Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Internet Capital Group Inc. (ICGE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: still learning who wrote (1222)	2/2/2000 1:16:00 PM
From: Sam Citron	Respond to of 4187

Very good question. To the extent that SFE is a holding company, all they need to do is to see that their portfolio is prudently diversified and is outperforming a relevant benchmark index. To the extent that they are a VC, they must continually harvest their more mature companies and reinvest in foundlings. ICGE, of course, is not a traditional company (being both diversified and consisting in a portfolio of emerging nets), and has some resemblance to SFE. This poses a bit of a dilemma for investors, who must determine whether they want to invest in SFE or ICGE, or both. The incestuous relationship also poses certain unavoidable conflicts of interest between SFE and ICGE. The answer to your question of what SFE should do with ICGE depends mainly on their opportunity cost and cost of capital. While they need to be concerned with the signal value that share sales might convey, hopefully they can educate the market that such sales should be viewed as normal sales of shares by insiders, i.e., prudent diversification, and do not reflect a lack of confidence in the enterprise. In any case, they will be very sensitive to market conditions. Sam