From Raging Bull.com
By: bradgoldstein
Reply To: None
Friday, 18 Dec 1998 at 11:24 PM
EST
Post # of 1799
Annual Meeting Full Report:
I cannot possibly express my excitement and joy in words, but
this meeting was definitely one of the greatestest experiences
of my life. Here is a review of some highlights from the meeting:
@Ventures III has made 4 investments already and 5 more are
currently in the works. When the new "reach" numbers are out,
Wetherell anticipates that CMGi's companies (where it is the
largest shareholder) will surpass Yahoo as #1, however, the
AOL/ NSCP merger may take that position once that merger is
complete. CMGi is currently the 149th largest company on the
Nasdaq. The Password is changing their name to ZineZone.
Chemdex offers 250,000 lifescience products online while
competitors only provide an aggregate of 45,000. Wetherell
stated that Chemdex has performed "wildly better than
expected." That sure sounds good to me. He also made it clear
that this site does not require high volume. Chemdex only
needs 2 - 3,000 of the proper people to visit their site in order to
be very successful.
Reel.com will soon provide users to access Hollywood Video
inventory on the Web. Furthermore, Wetherell talked about
users being able to rent a video and buy a pizza, and then have
them delivered to their house. Reel.com is doing VERY well and
Wetherell likes it a lot because he feels it provides the best
content available.
Wetherell talked a bit about GeoCities and its 40 million daily
page views in addition to 8 million unique visitors, making it the
largest Online community. He then stated that the second and
third largest communities are Tripod and Angelfire, both of
which are owned by Lycos, so CMGi has a stake in the 3
largest Web communites. ThingWorld's (previously Parable)
multimedia technology is being incorporated into GeoCities.
Vicinity recently finished its 3rd round of financing.
Blaxxun, 61% owned by CMGi, is a 3D interactive community
that Wetherell believes has "GeoCities like potential." Check it
out at www.colonycity.com.
The average time spent Online is currently 10.8 hours/ week
which is greater than the average time one spends reading
magazines and newspapers combined! Average time watching
T.V. is 15.4 hours/ wk., radio is 13.2 hours/ wk., Internet is 10.8
hours/ wk., newspapers are 4.5 hours/ wk., and magazines are
3.7 hours/ wk.
@Ventures III owns 50% of the Raging Bull (14% CMGi
owned), 25% of Virtual Ink (7% CMGi owned), 30% of
Ancestry.com (9% CMGi owned), and 22% of Asimba (5%
CMGi owned). These numbers do not appear to exactly
represent what it appears CMGi's stake should be, but
Wetherell said it is a little complex, but accurate.
34.8% of Internet users have bought Online, and business to
consumer e-commerce only represents 23% of total
e-commerce. Clearly business to business e-commerce holds
substantial potential.
Wetherell talked in depth about Engage, and it sure sounds
incredible. Engage is the largest anonymous Web database,
with profiles of 30 million+ users. Engage collects users
clickstreams and uses this anonymously gathered data to
enable sites to enjoy targetability and first time relevancy for
advertising, commerce, and content. Once a clickstream pattern
is collected on a user, Engage's technology will recognize the
user when he or she comes back to a site. This knowledge
provides Engage enabled sites the opportunity to provide an
appropriate and targeted ad when a user visits their site. 12
MSFT sites, AOL Digital Cities, Lycos, Sony, Tripod, and others
all use Engage already. This looks like a VERY promising
eventual IPO!
Saleslink has enjoyed serious revenue growth, increasing from
$12 million last year to $132 million this year. This is a
fullfillment services company which seems to provide a service
that is in high demand.
Silknet provides Web based customer service which Wetherell
seemed thrilled about because it enables help to be available
from anywhere in the world rather than just those on hand in an
office. An investment banking team is currently working on the
particulars for this potentially soon to be released IPO. On that
note, Wetherell showed a list of the most likely candidates to
IPO which include @Ventures investments Silknet, Chemdex,
ThingWorld, Critical Path, Visto, and The Raging Bull as well as
majority owned NaviSite, Engage, Planet Direct, NaviNet,
Magnitude Network, and SalesLink.
