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Non-Tech : Secret Squirrels hit! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Trumptown who wrote (6395)	9/3/1999 8:22:00 PM
From: Tom Swift	Respond to of 12872

Soon, keep an eye on it. To: +Scott Williams98 (9630 ) From: +Scott Williams98 Friday, Sep 3 1999 8:14PM ET Reply # of 9632 New CKFR news today... Friday September 3 7:48 PM ET Online Biller CheckFree Seeks More Net Partners By Gilles Castonguay NEW YORK (Reuters) - CheckFree Holdings Corp. is in talks to offer its online billing services through several major Internet companies, including America Online, in an effort to expand its reach in a business that could be worth half a billion dollars in the next couple of years, analysts said Friday. CheckFree, which recently signed a deal with Internet media network Yahoo! Inc., is likely to announce the new partnerships before the end of the year, the analysts said. In an interview Thursday, CheckFree's chief executive acknowledged the discussions. ''We're talking to all the remaining portals,' said Pete Kight. However, Kight did not elaborate on the talks, apart from saying that he was encouraged by their progress. An America Online spokesman could not be reached for comment. Portals are Internet destinations that provide Web searches, news, e-mail, and other services. Yahoo, America Online's AOL.com, Microsoft Corp.'s (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) MSN, and Lycos Inc. (Nasdaq:LCOS - news) are some of the most popular ones. ''America Online could be something that could happen,' said Stephen Olson of Pacific Growth Equities. Yankee Group analyst Paul Hughes said CheckFree's strategy was to get as much exposure as possible. ''If you lock yourself in to one portal, you are not going to maximize your transaction volume,' he said. ''America Online would be a prime opportunity -- and it would not come as a surprise.' CheckFree, which lets utilities and other companies send bills and collect payment through the Internet, is set to offer its service through Yahoo! in the next few months. Kight said Yahoo already had 25 billers lined up for the service through its network. A Yahoo! spokeswoman declined to provide details. The Yahoo deal is the first arranged by CheckFree with an Internet portal. Previously, CheckFree linked the biller, the bank, and the customer. Market penetration for online billing is still relatively low, according to Yankee Group's Hughes. An estimated 4.5 percent of U.S. households that own a personal computer paid bills online in 1998. Goldman Sachs analyst Lori Appelbaum sees a huge market potential for online billing because it saves time and money. ''It is estimated that 70 percent of U.S. mail is generated from bills, and an estimated $10 billion is spent annually to print bills and process payments,' she said in a July report. Appelbaum estimated the initial revenue potential at about $500 million within the next couple of years. But not every bank has signed up with CheckFree. Chase Manhattan Corp., First Union Corp. (NYSE:FTU - news), and Wells Fargo and Co. are setting up their own online billing system, called Spectrum. Based in Atlanta, Ga., CheckFree has deals with about 70 billers such as BellSouth Corp. (NYSE:BLS - news) and more than 60 banks and other entities like broker Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE:SCH - news) . Kight said he saw its subscriber rate growing by about 20 percent per quarter for the rest of the calendar year, the same rate at which it had grown during the last two quarters. ''We think we'll have 5 million users by the end of the fiscal year by June,' he said, referring to people who pay their bills over the Internet. At the end of the company's fiscal year ended June 30, CheckFree had nearly three million users. CheckFree's stock closed up 1-9/16 to 31-15/16 Friday. END A little exposure like this can't hurt... Best of luck SCOTT ------ Previous \| Previous \| ------ \| Respond \| Quotes - 100-Day Chart - News - Profile - Earnings - Discussion - Web/Info View SubjectMarks Bookmark this Subject CheckFree (NASDAQ: CKFR) Time: 4:00PM Last Trade 31 15/16 Change + 1 9/16 (+5.14%) Bid 31 7/8 Ask 31 15/16 Volume 0695,0000 Prev.Close 30 3/8 Open 31 1/4 Day Range 30 13/16 - 32 1/4 Last Tick 0Down0 Avg.Volume 01,459,9000 52-week range: 5 3/4 - 69 1/8