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Technology Stocks : Internet Search Engines - The New Conglomerates?
YHOO 52.580.0%Jun 26 5:00 PM EST

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To: TFF who wrote (73)4/25/1998 11:36:00 AM
From: TFF   of 165
 
NEWS - Red Herring sees NSCP/InfoSeek likely deal

By Peter D. Henig

April 24, 1998

The Red Herring Online has learned that Infoseek is
holding a companywide meeting on Monday -- and with
speculation rife that Netscape (NSCP) will forge
stronger links with a single search partner, it's likely that a
deal is on the agenda in the search engine's Santa Clara
headquarters.

Netscape's existing contracts with the major search
engines -- Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, and Infoseek -- are
expiring. While the company has stated it's in active
negotiations with all four partners, Dow Jones has
reported that Netscape will make an exclusive deal with
-- and take an equity stake in -- a single search partner
to power its Netcenter portal to the Web.

No. 2 with a bullet
While Netscape and Yahoo (YHOO) have a
longstanding relationship, Yahoo's lead in the online
audience make it unlikely the two traffic titans will score
a deal. Although Lycos (LCOS) and Excite (XCIT)
remain viable options, Infoseek appears to be the most
likely choice for several reasons.

Infoseek's stock remains the most reasonably priced
among the search engines, and therefore in an all-stock
or partial-stock transaction, has the greatest room to
appreciate. The company has also just completed a
secondary offering of 3 million shares to better position
the company's cash reserves for acquisitions and
partnerships.

Inside sources at Infoseek have confirmed that there is a
company goal to increase monthly pageviews by 100
million this year -- a sizable increase that would have to
come through outside traffic deals. Chief Executive
Officer Harry Motro also told the Red Herring Online
that he's made it his company's mission to jump into
second place behind Yahoo by the end of 1998 -- and
landing all of Netscape's Netcenter search traffic would
make that goal easier to reach.

The Red Herring Online has also learned that Infoseek
and Netscape will be announcing deals with AT&T (T)
to play some role in their respective Web sites. Infoseek
sources also claim another acquisition is in the pipeline
similar to its recent purchase of community chat service
Webchat Broadcasting System.

Infoseek's earnings also offered some surprises.

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