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To: Mark Fowler who wrote (9044)	7/6/1998 4:25:00 PM
From: tonyt	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

WSJ: Lycos's Split Gives Net Stocks Another Reason to Skyrocket An INTERACTIVE JOURNAL News Roundup Lycos announced a 2-for-1 stock split Monday, setting off an explosive rally in Internet-related stocks. In afternoon trading, Lycos was up 11 13/16, or 15%, to 90 7/8 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Meanwhile, "portal" leader Yahoo! was up 20 1/8, or 12%, to 193, while retailer Amazon.com soared 13, or 10%, to 137, both on Nasdaq. Lycos's board approved a 2-for-1 stock split payable to shareholders of record on Aug. 14. The company said the split is subject to shareholder approval of an increase in the number of authorized shares. After the stock split, there will be about 38 million common shares outstanding. Coming on the heels of sharp gains in recent weeks, Monday's increases left many on Wall Street scratching their heads. "The Internet stocks are obviously making moves that are not based on anybody doing arithmetic," said Robert Herwick, president of Herwick Capital Management. "Arithmetic and rationality need to impose themselves someday ... but today is not that day." Mr. Herwick said much of Monday's gains are the result of short squeezes since short interest in many of these names has jumped since these stocks "have moved so far so fast." In a short squeeze, investors who borrowed stock, hoping to buy it back at a lower price, are forced to cover their losses when the stock price rises. Lycos's announcement of the stock split also helped "trigger excitement" Mr. Herwick added. A number of major Internet companies, including Excite, EarthLink Network and MindSpring Enterprises, have all announced stock splits in recent weeks as their shares have hit new highs. Among other Internet stocks, shares of Inktomi, a company that licenses search and caching technology, were up 17 3/4, or 37%, at 65 3/4 on Nasdaq. The company went public at $18 a share last month. Hambrecht & Quist initiated coverage of the stock with a "buy" rating early Monday. Shares of USWeb, which develops applications and Web sites for electronic commerce, intranet and extranet applications, were up 4 1/16, or 16%, at 29 3/16 on Nasdaq. Even companies without significant Internet operations were higher. Zapata gained 6, or 61%, to 15 7/8 on Nasdaq after the company said it had purchased part or all of 21 Web sites and has opened its own "portal" site. Zapata said it will split its cyberspace operations from its fish protein and sausage-casings businesses, creating two publicly traded entities (see article). Also, Audio Book Club continued to soar, rising 6 1/8, or 64%, to 53 1/4 and leading the American Stock Exchange's most-actives list. The stock has more than tripled in the past three sessions since the marketer of audio books announced that it is gaining 4,500 new members a month over the Internet (see article).