Hey all E*trade custumers. We might all get a crack at a hot
IPO(RNWK)RealNetworks INC since E*trade has and alliance with Robertson,
Stephens & Co. and they will take part in the underwriting.
RealNetworks, Formerly Progressive Networks, Files for IPO
Seattle, Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- RealNetworks Inc., a software maker previously
called Progressive Networks Inc., plans to sell about $34.5 million of stock in an initial
public offering.
The company didn't say how many shares it wants to sell, or
in what price range, in its filings with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission late last week. Goldman, Sachs & Co. will manage the IPO,
along with Montgomery Securities and Robertson,Stephens & Co.
RealNetworks products let Internet and other network users receive multimedia
content at real-time speeds. The company's products include RealAudio and
RealVideo, popular software used for sending and receiving sound and video clips on
Web pages, a technology known as streaming media.
``They got out there very early on with their RealAudio
product and established themselves in the dominant position,''
said John McCarthy, group director for new media at Forrester
Research.
Seattle-based RealNetworks said last month it would work with MCI
Communications Corp. on RealNetwork, a service that will broadcast sound and film
over MCI's portion of the Internet.
Sports broadcasters, for example, can use RealNetworks's technology to show
baseball games and air live commentary to computer users.
Microsoft Agreement
In July, Microsoft Corp. said it agreed to work with RealNetworks to develop
technology in return for a 10 percent non- voting investment. The agreement will let
Microsoft license RealAudio and RealVideo technologies and incorporate them into its
NetShow streaming software, considered less sophisticated than RealNetworks'.
The Microsoft agreement signals that RealNetworks is moving away from focusing on
technology development toward the providing of services, McCarthy said. He said,
though, that the agreement with Microsoft, which develops a streaming media product
that competes with realNetworks products, could hurt RealNetworks in the future.
``The list of successful Microsoft partners is right up there with Swiss naval victories as
the shortest book of all time,'' McCarthy said.
RealNetworks' loss in 1996 widened to $3.79 million from
$1.5 million in 1995. Revenue, however, soared to $14 million
from $1.81 million.
In this year's second quarter, its loss widened to $2.67 million from $956,000 a year
earlier, while revenue surged to $7.01 million from $2.48 million.
The company said it had a total deficit of about $12.4 million as of June 30, and ``there
can be no assurance'' that it will be profitable in the future. According to documents
filed with the SEC, RealNetworks intends to donate about 5 percent of its annual net
income to charity if and when it achieves ``sustained profitability.''
Real-Time Clips
The company operates several Web sites, including Film.com,
which provides information about and streaming media clips of
movies, and LiveConcerts.com, which provides live music concerts
in cooperation with the House of Blues restaurant chain.
RealNetworks incorporated in February 1994 as Progressive
Networks Inc. and first started taking in revenue in July 1995,
when it started delivering a commercial version of RealAudio.
Currently its revenue comes from advertisements on its Web sites,
services and software license fees.
Chairman, Chief Executive and Treasurer Robert Glaser, the
company's founder, is a former vice president of multimedia and
consumer systems at Microsoft. Bruce Jacobsen, president and
chief operating officer, previously was chief operating officer
at Dreamworks Interactive, a joint venture of Microsoft and the
Dreamworks SKG studio.
RealNetworks customers include Boeing Co., General Electric
Co.'s NBC, News Corp. and 3Com Corp. Bloomberg Online, produced
by the parent of Bloomberg News, Bloomberg LP, is also a
customer.
RealNetworks plans to trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market under
the symbol RNWK.
--Marion Gammill in the Princeton newsroom (609) 279-4097/jac/bab
...........
Here is the E Trade Part:
LOS ANGELES, Sept 9 (Reuter) - Online investment company
E*Trade Group Inc. Tuesday unveiled an alliance with Robertson,
Stephens & Co. to bring investment banking services to online investors.
The alliance will give Palo Alto, Calif.-based E*Trade's
customers access to investment banking services, (including
initial and secondary public stock offerings) underwritten by
San Francisco-based Robertson. |
