Still some positive news from Bloomberg:
News Corp. Setting Up $650 Million Fund for Internet, WSJ Says
By Rajiv Narayana
Sydney, March 13 (Bloomberg) -- News Corp. is setting up a
new $650 million venture-capital fund to make investments in
Internet companies, almost doubling the amount it allocated for
its first fund eight months ago, the Wall Street Journal
reported. The new fund will aim to finance Internet companies
outside the U.S. News Corp. will contribute $250 million to its
new epartners II fund, Softbank Corp. will put in $200 million,
and the balance will come from other investors, the paper said.
Softbank, Japan's largest Internet investor, said it plans
to invest as much as $5 billion in Internet ventures worldwide in
the next 16 months.
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PhilWeb.Com Receives Investment From AIG, Softbank (Update1)
By Dominic G. Diongson with reporting by Ian C. Sayson
(Adds comment from analyst background. Closes stock price.)
Manila, March 13 (Bloomberg) -- American International Group
Inc., the No. 1 U.S.-based insurer by market value, and Softbank
Corp., Japan's No. 1 Internet investor, will invest in PhilWeb.Com
Inc., helping the Philippine company expand Internet services.
AIG and Softbank will buy $2.5 million of PhilWeb.Com stock
and get warrants for 1 billion shares at a par value of 1 centavo
per share. Each will get a seat on the 15-member board. Neither
company will be able to sell its shares for six months.
PhilWeb.Com, a former unprofitable mining company, plans to
invest in local companies with a connection to the Internet,
including Internet service providers, electronic commerce software
developers and cable network operators with high-speed data
transmission lines.
``As with other Internet stocks, here and in all other
countries, we can only talk about the Web's potential,' said
Gladys Villanueva, analyst at Angping Securities, who rates the
stock ``market perform.'
``While other stocks are just riding on the market's interest
on Internet stories, only Web has firmed up a couple of business
deals with foreign companies' other than AIG and Softbank, she
said.
The three companies will also form a venture capital fund, to
be managed by PhilWeb.Com, with 1 billion pesos ($24.5 million) to
invest in Internet-related companies. PhilWeb.Com will own 50
percent of the venture capital company, while AIG and Softbank
will each own 25 percent. PhilWeb.Com President Alex Villamar said
it plans to spin off the company and sell shares to the public on
the Philippine Stock Exchange.
AIG's investment in PhilWeb.Com originates from its previous
relationships with two of PhilWeb.Com's directors, Roberto Ongpin
and Jaime Gonzales. The U.S. insurer was an investor in property
developer Belle Corp. when both officials had served as directors.
PhilWeb.Com fell 6.1 percent to 46 centavos today, after
rising as much as 10 percent. For the year, the stock gained more
than 500 percent, compared to the main index's 25 percent loss.
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