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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (69119)	7/23/1999 9:32:00 AM
From: Eric Wells	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 164684

From todays TheStreet.com: Junglee Execs Said To Be Cashing Out of Amazon By Aaron L. Task Senior Writer 7/22/99 9:57 PM ET SAN FRANCISCO -- Testimony from Alan Greenspan, perceived to be hawkish by Wall Street, and earnings disappointments delivered a blow to tech stocks and bonds today, but blue-chips escaped without serious damage. (For more, see today's Market Roundup .) Take the Money and Run In early August 1998, Amazon.com (AMZN:Nasdaq) paid about $112 million (based on the 1.6 million shares of the stock -- of course -- used as currency) to acquire Junglee, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based developer of Shop the Web technology. Barely a year later, Junglee co-founders Rakesh Mathur and Ram ShriRam, are reportedly leaving or planning to leave the online bookseller with some serious Internet-era wealth, according to sources familiar with situation. According to Amazon.com's S-3 filing of Sept. 30, 1998, Mathur received options of 175,899 shares and ShirRam 110,274 at the time of the acquisition. Incorporating a 3-for-1 stock split last January, those shares would theoretically be worth $56.6 million and $35.5 million, respectively, based on today's closing price of 107 3/16. I say "theoretically," because I can't say for certain if all the shares have vested and it's possible they've both earned more since the deal was done. Moreover, I highly doubt both executives opted out of the entire stakes TODAY -- although maybe that contributed to Amazon.com's 14.5% decline. All of this, of course, assumes they are indeed leaving the company. And if that is the case, we're talking about serious money in any regard. The person who answered a call to Mathur's office gave me a cell phone number, which I summarily (and with my fingers) punched up. Mathur, general manager of Shop the Web at Amazon, answered. I explained who I was and why I was calling. He chuckled heartily -- but did NOT deny he's leaving -- and asked if he could call me back tomorrow. Apparently, he was in a meeting (perhaps with his financial adviser?) and couldn't discuss this matter. Obviously, I'll let you know if he calls. At press time, neither ShriRam, a vice president of business development, nor Amazon.com's public relations department had returned calls seeking comment. Meanwhile, the Shop the Web product "has been discontinued" at Amazon, according to a source with knowledge of the situation, although the Web page remains. "The supporting staff has been re-assigned to other projects within the company," the source said. TSC columnist Adam Lashinsky who's far-better versed in the ways of Silicon Valley and its ilk than this reporter, notes it's not unusual for executives of small tech companies bought out by big ones to cash out after a year or so with the acquiring company, unless they're given a "key role." Maybe so, but did Amazon.com flush shareholder money down the toilet by paying big bucks to the developers of a technology it has since abandoned? Did Amazon.com fail to do proper due diligence before it made the acquisition? And does Mathur's departure have anything to do with the cold response he got when he wore a dress in an attempt to spoof CrossWorld's Katrina Garnett? Inquiring minds want to know.