Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Netscape -- Giant Killer or Flash in the Pan? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gary neil baurer who wrote (3809)	7/11/1998 11:54:00 PM
From: chirodoc	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4903

Andreessen buys into e-commerce By Tim Clark Staff Writer, CNET NEWS.COM July 10, 1998, 5:25 p.m. PT SANTA CLARA, California--Netscape Communications is likely to acquire at least one e-commerce company to round out its own software offerings, particularly for specific industries like financial services, cofounder Marc Andreessen told a group of venture capitalists and investment bankers today. ÿÿLIVE stock quoteÿÿDelayed 20 minutesÿÿNetscape Communications Corp.ÿÿNSCP36.8125+0.34%ÿÿFor more details, go to NEWS.COM Investor.ÿHowever, any acquisition is likely to be coordinated with a shift of marketing and other resources to vertical industries like government or financial services, Andreessen said in a NEWS.COM interview. In addition, this also won't happen for at least several months and perhaps two years. "We have historically done acquisitions to build up a product family, and that will continue," added Andreessen, who is now Netscape's executive vice president in charge of products and marketing. "In the next 12 months, we will focus in e-commerce, and there are certainly a lot of exciting companies with point products or bells and whistles. We might want to drop those into the product family." Netscape's new focus on consulting and professional services could lead to an acquisition, too. "We continue to be limited by the supply of trained people," he noted. Mike Homer, who runs Netscape's Netcenter Web portal, suggested the company might make acquisitions in the online area, "buying revenues, services, or members" to reach Netcenter's goal of being the top site on the Net by January 1, 2000. "We don't believe we can get there with a completely consumer strategy or a completely business strategy--you need both," added Homer, Netcenter's general manager, elaborating on a $10 million consumer marketing push announced earlier this week. In general, Netscape has used acquisitions to broaden its business faster than it would on its own. Last month, Homer said the company was looking to partner with major media companies to position Netcenter to compete more effectively with popular Internet services such as Yahoo. Andreessen and Homer represent the two prongs of Netscape's strategy, one in enterprise software and the other in publishing as a "business portal." The company believes it can tie the two sides together, using Netcenter to promote customers that buy Netscape e-commerce software. A key to the Netcenter side is to integrate new browser software with services on its Web site; Homer said new features will be unveiled next week. He added that a beta version of Navigator 4.5 will be released this month, with a version 5.0 moving into beta by year's end. Netcenter personalization, called My Netscape, will be designed as a personal Web desktop that lets users run applications like an address book stored on the Net, not simply as a personalized news ticker. Online trading communities to buy and sell business products will be rolled out over the next six to nine months, Homer predicted. Andreessen also said that the enterprise applications business will move more heavily into services and outsourcing over the next three years for companies that use software but don't want to run it themselves.