The Internet Capitalist
SG Cowen Internet Research
11
the US market was as immature as the
International Internet advertising market is
today. This is likely to benefit them on two
fronts; 1) as international traffic grows in
importance to big US sites, they are realizing
that this traffic is an under-utilized asset that
DoubleClick could, uniquely, monetize for
them. This was the rationale behind
DoubleClick's recent deal with Sportsline.
Second, by staking out international territories
early as the Internet develops as a medium
DCLK can be the one of the first to establish
an experienced sales team within that country.
DCLK has recognized a critical factor in the
development of the web, critical mass is
measured on a localized basis, not an aggregate
one.
To help both increase its user base and add
value to those customers that generate dollars
for its network of sites, DCLK has recently
introduced Closed Loop Marketing Solutions.
Designed for advertisers and currently in beta,
management is pleased with development and
have wisely set the bar low, hoping to under-promise
and over-deliver for their customers.
We'll address the Closed Loop products in a
later report on DCLK, but suffice it to say that
Closed Loop is designed to make the Internet
easier and more effective for advertisers.
DoubleClick reports their December quarter
January 20
th
; we continue to believe, based on
our meetings with the management team and
our field research, that our top line estimate of
$23 million is conservative.
Sterling Commerce
Dublin, Ohio: 5*, SE: 45*
News that Sterling set their annual
shareholders' meeting for March 4 at their
headquarters in Dublin, Ohio got us to
thinking about what a dichotomy there is
between the temperature in Dublin, Ohio these
days and the temperature of the stock; Sterling
has risen more than 10 points off its late
December mid $30s level to the $44 where it
sits today, approaching its all time high of $50.
We must admit that following this stock for
the last year has, at times, been an exercise in
frustration; it just can't seem to get out of its
own way and has traded in a fairly wide band
($20 to $50). We will be watching closely to
see if the stock finally starts to reflect the
advance in the company's fundamentals over
the past 4 quarters and break through that
magic $50 level or if it is simply participating
in Net frenzy.
Netscape
Netscape's Netcenter portal announced that it
had reached a membership milestone, having
broker the 10 million members barrier by
adding a whopping 9 million new members to
the site in the last 12 months.
Observations
Whoa Nellie!, Or “Big Media Dynamism Part
II”
If you're like us, you lamented the passing of a
football commentating legend in Keith
Jackson, ABC's wry (and let's face it, ancient)
college football analyst who broadcast his last
game at the Fiesta Bowl last week before
retiring from the business (our favorite
Jackson line of all time remains “I played
football with his daddy”). Unfortunately,
Jackson ended up apologizing for his bosses
(ABC, ESPN, and Disney) a bit too much for
our liking, taking some of the fun away from
the spectacle of his last play-by-plays.
What was the cause of those mea culpas?
Seems the folks at Disney/Infoseek hadn't
anticipated the traffic levels that their
“enhanced television” (we're not making that
up) service (that is, a Web tie-in with the
Fiesta Bowl broadcast that included statistics,
chats, an interactive football game ) A few
minutes after kickoff, Jackson was forced to
announce that the maximum number of |
