KJ:
I find the Wash Post number more reasonable and am not questioning your source. If this is correct, Yahoo! must have ruined its finances, like promising $25 mil to Netscape and paying so much to Four11 (i.e., diluting so badly). However, the WSJ (1/2/98) story reads as follows:
" Then, Wednesday, Microsoft said it acquired closely held
Hotmail, underscoring the software giant's determination to
take aggressive measures to build its Internet businesses, even
as the government and rivals accuse it of improperly trying to
dominate cyberspace.
Start-up Hotmail has moved from obscurity to the Internet's
leading free e-mail service -- with 9.5 million users -- in less
than a year and a half. Although neither company would
comment on financial details of the stock transaction, analysts
placed its value between $300 million and $400 million -- an
eye-popping amount for a company with no profits to date and
scant revenue. Hotmail will continue to operate in California as
a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft.
Microsoft will offer Hotmail as part of a collection of free
"content" services under the MSN umbrella that include
Expedia, its on-line travel service; Investor, an on-line stock
tracking and trading site; and CarPoint, its on-line car-shopping
site. Previously, e-mail and other "premium" services like
Internet access were available only to MSN subscribers who
paid a monthly fee."
Sankar |
