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Technology Stocks : CMGI What is the latest news on this stock? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 45bday who wrote (9710)	6/10/1999 10:16:00 PM
From: Jenne	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 19700

CMGI Misses Third-Quarter Estimates, but Launches New Unit By George Mannes Staff Reporter 6/10/99 9:56 PM ET Internet investment company CMGI (CMGI:Nasdaq) disclosed a larger-than-expected third-quarter loss but sweetened that news with the disclosure Thursday night that it has launched a majority-owned subsidiary that may turn out to be one of its big revenue generators. In a conference call, CMGI CEO David Wetherell also announced plans for two forthcoming venture capital funds and a plan to give CMGI shareholders a chance to buy into subsidiaries that the company takes public. CMGI, which has stakes in more than 40 companies involved with the Internet, says the new majority-owned subsidiary will enable clients to assemble a mixture of products and services from multiple companies in the CMGI portfolio. The new firm, which Wetherell declined to name, already has a staff of 52 employees and a CEO (whom Wetherell didn't identify). The new company will be in the same line of business as companies such as USWeb/CKS (USWB:Nasdaq) that provide Internet design and tools, Wetherell said. The new company could go public in 2000, he added. Wetherell said CMGI would launch the two additional venture capital funds in the next 10 months or so, as a follow-up to the current CMG@Ventures III fund and its predecessors. The CMG@Ventures IV fund will invest in early-stage Internet companies, Wetherell said, and could quadruple the size of the $280 million @Ventures III fund. A subsequent fund, which CMGI has publicly contemplated for several months, will focus on later-stage companies. For the quarter ended April 30, CMGI reported revenue of $43.7 million, up from $18.1 million one year earlier. But it lost $27.8 million, or 30 cents a share, compared to a gain of $7.9 million, or nine cents a share, one year earlier. This quarter's loss was wider than the First Call consensus for a 13-cent loss, but analysts on the call didn't seem to mind. (Nor were they completely sure of themselves: The estimates from the seven analysts surveyed by First Call had an unusually wide spread, ranging from a gain of 2 cents to loss of 25 cents.) CMGI's appeal of late has been less its operational results and more the value of the stakes it holds in public and private companies. The value of the company's marketable securities in companies such as Lycos (LCOS:Nasdaq), the newly public Critical Path (CPTH:Nasdaq) and Silknet Software (SILK:Nasdaq), is $1.6 billion, according to CMGI -- a number that Wetherell said he hopes will grow "by a significant multiple" over the next year.