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Technology Stocks : INFOSEEK (GO) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: shag007 who wrote (5534)	5/1/1998 3:29:00 PM
From: Narotham Reddy	Respond to of 9343

SEEK Seems to Be Top Contender In Heated Contest Over Netscape Site By KARA SWISHER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Infoseek Corp. appears to be the leading contender in a closely watched contest to create a new search engine for Netscape Communications Corp.'s popular Web site, people familiar with the matter said. A Netscape spokeswoman said the Mountain View, Calif., company hadn't made a definitive choice and that discussions continue with a wide range of Internet players. But the people familiar with the situation said the software company is in serious negotiations with Infoseek over a deal that would create a search service using Netscape's brand and tie the two companies together in other ways. Netscape could garner more than $25 million a year from Infoseek, own parts of Infoseek's technology and perhaps take an equity position in the company, they said. Word about a potential deal drove Infoseek's shares up 4.1% in heavy trading Thursday. The stock rose $1.3125 to $33.625 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading, while Netscape closed on Nasdaq at $27.3125, down 87.5 cents. But other potential deals remain in the offing. Netscape is still in talks with companies such as Excite Inc., Lycos Corp. and Inktomi Corp. about the role each could play in the reconfiguration of its Netcenter site, ranging from providing information to licensing software tools to paying multimillion-dollar fees for links to their sites from Netcenter, these people said. Not everyone is still talking, though. Executives at the Internet's top search and directory company, Yahoo! Inc., have said they are unlikely to do any "work for hire" for Netscape and may not even purchase a position on Netcenter's search page, which Yahoo has done for several years. One industry executive said Netscape has been seeking terms difficult for some potential partners to accept, including equity stakes, control over branding and long-term rights to search-engine technology. "I am not sure why in the world you would do that," he said. "Why would you want to give them your crown jewels?" The Netscape spokeswoman declined to discuss potential terms. Infoseek also declined to comment. "Netscape has been evaluating all the search vendors, but it is only part of the many variables," said David Peterschmidt, Inktomi's chief executive officer. "They are building a complex model that is not going to be a one-shot approach and will include a lot of relationships." Industry executives say one of the reasons Infoseek might want to do just such a deal is that it is a distant contender in the race to become a major destination on the Internet. A partnership with Netscape, whose Web site is one of the most trafficked on the Net, would raise its profile while giving Netscape access to search and directory expertise it lacks. Speculation over the fate of Netcenter has been brewing since Netscape officials determined in recent months to turn the site into a major revenue generator. It is part of the greater flurry of activity -- a series of talks, acquisitions and strategic moves -- over which players will become the key "portal" sites on the Web. Stocks of potential portal sites have leaped in recent weeks amid signs of rising customer traffic and advertising revenues. Major media companies, such as News Corp., Walt Disney Co. and Time-Warner Inc., also are talking with search and directory companies to reach larger Web audiences. At a speech to the Society of American Business Editors and Writers in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Tuesday, for example, Disney Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Eisner caused a stir by saying that Disney plans to be "aggressive competitors on the Internet as you enter the Internet." Mr. Eisner later denied that Disney was angling to buy a major Internet portal, saying that it is "highly unlikely" that the company would make a sizable acquisition.