pulse - News of an exclusive agreement with US financial
management software group Intuit propelled shares in Melbourne IT Ltd sharply
higher today, according to analysts.
The Internet domain name supplier ended 51 cents higher at $8.71 today after
hitting $9.00 - its best ever level since listing December.
The surge in the share price came after the company announced late yesterday
that it had entered into an exclusive relationship with Nasdaq-listed Intuit .
Through its division Internet Names WorldWide (INWW), Melbourne IT said it would
provide domain name registration services for Intuit 's QuickBooks Site Builder.
QuickBooks is used by nearly three million small businesses in the US.
One analyst said today that Intuit deal had sent the stock higher.
"The deal has helped them gain another important distribution channel," he said.
A Sydney-based analyst said the market was reacting to the Intuit deal, which
was announced after the close of trading.
"The sensitivity of the valuation for this company is driven by the volume of
domain names that they register," he said.
"Whilst this announcement was made to the market on December 10, the
counterparty to it and the potential addressable market that the counterparty
represented wasn't disclosed at the time.
"By tieing up exclusive arrangements with these channel partners, it guarantees
Melbourne IT a certain level of volume."
He said it was important for them to continue to sign up channel partners of
this calibre.
Melbourne IT's chief executive officer Peter Gerrand viewed the deal with Intuit
as a "strategic move".
He said domain name registrations from Intuit were coming in at a healthy rate.
While not revealing a figure on registrations, Mr Gerrand said Intuit was now
one of Melbourne IT's top four channel partners.
Melbourne IT, which is now the third biggest global domain name supplier, was
aiming to become the biggest register in the world, he said.
Mr Gerrand said while deals in the US, such as with Intuit , were important to
company, it was also gaining penetration in emerging Internet markets, such as
China.
In December, Melbourne IT made a spectacular debut, listing at almost four times
its issue prices of $2.20.
The company, which emerged from the University of Melbourne domain name
registry, said under the relationship, INWW would act as the domain name
register for QuickBooks Site Builder, which is featured as part of the new
QuickBooks 2000 software.
ASIA PULSE 11-02 1125
Copyright ¸ 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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