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Ok, here we go with the two articles again:
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The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition -- June 9, 1998
Digitcom Caters to Its Fans
On Internet Message Boards
By CARRIE LEE
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL INTERACTIVE EDITION
Lots of companies attract a fanatic following on on-line message boards.
Digitcom is taking that a step further: It has created something akin to
a fan club, and its stock is responding to the fervor.
The tiny company, which is developing an Internet telephony business, is
making unusual efforts to reach out to on-line investors. A Digitcom
executive recently fielded questions in an Internet "chat" session
suggested and arranged by an on-line fan. Executives regularly keep
track of the chatter on on-line message boards, and the company has
launched an e-mail newsletter.
Digitcom has good reason to cater to on-line investors. The Santa
Monica, Calif., company's stock jumped as high as 8 last month from just
30 cents in February, when the stock first showed up on Internet message
boards. Digitcom has slipped from its high, but the stock was still
quoted at 6 5/32 Monday on the OTC Bulletin Board service.
Nearly 20,000 postings have been made since February to four message
boards that are dedicated to the stock on the Silicon Investor Web site
(www.techstocks.com). Postings have proliferated on the Yahoo! Web site
(quote.yahoo.com) as well, where Digitcom discussions have appeared on
about two dozen message boards that are dedicated to other companies.
Some on-line fans of Digitcom on the Silicon Investor site have taken to
calling themselves "Rocketeers," a reference to the heights they expect
the stock to reach.
"Some people would think that we are behind this hype, but we have not
initiated contact with any of these people," says Jimmy Chin, chief
executive of Digitcom. "They have called us and we have answered them."
"Some people would think that we are behind this hype, but we have not
initiated contact with any of these people. They have called us and we
have answered them."
-- Jimmy Chin, Digitcom chief executive
Digitcom has used some nontraditional methods to reply. Roger Templeton,
vice president of communications, last month fielded questions from
investors in an Internet chat that was put together by one of the most
active participants in the Digitcom message boards. The on-line investor
had planned to informally moderate the event, but things became too
chaotic for that when about 130 people crowded into the session.
In an on-line chat, a group of users communicate via computer in
real-time. Users type a message or question on their computer keyboard
and it is displayed almost instantly on the computer screens of everyone
in the group. If not moderated, a chat session among a large number of
people can quickly deteriorate into confusion as scores of participants
post messages simultaneously.
The Digitcom chat session was hosted by Delphi Internet Services (
www.delphi.com), a Web-based service featuring everything from serious
business discussions to teen and sex chat.
Digitcom's e-mail newsletter was an offshoot of the chat session,
created as another way to communicate with on-line investors. Mr.
Templeton says employees of Digitcom don't participant directly in
on-line message boards, but he says he and Mr. Chin monitor the chatter
to keep tabs on investors' concerns.
Want to receive an e-mail alert when Heard on the Net columns are
published? See details on how to subscribe.
Mr. Chin acknowledges the impact that on-line chatter has had on
Digitcom's stock in a message sent out in the first installment of the
company's newsletter. "I know that Digitcom's involved stockholders have
helped insulate us from some of the ups and downs that many bulletin
board companies endure," he wrote.
But despite the loyalty of on-line investors, analysts remain cautious
about Digitcom's prospects. For all of its efforts to communicate with
the Internet crowd, the company has released little financial
information. Digitcom has posted only a handful of financial data for
1997, and it hasn't released any earnings numbers since then. A
spokesman says updated information will be released within the next
several days.
Because its stock trades only in the over-the-counter market, the
company doesn't have to meet the rigorous requirements to report
financial information that it would face if its stock traded on one of
the major exchanges or the Nasdaq Stock Market. No analysts on Wall
Street formally cover the company. Digitcom says it is preparing an
application to list its stock on Nasdaq's SmallCap market.
"It's highly speculative," says Steve Harmon, an analyst at Internet
Stock Report, an on-line publication of Mecklermedia. "[On-line
investors] get behind something. They talk it up. They are willing to
believe in it. I'm not a believer. I haven't seen enough to make a
decision."
The company says it posted a profit of $292,585, or two cents a share,
on revenue of $777,195 in 1997. It attributed its profit to sales of
voice mail products, a business it has run since the company was formed
in 1986. It hasn't begun any commercial operations in the Internet
telephony arena.
On-line investors "get behind something. They talk it up. They are
willing to believe in it. I'm not a believer."
-- Steve Harmon, an analyst at Internet Stock Report
Digitcom plans to break into the Internet telephony market through
partnerships with telephone companies in emerging markets in Southeast
Asia, the Middle East and Russia, for instance. Emerging markets like
these are particularly anxious to get technical help as they open up
their markets for the first time, says Mr. Templeton.
The company also plans to acquire several small long-distance carriers
in the U.S. into which the overseas operations will connect. "We're
engaged in several serious negotiations," says Mr. Chin. Once the
foreign and U.S. units are established, they will market to consumers in
their respective countries, and Digitcom will act as a holding company.
Mr. Templeton says Digitcom plans to use a stock offering or debt issue
to finance the U.S. carrier purchase. "[We're] looking for targets that
don't require a great deal of cash up front ... and are doing in the
neighborhood of $15 million to $30 million in revenues per year," says
Mr. Templeton. He didn't identify any targets.
Last fall, the company raised $880,000 in a private sale of stock.
