>NEW YORK, April 7 (Reuters) - Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jim Clark on Friday said he would pump more money into his "new new thing" -- Healtheon/WebMD Corp. -- prompting a surge in the share price of the beleaguered Internet-based health services network.
Clark -- the billionaire who was profiled in Michael Lewis' recent book "The New New Thing" -- will buy up to $220 million of the company's stock along with fellow Healtheon <HLTH.O> director John Doerr. Analysts view the investment as a strong vote of confidence in Healtheon, whose share price has withered since the beginning of the year after a series of proposed acquisitions by the company.
"This is a sign that Jim Clark and John Doerr still believe in the underlying values of the company," said Stephen DeNelsky, an analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston.
Healtheon, which aims to become a Web-based link between doctors, patients, drug companies and insurers, also said its first-quarter revenue nearly doubled from the previous three months, while it would show a deeper-than-expected loss.
Even so, the stock rose sharply after the news of the investment, climbing 6-3/4, or 31 percent, to 28-7/16 by late afternoon. It was one of the top percentage gainers on Nasdaq on volume more than twice as heavy as the daily average.
The stock, which has shed about 43 percent since the beginning of the year, hit a 52-week low of 15-5/8 earlier this week.
Clark, who also co-founded Netscape Communications, said in a statement he wanted to increase his investment "by up to $200 million" in Healtheon/WebMD.
"I am more confident than ever in Healtheon/WebMD's vision of connecting physicians, payers and consumers via the Internet. The recent flurry of activity in the e-health space makes it clear to me that the health-care industry is embracing the Internet," Clark said.
Doerr -- the founding chief executive of Silicon Compilers, a co-founder of AtHome Network and a Healtheon director since July 1997 -- also reaffirmed his faith in Healtheon's strategy, saying he expected to invest up to $20 million in the company's stock.
Doerr also sits on the boards of Amazon.com Inc. <AMZN.O>, ExciteAtHome Corp. <ATHM.O>, drugstore.com Inc. <DSCM.O>, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. <MSO.N> and Sun Microsystems Inc. <SUNW.O>
The two men said the purchases could begin at any time after noon (1600 GMT) Friday. Healtheon said it approved the stock buys and there were no restrictions on them.
Separately, Healtheon forecast first-quarter revenues would exceed $62 million, up from $33 million in the fourth quarter of 1999.
Healtheon also said it expected to report a loss before non-cash charges, primarily depreciation and amortization, of less than $90 million for the first quarter of 2000.
The loss is deeper than the consensus estimate of $72 million to $74 million, though the revenue figures were in line with expectations, according to analyst DeNelsky. "At this point, the stock will be driven more by Jim Clark and John Doerr's show of faith than the numbers," he said.
Healtheon/WebMD, created by the merger of four Internet companies including Healtheon and WebMD in November, said it expected to announce full first-quarter financial results in late April or early May.
The exact date depends on completion of the independent appraisals of a recently closed transaction with News Corp. Ltd. <NCP.AX> <NWS.N> and its acquisition of Kinetra, a joint venture between Eli Lilly & Co. <LLY.N> and Electronic Data Systems Corp. <EDS.N>
In December, News Corp., Rupert Murdoch's sprawling media empire, formed a $1 billion programming and marketing partnership with Healtheon. The deal gave News Corp. a 10.8 percent stake in the company.
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