To: Sarkie who wrote (1720 ) 9/22/1999 6:58:00 PM From: Sarkie Respond to of 2553
Then how about this for news. MERRILL LYNCH LAUNCHES SINGLE SECURITY REPRESENTING 20 INTERNET STOCKS NEW YORK, Sep 22, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated today announced the launch of Internet HOLDRs(SM), an innovative security representing investors' undivided beneficial ownership interest in the common stock of 20 specified companies that are involved in various segments of the Internet industry. 3,766,700 Internet HOLDRs were priced for initial sale to the public today at an aggregate offering price in excess of $400,000,000. Trading of Internet HOLDRs under the symbol "HHH" begins Thursday, September 23, on the American Stock Exchange. Newly issued Internet HOLDRs will be available on a continuous basis. "The HOLDRs(SM) investment platform is designed to provide investors with a flexible, cost-effective way to diversify their investment in a particular industry through a single, exchange-listed security," said Steve Bodurtha, First Vice President and Senior Director of Merrill Lynch's Customized Investments Group. Internet HOLDRs are depositary receipts issued by the Internet HOLDRs Trust, for which The Bank of New York acts as Trustee. Unlike a mutual fund or UIT, Internet HOLDRs represent an investor's undivided beneficial ownership interest in 20 of the largest and most liquid companies in the Internet industry measured by market capitalization and trading volume. An investor may obtain Internet HOLDRs by purchasing them on the American Stock Exchange or by depositing with the Trustee the required share amounts of the 20 underlying Internet stocks and paying an issuance fee of up to $0.10 per HOLDR to the Trustee. Investors also may cancel their HOLDRs by presenting them to the Trustee and paying a cancellation fee of up to $0.10 per HOLDR to the Trustee in return for delivery to the investor of the 20 Internet stocks represented by the HOLDRs. The issuance and cancellation of HOLDRs is not a taxable event, and this mechanism will provide investors with investing and trading flexibility. Internet HOLDRs, which can only be traded, issued, and canceled in round-lots of 100 HOLDRs, are the first registered U.S. security to represent investors' undivided ownership rights in other U.S. securities. "In many ways Internet HOLDRs represent a break-through for investors," said Bodurtha. "Through HOLDRs, investors will be able to invest in and trade a variety of companies at costs that are expected to be lower than investing through other vehicles." In July of last year Merrill Lynch launched its first HOLDRs product, Telebras HOLDRs (NYSE: TBH), with an initial market capitalization of more than $4.68 billion. Telebras HOLDRs represent investors' interests in 12 separate American Depositary Receipts. Since its inception, TBH has traded on average more than 1.7 million shares per day. The specific share amounts underlying each round-lot of 100 Internet HOLDRs are set forth in the chart below. The share amounts set forth below should not change except for changes due to corporate events such as stock splits or reverse splits on the underlying securities or reconstitution events. Company Name Ticker Share Amounts America Online Inc. AOL 21 Yahoo Inc. YHOO 13 Amazon.com Inc. AMZN 9 eBay Inc. EBAY 6 At Home Corp. ATHM 17 Priceline.Com Inc. PCLN 7 CMGI Inc. CMGI 5 Inktomi Corporation INKT 3 RealNetworks, Inc. RNWK 4 Exodus Communications, Inc. EXDS 4 E*TRADE Group Inc EGRP 12 DoubleClick Inc. DCLK 2 Ameritrade Holding Corp. AMTD 8 Lycos, Inc. LCOS 4 CNET, Inc. CNET 4 PSINet Inc. PSIX 3 Network Associates, Inc. NETA 7 EarthLink Network, Inc. ELNK 2 MindSpring Enterprises, Inc. MSPG 3 Go2Net, Inc. GNET 1 Merrill Lynch is one of the world's leading financial management and advisory companies with total client assets of approximately $1.5 trillion. As an investment bank, it is the top global underwriter and market maker of debt and equity securities and a leading strategic advisor to corporations, governments, institutions, and individuals worldwide. Through Merrill Lynch Asset Management and Merrill Lynch Mercury Asset Management, wholly owned subsidies, the company is one of the world's largest managers of financial assets.