To: Rational who wrote (5547 ) 1/2/1998 6:04:00 PM From: Rational Read Replies (2) | Respond to
Yahoo! declares the risk to shareholders (excerpted from SEC Filing of Nov 5, 1997): The market for Internet products and services is highly competitive and competition is expected to continue to increase significantly. There are no substantial barriers to entry in these markets, and the Company expects that competition will continue to intensify. competition with other media for advertising placements, could result in significant price competition and reductions in advertising revenues. competition from providers of software and other Internet products and services that incorporate search and retrieval features into their offerings. For example, Web browsers offered by Netscape and Microsoft, which are the most widely used browsers, incorporate prominent search buttons and similar features, such as features based on "push" technologies, that direct search traffic to competing services, including those that may be developed or licensed by such parties. selling Web-based advertising and the available inventory of advertising space have increased substantially during recent periods. Accordingly, the Company may face increased pricing pressure for the sale of advertisements and reductions in the Company's advertising revenues. The Company depends substantially upon third parties for several critical elements of its business including, among others, technology and infrastructure, content development and distribution activities. The Company supplements its Internet directory listings with full-text Web search results provided by AltaVista, a division of Digital Equipment Corporation ("Digital"), under a non-exclusive agreement. The Company believes that these search results provide a key competitive element for its Internet navigation services. The Company therefore depends substantially upon ongoing maintenance and technical support from Digital to ensure accurate and rapid presentation of such search results to the Company's customers. In addition, any termination of the agreement with Digital or Digital's failure to renew such agreement upon expiration could result in substantial additional costs to the Company in developing or licensing replacement technology, and could result in a loss of levels of use of the Company's navigational services.