Digitcom has a total of 18 million shares outstanding, and 6 million of
those shares are in the hands of the public. Mr. Chin controls about
10.5 million restricted shares, and additional 1.5 million are held by
other insiders.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Write to Carrie Lee at: carrie.lee@news.wsj.com
Return to top of page | Format for printing
Copyright c 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*******
Dow Jones Newswires -- June 9, 1998
Digitcom Finds Loyal Fans On Internet Message Boards
By CARRIE LEE
Dow Jones Newswires
The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Lots of companies attract a fanatic following on
on-line message boards. Digitcom Corp. (DGIV) is taking that a step
further: It has created something akin to a fan club, and its stock is
responding to the fervor.
The tiny company, which is developing an Internet telephony business, is
making unusual efforts to reach out to on-line investors. A Digitcom
executive recently fielded questions in an Internet "chat" session
suggested and arranged by an on-line fan. Executives regularly keep
track of the chatter on on-line message boards, and the company has
launched an e-mail newsletter.
Digitcom has good reason to cater to on-line investors. The Santa
Monica, Calif., company's stock jumped as high as 8 last month from just
30 cents in February, when the stock first showed up on Internet message
boards. Digitcom has slipped from its high, but the stock was still
quoted at 6 5/32 Monday on the OTC Bulletin Board service.
Nearly 20,000 postings have been made since February to four message
boards that are dedicated to the stock on the Silicon Investor Web site
(www.techstocks.com). Postings have proliferated on the Yahoo! Web site
(quote.yahoo.com) as well, where Digitcom discussions have appeared on
about two dozen message boards that are dedicated to other companies.
Some on-line fans of Digitcom on the Silicon Investor site have taken to
calling themselves "Rocketeers," a reference to the heights they expect
the stock to reach.
"Some people would think that we are behind this hype, but we have not
initiated contact with any of these people," says Jimmy Chin, chief
executive of Digitcom. "They have called us and we have answered them."
Digitcom has used some nontraditional methods to reply. Roger Templeton,
vice president of communications, last month fielded questions from
investors in an Internet chat that was put together by one of the most
active participants in the Digitcom message boards. The on-line investor
had planned to informally moderate the event, but things became too
chaotic for that when about 130 people crowded into the session.
In an on-line chat, a group of users communicate via computer in
real-time. Users type a message or question on their computer keyboard
and it is displayed almost instantly on the computer screens of everyone
in the group. If not moderated, a chat session among a large number of
people can quickly deteriorate into confusion as scores of participants
post messages simultaneously.
The Digitcom chat session was hosted by Delphi Internet Services
(www.delphi.com), a Web-based service featuring everything from serious
business discussions to teen and sex chat.
Digitcom's e-mail newsletter was an offshoot of the chat session,
created as another way to communicate with on-line investors. Templeton,
vice president of communications, says employees of Digitcom don't
participant directly in on-line message boards, but he says he and Chief
Executive Chin monitor the chatter to keep tabs on investors' concerns.
Chin acknowledges the impact that on-line chatter has had on Digitcom's
stock in a message sent out in the first installment of the company's
newsletter. "I know that Digitcom's involved stockholders have helped
insulate us from some of the ups and downs that many bulletin board
companies endure," he wrote.
But despite the loyalty of on-line investors, analysts remain cautious
about Digitcom's prospects. For all of its efforts to communicate with
the Internet crowd, the company has released little financial
information. Digitcom has posted only a handful of financial data for
1997, and it hasn't released any earnings numbers since then. A
spokesman says updated information will be released within the next
several days.
Because its stock trades only in the over-the-counter market, the
company doesn't have to meet the rigorous requirements to report
financial information that it would face if its stock traded on one of
the major exchanges or the Nasdaq Stock Market. No analysts on Wall
Street formally cover the company. Digitcom says it is preparing an
application to list its stock on Nasdaq's SmallCap market.
"It's highly speculative," says Steve Harmon, an analyst at Internet
Stock Report, an on-line publication of Mecklermedia. "[On-line
investors] get behind something. They talk it up. They are willing to
believe in it. I'm not a believer. I haven't seen enough to make a
decision."
The company says it posted a profit of $292,585, or 2 cents a share, on
revenue of $777,195 in 1997. It attributed its profit to sales of voice
mail products, a business it has run since the company was formed in
1986. It hasn't begun any commercial operations in the Internet
telephony arena.
Digitcom plans to break into the Internet telephony market through
partnerships with telephone companies in emerging markets in Southeast
Asia, the Middle East and Russia, for instance. Emerging markets like
these are particularly anxious to get technical help as they open up
their markets for the first time, says Templeton.
The company also plans to acquire several small long-distance carriers
in the U.S. into which the overseas operations will connect. "We're
engaged in several serious negotiations," says Chin. Once the foreign
and U.S. units are established, they will market to consumers in their
respective countries, and Digitcom will act as a holding company.
Templeton says Digitcom plans to use a stock offering or debt issue to
finance the U.S. carrier purchase. "[We're] looking for targets that
don't require a great deal of cash up front ... and are doing in the
neighborhood of $15 million to $30 million in revenues per year," says
Templeton. He didn't identify any targets.
Last fall, the company raised $880,000 in a private sale of stock.
Digitcom has a total of 18 million shares outstanding, and 6 million of
those shares are in the hands of the public. Chin controls about 10.5
million restricted shares, and an additional 1.5 million are held by
other insiders.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Briefing Book for: DGIV
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Copyright c 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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