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To: craig crawford who wrote (20007)	10/5/1998 9:40:00 AM
From: llamaphlegm	Respond to of 164684

Morning Report Mon Oct 05 eMailbag: OnSale, ebay, Broadvision, Web Ads By Steve Harmon Senior Investment Analyst Internet.com "Where Wall Street Meets The Web" Any investor who wants to peer into the Internet as an opportunity should understand the moving and shaking at Fall Internet World. No one place, one time, one moment gathers the best and brightest of the Internet like Mecklermedia's (NASDAQ:MECK - news) trade show and conference, the world's largest, which opens today in New York City's Javits Center and runs through Friday. While the Internet industry deals with Websites, email, groupware, virtual communications, commerce, software, hardware of every facet, Fall Internet World brings the people who make it all happen together to get a glimpse of the future. More than 50,000 people will see, gaze, gawk, hawk their wares in every area the Internet represents. It is the pulse of the industry manifest. Yours truly will be on hand there all week and will bring some of the best of the show to you in Internet Stock Report, the hot companies debuting, the hot stocks, the products that may rock Wall Street and venture capital way. And now, emailbag Monday. First reader up this week writes: "Steve, I have enjoyed your insightful perspective on the evolving Internet stock industry. Very insightful; Kudos! Question: What is your prognosis for the local advertising industry with regards to the Digital Cities, Sidewalks, and City Search. What percentage of the traditional mediums will shift their local advertising dollars to the local online site. Any thoughts on their sales forces, i.e. size, revenue carried per rep, that will be involved carrying off this shift in advertising dollars would be useful. Again, terrific commentary and assessments, and I look forward to your insight." Reply: Local newspaper ad revenue in the U.S. (and globally) makes up the lion's share of a more than $40 billion newspaper ad revenue stream. The total ad revenue by all mediums surpasses $100 billion. In the past I've been conservative about the percentage that may migrate to the Web, about 3% or 4% of all ad expenditures. Or $3 billion to $4 billion ad sales annually on the Web. However, I believe that a hybrid ad approach is emerging: TV-Web; newspaper-Web; radio-Web, etc. so that any given ad in any medium (movies, too) will include a Web reference or Web component. Determining what part of future ad buys are "Web" vs. the rest in that scenario may prove difficult since the ad will be both. And traditional media firms partner with Web firms to offer both so that a company like CitySearch teams up with the Sydney Morning Herald to offer Web-based info. Partnerships will increase in that space since the local newspaper or TV franchise also has the systems in place to gather, sift and sort information but needs a Web-savvy partner to produce the online outlet. The person selling the ad package in the future will sell print and Web or TV and Web as part of the agreement. Holding that back are sales forces unfamiliar with the Web, its metrics, its customs, etc. You're also seeing ad networks replace the traditional ad sales team. A firm like Doubleclick (NASDAQ:DCLK - news) can turn on the ad spigot anytime you want, or 24/7 (NASDAQ:TFSM - news) can do similar. Software, the Internet, and instant distribution produce instant ad flow. The future? perhaps the future of all ads for all mediums, software indexing ad placement requests and delivering them to ad outlets via the Internet based on profiling, space, availability, pricing, demographic, customer, cost, reach and more. Hooks, not nets. Onsale Automatic "A comment on you OnSale comment. It was indeed tiring to keep tabs on bids at OnSale. But, they have a new "autobid" feature, which allows you to have a ceiling on your bids. The computer then keeps you automatically updated at the lowest possible bid (upping by the minimum increment) as new bids come in. If bids exceed your preset maximum, then your bid evaporates. This has worked well for me, as I know what I'm willing to pay. Incidentally, the maximum can be updated if you choose." Reply: We've always been a big fan of Onsale's (NASDAQ:ONSL - news) commerce model, one we think superior to Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN - news) in many ways. The autobid is a big improvement for people with better things to do than monitor their bids all day long. Like Amazon has expanded, we expect Onsale to start thinking more as a meta site for all things on sale. ebay "Read your article today on your 1998 Stock picks... As far as eBay's longevity, my suspicion is that it will work until they screw it up...as far as the cost, it's free (your operative word) to buyers, and sellers keep with it because of results...I've done about a dozen deals there (half as a seller), mostly on items from $100-$600, and I've not had a bad deal yet...everything I've wanted to move has sold. I'll often list an item there BEFORE trying it on a free service, just because the results are usually so favorable.... Don't factor out the "cult factor" of eBay." Reply: ebay's (NASDAQ:EBAY - news) done a great job of pioneering the Web-based personal auction. It appears to have critical mass in users and items. It will be tough for rivals, even Yahoo-Onsale (which just teamed up for personal auctions), to dislodge ebay's forefront status in its niche. Whether or not ebay is a $1 billion company remains the debate. We think ebay could move more than $500 million in merchandise this year and more than $1.5 billion next year. If ebay's share of the gross keeps in line with current percentages that could translate into $40 million to $100 million in net revenues. In that scenario we're willing to believe in a 10x multiple or $1 billion market cap for EBAY. If it cannot hold onto the percentages in a freebie war then anything can happen, multiples may tumble. Envisioning The Fall "Love your daily articles. Very informative and useful to me! :) I trade exclusively with Internet stocks and have made a tidy profit for myself. But it was very disappointing to see what has happened to Broadvision. How can one of the most stable Internet stocks on your index and one of the very few to make a profit drop from 19 to under 11 in just a few days??? I bought at 17 and thought that was a bargain! It dumbfounded me, especially since there was absolutely no negative press releases concerning the company. Even Pehong Chen said in a statement after the drop off, "There have been no material changes in the company's products, plans or business prospects." Can you shed some light on this matter???" Reply: Internet Stock Report September 22 discussed Open Market (NASDAQ:OMKT - news) vs. Broadvision (NASDAQ:BVSN - news) . We highlighted estimated trading multiples for both which showed BVSN at 10x estimated revenue and OMKT at 5x. We think a gap may have been present one way or another. fnews.yahoo.com

