PART II Select Discourse with CMG_CEO (Gotta Love it!) :-)
Reply to Momentumguy CMG_CEO (43/M/Wetherell) Aug 8 1998 10:17PM EDT
Q: What about making a new class of shares for CMGI that are more expensive, but would give those shareholders the right to buy into the IPO's? The current CMGI shares wouldn't have those rights, but would remain cheaper and more liquid. I would compare it to Berkshire Hathaway Class A & B shares as an analagous situation (although no rights offerings exist). A: Great idea. I have to say we've considered literally dozens of options, but we have not looked at this. I will look into it. I still have some concern over the IR related to it, as we have not builty out that function at CMGI quite yet. BUT, looking longer term, it has appeal - kind of the best of SFE and Thermo Electron. Regards, David ---
CMG_CEO RagingBull.com (an Adsmart client) _Urlman_ Aug 8 1998 10:19PM EDT
A company such as RagingBull ...Investor Message Board looks like they could use some venture capital.... looks like a great upstart to me.... ragingbull.com Much better message board than Yahoo's.... Just as good as Silicon Investor's (except for some lack of participation) just have a look @ it... it's your client ;-) Cheers, Urlman
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Reply to Zen CMG_CEO (43/M/Wetherell) Aug 8 1998 10:26PM EDT
Q: David, what are YOUR feelings on Amazon? Is it a keeper? My thoughts run to potential synergies - any plans? I would assume you plan to keep just enough interest to allow for such synergies, as cash could definitely be used investing in "unexplored" territories - especially at AMZN's present valuation. A: AMZN is a great phenomenon of the web. Of course, it is not a book store, it is a distribution channel (thank you, Paul Merenbloom) and budding portal, and they are beginning to build out both, hence their recent acquisitions and the addition of music and videos. As for our plans with our AMZN stock, we cannot comment on that, as I'm sure you can appreciate, but we cannot sell any until October anyway. On the internet, I guess that makes us a long term investor. ;) I can say I think the valuation can be justified based on their positioning, rate of growth, quality of service, and reach, but it's not exactly what we look for in @Ventures. Thanks for your question, Zen. Regards, David
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CMG_CEO : some of my research _Urlman_ Aug 8 1998 10:28PM EDT
LCOS Shares Outstanding = 18.5M ( SOURCE = biz.yahoo.com ) CMGI beneficial owner of 3,720,235 as of 30-Jun-98 ( Source: biz.yahoo.com ) CMGI is beneficial owner of approximately 20% LCOS (assuming my numeros add up) ? --- Geocities has a much larger internet presence ("brand name recognition") than Broadcast.com Here is my research that I just conducted at my favorite (and the best) Search Engine, Altavista (note both searches done in all lowercase altavista.digital.com ) geocities.com (didn't include a search on GCTY Japan..oops!) About 1,771,691 matches were found. broadcast.com About 4207 matches were found. ----- ENJOY! GEOCITIES THEME SONG (REAL AUDIO REQUIRED TO LISTEN) geocities.com
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Reply to Urlman CMG_CEO (43/M/Wetherell) Aug 8 1998 10:37PM EDT
Comment: CMGI Venture Dividend Program ....hope we see this program continued with GCTY Reply: The Venture Dividend Program was designed to stimulate attention/interest in our model. We were failing in communicating it to the market a little over a year ago when we initiated it, and our stock price showed it. However, it is not tax efficient to have such a dividend (e.g. CMGI gets taxed and you the investor gets taxed). In addition, when we announced the LCOS distribution, initially, it tanked LCOS share price (people anticipating the subsequent sale of LCOS shares) and in turn, CMGI share price since we owned so much LCOS. Things did turn, though, and now that we are getting recognition for our model. However, I suspect, we will not be using such tax inefficient methods to convey our story. Sorry. I, being a CMGI shareholder, would enjoy some GCTY shares myself, but it's just not tax efficient. Instead, I like Momentumguy's idea of a second class of CMGI shares that would be able to participate in the IPO's of our successes. What do you think about that? BTW, there are tax efficient structures that would eliminate the double taxation (without representation), but they would be confusing to the market. As stated in a previous reply, we are always striving to simplify our story. Thanks for your question. Regards, David
