go2net, Inc. Completes Acquisition of Silicon Investor
PR Newswire - June 24, 1998 08:16
go2net Now Owns Top Sites in Financial Discussion, Metasearch, Java
Multiplayer Games
SEATTLE, June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- go2net, Inc. (Nasdaq: GNET), a
network of premier niche Web sites, today announced the closing of its
acquisition of Silicon Investor (http://www.techstocks.com), the
most popular financial discussion site on the Web. The acquisition,
valued at approximately $35 million in stock, establishes go2net as
the Web leader in financial discussion and information.
"Silicon Investor is a perfect fit for go2net. It is the top Web site
in one of the most popular and commercially significant categories on
the Web," said Russell C. Horowitz, go2net CEO. "With premier offerings
in the finance, multiplayer games, metasearch, and comparison shopping
categories, go2net continues to establish itself as an innovator on
the Web.
go2net's users, shareholders, advertisers and commerce partners will
benefit from the addition of Silicon Investor, and the Silicon Investor
community members will benefit from the increased resources go2net
plans to commit to Silicon Investor."
Silicon Investor joins go2net's portfolio of leading sites, and will
eventually be integrated with go2net's popular StockSite to provide a
comprehensive one-stop finance and investment resource. go2net also
includes MetaCrawler, the most popular metasearch service on the Web,
WebMarket, the comparison shopping source, and PlaySite, the top Java
multiplayer games site.
The acquisition of Silicon Investor by go2net dramatically increases
go2net's advertising and commerce opportunities by offering advertisers
and commerce partners a highly desirable, active-investor demographic,
and also provides the Company with a proven subscription-based revenue
stream. Traffic on the go2net network of Web sites has risen to over
180 million page views and over 5 million unique users per month.
go2net also today announced the launch of its new corporate Web site,
at (http://www.go2net.com/).
Terms of Acquisition
The value of the acquisition is approximately $35 million in go2net
stock. Silicon Investor becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary of go2net
with Jeff Dryer and Brad Dryer continuing to manage the site.
Jeff and Brad Dryer are the co-founders of Silicon Investor. They have
been recognized by Institutional Investor magazine as being among 20
pioneers who are revolutionizing finance on the Web.
About go2net, Inc.
go2net, Inc. (http://www.go2net.com) offers a network of technology-
driven, premier niche Web sites, and develops software. go2net's
properties include: Silicon Investor (http://www.techstocks.com), the
Web's largest financial discussion site; StockSite
(http://www.stocksite.com), which offers proprietary articles,
portfolio tracking tools, company research and news relating to
business and finance; MetaCrawler (http://www.metacrawler.com), a
search/index guide that combines various existing search/index guides
into one service (a "metasearch engine"); WebMarket
(http://www.webmarket.com), a one-stop comparison shopping service;
and PlaySite (http://www.playsite.com), a Java-based multiplayer
online games site. The Company's go2net Labs division develops
innovative technologies for use on the go2net sites, and for licensing
to other Internet companies.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve
risks and uncertainties, including those relating to the company's
ability to grow its user and advertiser base and the ability to
successfully integrate Silicon Investor into the Company's operations.
Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted and
reported results should not be considered as an indication of future
performance. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among
others, the Company's extremely limited operating history, the
competitive environment in which the Company competes, the early stage
of the Web as an advertising medium, the Company's dependence on
advertising revenues and the Company's dependence on strategic
relationships to drive traffic to its Web sites. More information
about the potential factors that could affect the Company's business
and financial results is included in the Company's Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 1997, and quarterly reports
on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 1997 and March 31,
1998, which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SOURCE go2net, Inc.
/CONTACT: Jennifer McLean of Insync Communications, 503-412-3642, or
jenniferm@insync-pr.com, for go2net, Inc.; or Kirby Winfield of go2net,
Inc., 206-447-1595, or kirby@go2net.com/
/Web site: go2net.com
(GNET)
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