To: craig crawford who wrote (20007)	10/5/1998 9:40:00 AM
From: llamaphlegm	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

Sunday October 4, 3:53 pm Eastern Time Market Correction May Not Be Over By CHET CURRIER AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- If fretting about the gyrations of the securities markets is starting to wear on your nerves, sit back for a moment and think about the positive things the Wall Street tumult is accomplishing. Interest rates are coming down, lowering the cost of borrowing for everybody from individual home buyers to the federal government. The speculative fever so many commentators worried about in stocks has cooled considerably. Dividend yields sank too low? Well, now they're moving up. Whoever was operating under the delusion that they couldn't lose in stock investments can't make that reckless presumption anymore. Admittedly, this happy talk is small consolation to somebody who bought Citicorp (NYSE:CCI - news) stock for $180 a few months ago and now sees it trading for $95. Or to investors who have experienced a 20 percent to 50 percent contraction in the value of their Asian, or Latin American, or emerging markets, or small-company growth funds. More than a few observers argue that the corrective process is far from over. For example, a stock like Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN - news), whose price rests entirely on hopes for the future rather than any present earnings or dividends, still trades at more than five times its 12-month low. Norman Fosback, editor of the advisory letter Market Logic, says a price-earnings ratio for blue chip stocks that has come down only from 30 to 1 to 27 to 1 or so still looks perilously high. ''We expect the market slide has further to go, both in magnitude and duration,'' Fosback writes. ''But happily, the first portents of the next upleg are beginning to emerge.'' For one thing, Fosback notes, corporate insiders -- top executives, directors and major owners -- ''have gone on a buying spree -- in fact, they are now buying at the heaviest rate since the market lows in late 1987 and late 1990.'' In a related, and especially telling development, partners at one of Wall Street's most respected investment banks, Goldman, Sachs & Co., have put off plans for a public offering of stock. Rather than viewing this is as a vote of no confidence in the markets, some observers see it as merely a patient, prudent decision by a savvy group of investors. Now is not a good time to be selling, their message seems to say -- we'll be back later when we will be able to get a better price. In times of stress in the markets, many people look to prominent individuals and institutions for signs of strong leadership. But most government officials and regulators would be quick to tell you they have very little power to steer the markets. A great clamor has surrounded last week's decision by the Federal Reserve to lower the interest rate on overnight loans between banks by a quarter of a percentage point, to 5.25 percent. But the impact of that action was more symbolic than anything else. Other interest rates, set by market forces, had already gone down much more sharply, and kept falling afterwards. Late last week, yields on all Treasury securities, from three-month bills to 30-year bonds, were below 5 percent. Whatever the Federal Reserve may do, the world's markets for debt securities are already easing credit conditions in a forceful way. The financial and economic outlook at the moment seems filled with instabilities. Investment managers can't open their mail these days without reading a recession forecast. But the markets, while appearing to exacerbate the atmosphere of anxiety, may also be making important moves toward restoring stability. As Greg Smith, strategist at Prudential Securities, told investor-readers of his market bulletin last week, ''Now that you're worried, I'm a little less so.'' biz.yahoo.com

To: craig crawford who wrote (20007)	10/5/1998 9:45:00 AM
From: llamaphlegm	Respond to of 164684

