Here is the news. Riccio, as a member of the board, knows the company well. His work for Lycos will add real value to GNET's management team experience. Expect more smart acquisitions. Sorry to break the news to you, but smart companies that want to grow need good lawyers in their management these days.
[BTW, thank you for your apt self description: "poor and helpless."]
Riccio comes to Go2Net from Hutchins, Wheeler & Dittmar, a Boston-based corporate law firm, where he represented Go2Net in its initial public offering and structured the company's acquisitions and strategic alliances, in addition to acting as lead outside corporate counsel for Lycos and other high-profile technology companies and venture capital firms. The appointment is effective January 1999, at which point current Go2Net chief operating officer and company co-founder John Keister will assume the position of co-president.
"Mike Riccio brings Go2Net an extremely strong base of Internet industry expertise, along with an intimate knowledge of our company," said Russell C. Horowitz, Go2Net chief executive officer. "As a member of Go2Net's Board of Directors, he has played a critical role in the company's development and strategic direction. We're very pleased to have him joining us on a full-time basis."
As a partner at Hutchins, Wheeler & Dittmar since 1993, Riccio developed an extensive corporate practice, representing emerging growth companies and venture capital firms. As lead outside corporate counsel for Lycos since its founding in 1995, he represented Lycos in several of its acquisitions and strategic alliances, including its acquisitions of Tripod, WhoWhere?, Wired Ventures and WiseWire; its joint venture with Bertelsmann AG; and its initial distribution agreements with Microsoft and Netscape. Additionally, he played a key role in Lycos' initial public offering in 1996 and its secondary public offering in 1998.
Riccio also represented CMG@Ventures, a leading Internet investment firm, along with several of its portfolio companies; Highland Capital Partners, a Boston-based venture capital firm with investments in several Internet companies such as eToys, GeoSystems (MapQuest), Quote.com and RoweCom; and PlanetAll, a Web contact management service recently acquired by Amazon.com.
Prior to joining Hutchins, Wheeler & Dittmar in 1989, Riccio was associated with Willkie, Farr & Gallagher, a New York law firm, where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and public offerings. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Bucknell University and a J.D. from Albany Law School of Union University.
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