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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Gerald Walls who wrote (3439)	10/7/1999 10:13:00 PM
From: Sir Auric Goldfinger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

Webvan; Most interesting, I had nopt read that. Thank you.

To: Gerald Walls who wrote (3439)	10/12/1999 4:47:00 PM
From: Sir Auric Goldfinger	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 19428

Chekc this out, the saga continues: "Webvan Urges Investors to Disregard Comments Made by Own CEO. Webvan Group Inc., seeking to repair fallout from publicity on its pending stock sale, advised potential investors to disregard recently published comments by George Shaheen, the company's new chief executive. The comments appeared this month in Forbes Magazine, one of several publications to write on Webvan's widely anticipated stock sale. The online grocer, established by Louis Borders, co- founder of the Borders bookstore chain, expects to raise as much as $325 million through an initial public offering. Webvan delayed the IPO last week after the Securities and Exchange Commission raised questions about the publicity, a potential violation of restrictions on companies hyping their own stocks. In an unusual move, Webvan updated its IPO documents to include some of the published information and to disavow responsibility for the articles, a move that could help the company obtain SEC clearance to sell shares. ``I'm a little hurt,' Dennis Kneale, an executive editor of Forbes magazine, said as a joke. ``I notice they didn't say he (Shaheen) didn't say it -- I guess they just kind of wish he hadn't.' Shaheen left his job as chief executive of Andersen Consulting to assume the same position at Foster City, California- based Webvan, according to a news release issued last month. In the Forbes article, he said that ``Webvan was all about leveraging technology and reinventing the grocery business, just as Andersen had reinvented consulting.' SEC Clearance Such statements could be construed by the public as a plug for Webvan prior to SEC clearance of the registration statement for the IPO. The touting of stocks prior to SEC approval is known as ``gun-jumping,' and is prohibited by securities laws. Webvan said in today's filing that these and other comments by Shaheen weren't intended to be relied upon by potential investors. The company also said in the prospectus that Andersen Consulting and Webvan are much different companies and shouldn't be compared. ``You should not rely on the information in the Forbes article or on any other information not contained in this prospectus,' Webvan said in the SEC filing. Webvan also cautioned investors not to heed company financial projections published in an Oct. 6 article by ``a securities industry Internet periodical.' This most likely is a reference to TheStreet.com, which ran a story earlier this month describing projections that Webvan gave out in a conference call with prospective investors. The company noted that Adam Lashinsky, author of the TheStreet.com piece article, ``was not invited to participate in the conference call.' Further, the article presented the information in isolation and didn't include related risks and uncertainties that often accompany financial projections, according to the filing. Earnings Projections SEC rules bar companies from providing written information to investors outside of a prospectus until the document gets regulatory clearance. However, the agency does allow companies to hold ``road shows' in which they provide oral information, such as earnings projections, to institutional investors. ``If a reporter sneaks into the road show and writes an article about projections, then the SEC would attribute those statements to the company and require a cooling-off period,' said Richard Rowe, a securities attorney at the Washington, D.C. office of Proskauer Rose LLP. The projection in question -- that Webvan would have a loss of more than $300 million in 2001 -- was provided on the conference call by a representative of Goldman, Sachs & Co., the lead underwriter for the stock sale. Goldman officials didn't immediately return telephone calls seeking comment. According to today's filing, the Goldman representative estimated that Webvan would have a net loss of $302 million for the year 2001 on about $518 million of revenue. Goldman also estimated that Webvan would have a $154.3 million net loss on $120 million of revenue next year. Compensation Factor However, such projections didn't take into account future write-offs for stock-based compensation that Webvan has awarded its executives, according to the SEC filing. The company plans to deduct some $124 million from earnings over a four-year period to account for stock and options awarded to executives such as Shaheen, according to the filing. Webvan also noted that the projections are subject to a number of uncertainties, such as the timing and roll-out of distribution centers that Bechtel Corp. is building for Webvan throughout the country. Other factors that could impact such estimates includes the volume and size of customer orders, market penetration and competition. A Webvan official declined comment. Forbes Magazine and TheStreet.com compete with Bloomberg News in providing business and financial information to the public."