WWW Internet Fund Slashes Valuation of Its USA Talks.com Shares
Lexington, Kentucky, Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The WWW Internet Fund slashed the value of its shares in USA Talks.com by 50 percent after the Securities and Exchange Commission halted trading in the Internet telephony company, said Lawrence York, the fund's co-manager.
USA Talks.com shares last traded Thursday at 52 1/4. The fund now estimates the shares are worth 26 1/8, said York. At that price, USA Talks.com would lose $650 million of the $1.3 billion market value it commanded Thursday, the day before they were suspended.
''We've asked the SEC to tell us what to do,'' said York in an interview, adding no reply has been received. On Friday, the SEC ordered a two-week halt in trading of USA Talks.com, explaining, ''questions have been raised about the accuracy and adequacy of public information on the company.''
York said his fund invested $200,000 in USA Talks.com. He declined to say how many shares it owns or what percentage of the $15 million mutual fund they represent.
On Monday, the fund's share value registered the largest one- day percentage decline in at least three months after it cut the valuation of its USA Talks.com investment. The fund shares plunged 5.9 percent, or $1.29 to $20.68, while the Interactive Week Internet Index was unchanged. Yesterday, the shares fell 15 cents to $20.53.
USA Talks.com's shares have soared 1,990 percent since Oct. 14. The stock is still listed on the fund's Website as one of its top 15 stock picks.
The WWW Internet Fund focuses on companies involved in making hardware or software for use with the Internet. The fund gained 70.5 percent in 1998, half the Interactive Week Index's gain of 139.5 percent. So far this year, the fund has added 29 percent, while the Interactive Week Index is up 20.6 percent.
Marketer Fired
USA Talks.com yesterday fired Trendmark Inc., a marketing company that provided most of the 2,300 customers for its start- up Internet telephone service, because of poor sales.
It also canceled its agreement to acquire Trendmark, a privately owned company based in Memphis, Tennessee.
USA Talks.com in October began marketing long distance telephone service routed over the Internet. Almost all selling was done by Trendmark, whose 15,000 ''distributors'' sell directly to consumers. The company projects 1999 sales of $85 million with earnings of $16 million. Sales through last week totaled $230,000.
York explained it was necessary to estimate a value for his fund's USA Talks.com shares in order to compute a price at which to sell and redeem shares of his fund.
The day before they were suspended, USA Talks.com shares gained 5 1/4 to 52 1/4, giving the company a market value of $1.3 billion. They traded as low as 2 1/2 on Oct. 14.
08:08:44 02/03/1999 |
