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To: rachel who wrote (4600)	6/7/1999 3:26:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Respond to of 11568

Kobrick Says Internet Stock 'Froth' Abated: Bloomberg Forum Bloomberg News June 7, 1999, 12:43 p.m. ET Kobrick Says Internet Stock 'Froth' Abated: Bloomberg Forum Boston, June 7 (Bloomberg) -- The shakeout in Internet stocks has paved the way for new investment in ''backbone'' stocks like America Online Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and CMGI Inc., said Fred Kobrick, president of Kobrick Funds. ''There's a tremendous differentiation between backbone providers and the 'Internet.com' companies themselves,'' he told the Bloomberg Forum. AOL and Cisco have made profits from selling Internet equipment and services, he said, compared with newer companies, like Marketwatch.com Inc. or Priceline.com Inc. that admit profits are far off. The sharp decline in all those stocks in late April and May made distinctions clear, he said. Shares of backbone companies were hurt far less than more speculative Internet issues. ''What we don't want to see here is a frothy market that makes no differentiation between the winners and the losers,'' said Kobrick, who manages Kobrick Capital Fund, Kobrick Growth Fund and Kobrick Emerging Growth Fund in Boston. All the funds have big technology holdings, which Kobrick said he pruned in late April when he believed values were too high. Now he plans to buy favorites, including America Online, the No. 1 consumer provider of online access, and MCI Worldcom Inc., No. 1 provider of business access as well as the No. 2 U.S. long- distance telephone carrier. ''We have not ridden the Internet down,'' Kobrick, 55, said in a telephone interview. AOL, for example, was the biggest holding in Kobrick Growth and Kobrick Capital on March 31, when the shares were at 147. Today, they're around 117. CMGI, an investor in Internet companies, was Kobrick Capital's second-largest holding. CMGI shares now are around 101, compared with 91 17/32 on March 31. Kobrick didn't say what percentage of holdings he sold in late April when he thought the market was overvalued. Nor would he see how many shares he's bought back. ''Leadership companies'' that include Microsoft Corp., the No. 1 software company, are poised to benefit from the stock market's next rise, he said.

To: rachel who wrote (4600)	6/7/1999 6:53:00 PM
From: Anthony Wong	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11568

Wireless Spectrum Gets Broadband Interest Cable World June 7, 1999 By Joshua Cho Telecommunications companies last week jumped on the wireless bandwagon with MCI Worldcom Inc., Qwest Communications International Inc., Microsoft Corp. and John Malone's Liberty Media Group, all making investments in companies that work with wireless spectrum, which could be used to offer a number of different broadband services to customers. MCI Worldcom said that it would pay $1.8 billion in stock and debt for paging company SkyTel Communications Inc. At an analysts meeting to discuss the acquisition, MCI CEO Bernard Ebbers said, "It's a great opportunity for us. It's a foundation to deploy other wireless services." The acquisition follows on roughly $200 million of unconfirmed investments by MCI in the incongruously named wireless cable operators CAI Wireless Systems Inc., People's Choice TV Corp., Wireless One Inc. and CS Wireless Systems Inc., which have all filed for bankruptcy protection. In yet another deal, Qwest Communications and a group of high-tech investment funds said last week that they would pump $251 million into Advanced Radio Telecom (ART) Corp. - a wireless broadband Internet service provider - to help accelerate the deployment of ART's high-speed wireless network. As part of that deal, ART will provide Qwest with broadband local wireless capacity and Qwest will be ART's exclusive provider of network backbone. ART currently offers wireless Internet services to businesses in Seattle, Portland, Ore., and Phoenix, metropolitan areas. ART plans to build wireless high-speed networks in 40 of the top 50 metropolitan-area markets over the next two years. Combined with Qwest's network, the companies say they'll be able to provide broadband services to over half of all U.S. businesses. Another wireless broadband provider, Reston, Va.-based Nextel Communications Inc., said last week that it had received a $600 million investment from Microsoft, which represents a 4.25% stake in the company. Nextel said it would use the money to advance the deployment of Nextel Online, a wireless Internet service. The company also said it would develop additional unspecified services and expand its presence in other countries where it operates, including Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Japan. Also last week, Liberty said it was buying The Associated Group Inc., which has interest in communications-related businesses, including a 41% stake in broadband wireless services provider Teligent Inc., among other businesses. In a prepared statement, Liberty president/CEO Robert Bennett said, "The Associated transaction is a unique opportunity for Liberty. It allows us to obtain an attractive investment in the very exciting and rapidly growing business of Teligent." Analysts had mixed reactions to the current interest in wireless spectrum. "These companies recognize that the wireless spectrum for the last mile has a place in the future," said Bank of America LLC telecommunications service analyst Rex Mitchell. "I think it's happening now but like any other evolving technology, it's not going to happen overnight." But some analysts, like Legg Mason Precursor Group's Scott Cleland, saw the wireless plays as strategic moves. "This is more about warehousing spectrum for the future than it is a signal that fixed wireless is going to take off in the near future," Cleland said. "It's a wise strategic move to keep your options open. When good real estate opens up, you grab it." But Bank of America's Mitchell said he sees the wireless spectrum helping telecommunications companies to expand their respective footprints at a lower cost than with land-based technology. One niche that Mitchell sees wireless spectrum filling is in the "donut" surrounding metropolitan areas. "If MCI has a footprint of fiber facilities in a certain geographic area, it's cheaper to extend that footprint with wireless than with fiber," Mitchell said. MCI said last week that it would use a combination of high-speed, copper phone line-based DSL technology, wireless and MMDS satellite technology in order to offer bundled long-distance and local telephone along with high-speed Internet access, similar to what AT&T Corp. plans to offer through the coaxial cable infrastructure of the former Tele-Communications Inc., and potentially MediaOne Group Inc., systems. (June 7, 1999) cableworld.com:80/Articles/News99/1999060705.htm