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

To: Obewon who wrote (17666)	3/20/2000 9:00:00 PM
From: jon zachary	Respond to of 28311

Yahoo poster gives breakdown of Annual Shareholders Meeting. messages.yahoo.com Thought other GNET longs might be interested in reading the bull's minutes from the GNET Annual meeting,... Subject: GNET Annual Meeting Date: 3/17/00 Place: Bell Harbor Int'l Conf Cntr, Seattle, WA - Meeting began @ 9:10 am - Russ H. first introduced GNET officers in the audience to the shareholders (Note to Russ H: Next year,...please,...have all the officers sit together on the 1st row and stand as you say their names. The bull darn near got whiplash trying to crane around to find them in the audience!!) - Went thru the proxy voting instructions and procedures for: 1) Election of Directions - All APPROVED 2) Ratify GNET Stk Option Plan - APPROVED 3) Ratify selection of KPMG - APPROVED - Formal business was completed, and Russ H. started in on shareholder presentation of year's accomplishments and strategic focus going forward. - Presentation about state of the company: 1) 1600% stk appreciation; company is cash flow positive; financial position is very strong. 2) Key to success is GNET's ability to exploit scalable proprietary systems & technology in the following areas: Metasearch engines (Metasearch, Dogpile, etc.) Personal finance ( SI & NDB relationship) Games (family games; Playsite & Hasbro relationship) Small biz services (Hypermart) 3) Enabling services - partnerships have allowed to company to improve & enhance it's competitive position: Broadband Partners (Vulcan partnership) Authorize.net payment gateway Hasbro's Games.com (utilizes GNET's infrastructure) Allegiancetelecom, Inc.(customized corporate portal) Nat'l Discount Brokers (developing & licensing a co-branded version of SI financial discussion boards; NDB has over 200K accnt holders) 4) GNET has Substantial Operating Leverage & Profitability - profit margin 2nd only to Yahoo (GNET Gross Margin = 83.2% as of 12/31/99) - GNET continues to see tremendous momentum in earnings potential - Goal is still 50/50 split between Advertising/Subscriptions revenues; GNET should get to 50/50 by year end; currently split is 63/37 - Cash flow positive; Zero LT Debt - Operations spin-off cash, so GNET's got flexibility wrt what deals it can do. - GNET mgmt is very focused on profitability. - Hypermart can be a launch pad for lots of deals (no specifics given) - Russ H. then opened the floor for questions from the audience: Q1: What new marketing initiatives will GNET undertake? A: "Not spending a lot of cash," and "Staying profitable," are primary goals for the company right now. GNET wants to most bang for it's buck in terms of the mktg it does; currently expecting to spend 2x-3x more on mkt; looking for an ad agency now, and should finalize selection soon. Q2: What's GNET's strategy for moving into int'l markets? A: GNET focused domestically last year, but this year will begin building a biz plan for int'l. Casey ??, formerly employed w/ Nike, was hired as Int'l Mktg Director last fall. Casey owns the int'l biz plan. Directionally, GNET's focused on Asia. Q3: Has GNET thought about doing affiliate programs for SI to minimize mktg expenses? A: Very few credible partners are in the space, but deals like NDB help minimize acquisition costs of new GNET customers. GNET will seek to do more deals like the NDB deal. Q4: Will SI go to a free service, since advertising represents the majority % of revenue (vs. subscription revenues)? A: GNET mgmt wants to keep subscription rates in place to keep-out riff-raff and pump & dump posters. GNET believes subscriptions increases accountability and help maintain quality control. Q5: Is GNET beta-testing a wireless portal? A: GNET is testing several wireless platforms internally to determine the best methods for making GNET content wireless-compatible. The wireless strategy will be disclosed shortly. GNET mgmt thinks the potential exists to create private-label wireless portals. In terms of the exactly timing of a wireless announcement, it will be in the "short-term", meaning within the next 12 months. GNET is being careful not to get caught up in the Press Release hype of "wireless". Q6: Will additional email enhancement be forthcoming through CommTouch, the email service provider? A: CommTouch email service will come out w/ additional enhancements. CommTouch has been a wonderful investment for GNET. The investment basis in CommTouch is $13 million, and that holding is currently worth $90 million. Q7: GNET's annual report states that GNET does not have a disaster recovery plan. What is the current status of GNET's disaster recovery efforts? A: GNET does indeed have a disaster recovery plan in place, but the company's attny's required that the wording found in the 10-K be used. The legal wording wrt risk disclosures makes it sound worse than it is, and takes into consideration a worst-case scenario. GNET has co-location w/ Internap, and Internap has a rigorous redundancy plan in place. Q8: What GNET's view of the penetration rates of broadband moving fwd? A: Due to confidentiality agreements GNET has w/ its broadband partners wrt their projected roll-out rates, specific numbers can't be provided. Nonetheless, Paul Allen is totally committed to having as rapid a roll-out as possible in broadband services. And PA is investing in cable companies for the broadband capability. And GNET is about broadband, not about cable. Over the next 5 years Paul Allen's cable companies will deploy over 10 million set-top boxes (1.6 million users currently). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q9: Is a stock split in GNET's future? A: A split may be in GNET's future, and inasmuch as it increases liquidity for trading in the stock, GNET will do a split. Q10: Not much was mentioned about HSAC in the presentation or comments from GNET mgmt. Are they still a partner? A: Yes. HSAC participates in the Broadband partnership. Q11: What's GNET's position wrt venturing w/ other partners beyond HSAC? Are there plans to enter into broadband agreements with, for example, Excite@Home and/or RoadRunner? A: GNET has exclusive, long-term contracts with Paul Allen's cable properties (no specifics given), but in the very long term GNET mgmt expects to go after relationships w/ other broadband access providers like Excite@Home, RoadRunner and any other major player. - GNET "Trillionaires Club" presented Russ H. and all GNET mgmt w/ a really cool plaque. It was a funny, heartfelt token of investor appreciation. That's all the bull saw and heard. Comments/corrections from others at the meeting would be appreciated. bulls_make_money