"Officials said Go2net simply didn't find any prospects worth buying"
I am skeptical of that, I mean come on, how many companies were trashed into submission the last few months here, 60, 70, 80, 90% from their highs! (GOTO is one that comes to mind, over 90% off before last week) The internet landscape has been piled high with companies and their stock prices beat into submission, many of them with tremendous business models. Great opportunities often don't last long!
More likely they wanted to have full use of the interest income spun off from the cash to put the best appearance forward. They probably don't like the stigma of "pro forma" and are gun shy at more acquisitions dragging that out, even though obviously well placed buys can be accretive, and great investments for growth and expansion. (opinion and conjecture)
That is always nice in the short run, but what we won't know is how expensive these recent acquisition opportunities will be getting in the future? For that matter, how much of a price will everyone pay for there not being much sponsorship on the street, since the more it languishes (relative to the NDX for instance), the longer time period and harder it can make it to use stock for acquisitions. |
