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Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (12826)	10/12/1999 11:16:00 PM
From: Obewon	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 28311

Personally, I think all you guys arguing about Go2Net's lack of advertising are missing the point of management's strategy. Advertising is the largest single cost to all of the major Internet content providers. Small start-ups without established customer bases must spend tens of million to try and establish themselves. This is required because most content is "non-sticky", meaning that it doesn't cause people to come back time after time. Go2Net's business is designed to maximize stickiness. It doesn't NEED to spend/waste millions in advertising yet has become a top ten (Media Metrix) or top 20 (Neilsen NetRatings) site. Now many of you argue that additional advertising would increase GNET's market presence and cause the stock to rise which helps out us shareholders. You're forgetting a fundamental truth in that it isn't management's top priority to increase the stock price (as much as it IS nice and they DO have incentives to drive them to do this). Their job is to build the business and increase the earnings stream to shareholders. Too many Internet businesses are run under the mistaken belief that profitability doesn't matter so their business models are build on a premise of spending. This is all well and good until the flow of capital stops and they plummet back to earth. GNET has a stock price high enough to buyout many strategic partners that can help the business. Other larger partners can be taken out by GNET allies like Vulcan Ventures, Charter, etc. for eventual integration into the "family" of complementary companies that PA is building. Obewon