Monday October 5, 9:24 am Eastern Time Company Press Release Global Media Releases Financing Details and Outlines Franchising Strategy for Direct Competition with Amazon.com and CDNow NANAIMO, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 1998--Global Media Corp. (OTC BB:GLMC) (http://www.globalmediacorp.com/) will offer a complete end-to-end franchise/licensee opportunity to third party Internet marketers as one of its key competitive focuses in targeting the established players such as Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN - news) and CDNow (Nasdaq:CDNW - news). More sophisticated than the affiliate programs currently offered by its competitors, Global Media's licensing program will allow businesses to enter the online entertainment distribution market for CDs and videos without having to invest in the sophisticated back-end infrastructure already completed by Global Media. Michael Metcalfe, president and founder of Global Media issued this statement to the media, shareholders and the investment community: ''The franchising component of Global Media's competitive strategy will help thrust a smaller company into this market with a proven business concept, the franchise, which has yet to be fully developed on the Internet. Similar to the web site franchising of virtual communities, the number of franchisees is unlimited and depending on the marketing dollars committed to by licensees, the incremental revenue potential is absolutely astronomical. If you could just image hundreds of Internet retailers as well as major 'bricks and mortar' businesses using our program to expand their markets...the numbers are staggering.'' Winston V. Barta, vice president of Marketing & Business Development for Global Media stated that: ''Global Media's business-to-business turnkey solution gives marketers a unique front-end web site allowing their customers to complete the purchase experience with the marketers site and build their own brand name.'' Traditional affiliate programs, see N2K's Music Boulevard (Nasdaq:NTKI - news), also to be offered by Global Media, link into the franchise owners' site. The greater marketing commitments provided by licensees will translate into exponentially larger direct revenues and wholesale volume discounts for Global Media. ''While this will not be Global Media's only competitive tool, franchising significantly addresses the market penetration issue in dealing with established competition,'' said Barta. Metcalfe also stated that ''Global Media also understands the importance of aligning itself with major players in the music and film industries...'' and alluded to the fact that these relationships are already being pursued. Global Media wishes to re-iterate its focus on both music and movies as viable products to profitably retail online as well as its confidence that its superior franchise/licensing program will attract the numbers of business-to-business clients required to compete successfully against the established Internet retailers. Global Media's CEO Robert Fuller also pointed to the emerging market of online digital music sales, ancillary products such as concert tickets, entertainment merchandise, magazine subscriptions as well as advertising revenue as significant additional sources of revenue that will ensure Global Media's profitability. When asked if Global Media would consider carrying books in addition to its current inventory of CDs, videos, and DVDs, Metcalfe responded by saying, ''If Borders (NYSE:BGP - news) and Barnes and Noble (NYSE:BKS - news) can sell books on the Internet, what's to stop Global Media? However I would be surprised if these companies are not now taking us very seriously, especially with this style of marketing and the financing that will be in place.'' Mary Missal, senior managing director of F.M.C. Capital, fmccapital.com, said: ''We at F.M.C. Capital are 100% behind what we believe to be a brilliant program that allows a complete network to be built over the Internet using the franchise model as the catalyst for expanding revenues worldwide.'' Missal added, ''This allows Global to substantially expand its revenues without having to spend the incremental marketing dollars.'' F.M.C. Capital has entered into an non exclusive agreement with Global Media to fill its $6 million private placement offering consisting of 4 million units at $1.50 per unit, each unit consisting of one share of common stock and one warrant at $3 expiring Sept. 30, 1999. This financing will be used for completion of the web site, integration of the various back-end components and initial marketing. An additional financing for $50,000,000 is planned for further marketing of both the web site and to establish Global Media as the premiere Internet franchiser online entertainment retailing and distribution businesses. Employing cost effective marketing strategies, Global Media is well positioned to take advantage of the emerging online music sales industry already being targeted by K-Tel (Nasdaq:KTEL - news) using download and encryption technology such as that provided by Liquid Audio (http://www.liquidaudio.com). Global Media is also positioning itself for online video download sales using high speed Internet access technologies such as those being pioneered by At Home (Nasdaq:ATHM - news). According to analysts, revenues from online shopping will exceed $6 billion this year, with projected sales reaching between $37 and $41 billion in 2002. Market research firm Jupiter Communications cites the strategic value of online sales of commodity products such as CDs, videos, PC software, paper products and event tickets. In 1998, the music and video industries are worth in excess of $70 billion worldwide and will generate more than $200 million in Internet sales revenues. Projections reach in excess of $3 billion in 2002. Global Media is a fully reporting issuer to the SEC and is listed on Standard and Poor's Corporation Records. The company began trading on Aug. 24, 1998, on the NASD OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol GLMC. Information about the company can be found at the corporate web site at globalmediacorp.com. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Michael Metcalfe This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Exchange Act of 1934 and is subject to safe harbour created by these sections. Actual results may differ materially due to number of risks, including: the technological and operational challenges of developing and deploying the company's abilities to market the services and future customer acceptance and demand for the services. biz.yahoo.com