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Technology Stocks : Internet Search Engines - The New Conglomerates? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TFF who wrote (73)	4/25/1998 11:36:00 AM
From: TFF	Respond to of 165

NEWS - Red Herring sees NSCP/InfoSeek likely deal By Peter D. Henig April 24, 1998 The Red Herring Online has learned that Infoseek is holding a companywide meeting on Monday -- and with speculation rife that Netscape (NSCP) will forge stronger links with a single search partner, it's likely that a deal is on the agenda in the search engine's Santa Clara headquarters. Netscape's existing contracts with the major search engines -- Yahoo, Excite, Lycos, and Infoseek -- are expiring. While the company has stated it's in active negotiations with all four partners, Dow Jones has reported that Netscape will make an exclusive deal with -- and take an equity stake in -- a single search partner to power its Netcenter portal to the Web. No. 2 with a bullet While Netscape and Yahoo (YHOO) have a longstanding relationship, Yahoo's lead in the online audience make it unlikely the two traffic titans will score a deal. Although Lycos (LCOS) and Excite (XCIT) remain viable options, Infoseek appears to be the most likely choice for several reasons. Infoseek's stock remains the most reasonably priced among the search engines, and therefore in an all-stock or partial-stock transaction, has the greatest room to appreciate. The company has also just completed a secondary offering of 3 million shares to better position the company's cash reserves for acquisitions and partnerships. Inside sources at Infoseek have confirmed that there is a company goal to increase monthly pageviews by 100 million this year -- a sizable increase that would have to come through outside traffic deals. Chief Executive Officer Harry Motro also told the Red Herring Online that he's made it his company's mission to jump into second place behind Yahoo by the end of 1998 -- and landing all of Netscape's Netcenter search traffic would make that goal easier to reach. The Red Herring Online has also learned that Infoseek and Netscape will be announcing deals with AT&T (T) to play some role in their respective Web sites. Infoseek sources also claim another acquisition is in the pipeline similar to its recent purchase of community chat service Webchat Broadcasting System. Infoseek's earnings also offered some surprises.