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Hope I didn't embarass myself there _Urlman_ Aug 8 1998 10:45PM EDT
Altavista Research I did about 2 weeks ago .... great search engine..... Lycos is of course the best "Web Portal"! Cheers :-) Urlman
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Urlman's diggin' CMG_CEO (43/M/Wetherell) Aug 8 1998 10:46PM EDT
Urlman: I appreciate your ability to dig out the articles and your unique ways at arriving at your views. I will differ with you on one thing. I think HotBot (Inktomi) is a better search engine than Altavista. (still more GeoCities hits than BCST). Keep the good research coming. D
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Lots of appeal, CMG_CEO, Momentumguy Aug 8 1998 10:46PM EDT
David, It would better than the best of SFE & Thermo Electron because the quality of companies under your nuturing is significantly better, in my opinion. There's also a unique side benefit you may see. I think these new shares would engender such an "esprit de corps" among those new shareholders that could be quite exciting. What I mean by this is that those investors and institutions that hold the shares would become "hunter-gatherers" for you. Some would seek hot, new leads and developments for you because if CMGI invested in their ideas, they would ultimately be able to own shares of the IPO. A built-in profit motive for he shareholder, and a built-in acquisition team that you don't pay a single cent to for giving you leads. Besides the proceeds from another offering could be partially used to beef up the IR department. Whoa, I need another microbrew. :-) Mo'
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Reply to Momentumguy CMG_CEO (43/M/Wetherell) Aug 8 1998 10:50PM EDT
Great post. If that's what Microbrew does to you, drink heavily (but safefy first). D
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Reply to all / webinfopro CMG_CEO (43/M/Wetherell) Aug 8 1998 11:00PM EDT
Have to sign off for now. Thanks for the questions/comments/suggestions. All great stuff. Net later, David p.s. webinfopro - you're too sceptical to be an investor in net stocks. It really is me, and my lawyers are cool. I wouldn't say anything I wouldn't mind seeing in the morning papers. Besides the web is better than the morning papers. It's now.
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David webinfopro (M/NY) Aug 8 1998 11:07PM EDT
I teach an introduction to the internet course and I teach people to be sceptical of what's on the web. In this century, there have been scams for more complex than convincing people you are who you say you are. As a visionary and one of the truly great leaders of the revolution, you should appreciate my skepticism. Establishing truth from fiction is the webs biggest problem for our society in the future. The reliability of your websites will in the long run determine if they succeed or fail. Feel free to email me at sumner@webinfopro.com as is done all over the web to confirm identify. It can sound like a fish, smell like a fish, swim like a fish and not be a fish. Weby
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final reply: yumadison CMG_CEO (43/M/Wetherell) Aug 8 1998 11:11PM EDT
Q: BTW, do you mind telling us a a little bit about your background as a CEO of CMG. I heard that you were a math major in college, how did you get into the business of internet venture cap.? A: I was a programmer/software developer after college. I started my first software development company in '82 (Softrend), raised $3.3 MM of venture capital, and sold the company to another software company in 1984. In 1986, I did an LBO of CMG, when it was just a mailing list software company. Why? First: I wanted to spend more time with my kids (software development took too much time away from them). Second: Direct marketing and database publishing appealed to me and CMG's customers for their lists were over 4,000 publishers (the folks with the content). Then, I watched for electronic publishing standards to emerge and when the Berners-Lee came up with the WWW, I convinced our board (in 1993)to move in the direction of the web. (Thank you Mr. Berners-Lee) The web is the greatest medium so far for direct marketing. Thanks for your question. Regards, David |
