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Technology Stocks : CMGI What is the latest news on this stock? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Richard Spitzer who wrote (351)	4/14/1998 10:19:00 PM
From: Doug (Htfd,CT)	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 19700

Rich asked: "what accounted for the slide from 50 to 10 throughout 1996?" I consulted my handwritten notes and print-outs in my folder on CMGI (which I first bought in 1995). The following is believed to be reasonably accurate, but is not warranted to be accurate or complete. In 1995, many were following the rapid rise of "Internet stocks." An October 23, 1995 article in Forbes entitled "Here Come the Spiders" featured Lycos, which was sold (with its key search-engine technology developed by Carnegie-Mellon University) to CMG @Ventures. Further research disclosed that in February of 1994, CMG developed a web browser for little investment, which it sold to AOL for a block of hundreds of thousands of shares of AOL stock. For the year ended July 31, 1995, it reported $5.01/share in earnings on discontinued operations (it apparently decided not to compete with NSCP et al in the business of web browser development). This $5/share earnings was a jump from prior income of 46 cents per share (1994) and 38 cents per share (1993), and caused a bit of attention to little (4.4 million shares then outstanding) CMGI, especially when one found that the balance sheet still carried AOL shares and other investments valued at $12/share and it was selling in the 20s and 30s (it has since split 2/1 so that would be the teens in today's dollars). The stock started rising (see the five year chart at quote.yahoo.com, and accelerated in the last three months of 1995, to the nineties (split-adjusted 40's), closing around $90.75 on 12/5 when it announced its sale of the remainder of its AOL stake for $30.6 million cash (about $6/share of CMGI). This was the high-water mark for CMGI for a while. Look at a five-year chart, and you'll see that it ceilinged against $90 for a few weeks, and about the time the stock split 2/1, insiders started filing Form 144 notices of intent to sell. On 1/29/96, Dawson-Samburg announced that it had cut its stake in CMGI from 9.8% to 5.9% by selling 171.5 thousand shares from 1/2-22/96 at prices ranging from $56 to $93. On March 6, the quarterly earnings report showed an operating loss of 27 cents, much different than the $2.57 (split adjusted) profit of the year before. Other insider and fund share announcements of sales followed as CMGI's price drifted down. On May 23, 1996 Internet World's Steve Harmon wrote "Mission Plausible? ... CMG @Ventures Declassified" and it was published at iworld.com (its gone now ... I checked). In that article, Harmon explained in detail CMGI's history and potential and concluded with the worlds "The way we see it, the mission impossible here could be Wall Street's lack of homework on this one." On October 22, 1996 this thread was begun by Don Jeanblanc. Thank you Don, whereever you are, I hope you are well and prosperous. By 10/25/96 one could purchase CMGI shares for $10. On December 10, 1996, Don posted to this thread, at Message 532997 Microsoft's announced intention to buy NetCarta from CMGI for $20 million and to buy CMGI stock on the open market. CMGI's quarterly report disclosed around March 6, 1997 that Microsoft paid $14.50 for 470 thousand shares on 1/31/97. On March 24, 1997, over one year ago, CMGI shares could still be bought for $12.125. At the end of May, 1997, CMGI announced its share dividend program, and intention to dividend 1 share of LCOS per 16 shares of CMGI as of June 5, retaining 50% of LCOS. On August 29, 1997, The Motley Fool carried CMGI as its Daily Double, reviewed the above history and more, and concluded on a bullish note. CMGI was trading in the mid-twenties. On December 8, 1997, The Motley Fool's "Fool on the Hill" Investment Opinion by Randy Befumo reported the purchase by Intel of 4.9% of CMGI and called it "the Safeguard Scientifics of the online world, over the past two years CMG Information Services has turned itself into the best-known, publicly traded venture capital firm specializing in online properties." CMGI crossed the $30 threshold in January 1998. In less than three months since then, it has tripled in price. Who says the market is efficient? Doug Net Nuggets: Thoughts on ECommerce at dougsimpson.com