NaviSite currently has 100 customers and is growing at about
10 per month. In fact, they have signed up 50 new customers in
the last 3 months, including Alta Vista. NaviNet seemed to get
Wetherell particularly excited as he explained how this low cost
Internet access provider uses digital switch bypass technology
which enables very affordable bandwith. This access is sold to
Internet providers. This company is new and growing quickly.
An impressive Planet Direct demonstration was done,
displaying its capabilities and synergies. Wetherell explained
how 20+ affinity partners, like Discover, use a customized
Planet Direct service. Furthermore, Planet Direct has 900,000
registered users, 520 ISPs who use them, continues signing up
1 ISP a day, and is #1 in page views per visit as reported by
Relevant Knowledge. Synergies were clear as Wetherell
displayed the link to Magnitude's site where users could listen
to 189 radio stations, find information, purchase goods, and
more. Wetherell thinks that Magnitude Network is more
powerful than Broadcast.com. Magnitude has a deal w/
RealNetworks' G2 multimedia player. Magnitude adds 1 new
station per day and has 100 times the listening time of
Broadcast.com. Planet Direct will also soon incorporate The
Raging Bull. Matt Ragas's excellent cyberstock report already
has 40,000 subscribers. A CEO for The Raging Bull is already
in place and soon to be announced. When Wetherell mentioned
The Raging Bull, he did mention Zen Warrior, NYSkater, and
myself. I couldn't believe it (more on this later)! Wetherell said
that The Raging Bull is growing far faster than the competition
and that he hopes the Bull will surpass Yahoo's financial
message boards within 1 year.
CMGi's stock is up 5,407% since its IPO in 1/94. They have
realized a 2,095% return on investment because the $39 million
originally invested is responsible for $856 million in assets. A
list of CMGi's current stakes in public companies was made
available which indicated that AMZN was sold, leaving CMGi
with 18,046 shares. It seems AMZN was sold in order to raise
$$$ for @Ventures III. The list indicated that CMGi currently has
$755 million in publicly traded assets (this has taken into
consideration the partners stakes in some of these positions).
Wetherell was unbelieveably kind to me. He mentioned my
name 3 different times in the meeting, in addition to plugging my
newsletter and attending my party. He is kind, down to earth,
and someone who I admire and respect. Words cannot express
my gratitude to this man who has helped me and my family
make about $500,000 this year in the market. And its about
much more than the money, David Wetherell has always taken
the time to answer all my questions and be helpful in any way
he could. He even called me to welcome me to Andover! While
we were talking, he asked if Zen Warrior was there. You FOR
SURE should have gone ZEN!!! All of you should have gone for
this incredible and exciting show. You all know how much I liked
CMGi already, well now I even like it more. I had the pleasure of
receiving a tour of the CMGi facility from Catherine Taylor, who
was very kind and helpful. CMGi is growing fast! They have 1
entire floor at 100 Brickstone Square, and they are beginning to
take over another. The guys from the Bull attended my party
and they truly are great guys. I really enjoyed meeting all of
them and appreciate them taking the time to attend my party.
These guys are awesome and I am proud to be associated with
them and their board. I strongly believe that any of you who are
long term investors should take the time to attend this incredible
event in the future. Wetherell and many other CMGi staff
members were readily available for questions, etc. There was
only about 125 people there, but I anticipate this number will
increase as the years go by. Right after the meeting, CMGI was
at about $98. I ran to the payphone and sold most of my
options. I sold my 5 December $85 calls that I bought for $11/16
for $12 1/2, my Dec. $105s that I paid various prices for, for
$7/8, and my 2 March $65s that I paid $15 for sold for $38. I
also sold 50 shares today at $98 1/2, leaving me with 500
shares, 2 June $80 calls (paid $13), and 2 Jan $80 2001 leaps
(paid $32). The next couple years look EXTREMELY promising.
Thanks Howie for taking me and my brother out in Boston - that
was fun. Thanks everyone for everything and have a great
weekend. This week was unbelieveable and surpassed my
wildest dreams and expectations. CMGi is a great company run
by great people and I remain a very proud and confident
investor. Thanks to everyone at CMGi!!! Wow - another split -
now that really is exciting! Sincerely, Brad |
