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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Randy Ellingson who wrote (21721)	10/15/1998 5:01:00 PM
From: umbro	Respond to of 164684

Randy says, Maybe AMZN should talk to Zapata about selling fish oil. That'll get them going again. dont think so -- looks like the fish oil salesman has picked up his tent. From Briefing.com: ZAPATA CORP (ZAP) 7 1/4 -1/8. Fish oil salesman and Internet upstart, Zapata Corp, is canning its Web endeavor. Citing the disproportionately negative impact the downturn in global financial markets has had on Internet stocks, Zapata has decided not proceed with its previously announced Internet acquisitions and other related transactions While negative impact the downturn in global financial markets has had on Internet stocks, Zapata has decided not proceed with its previously announced Internet acquisitions and other related transactions While the media will portray Zapata's Web venture as a costly flop, one has to give Zapata some credit for its opportunistic disposition. Co-founded in the early-50s by former President George Bush as an oil company, Zapata made the successful transition to commercial fishing during the oil slump of the 1980s. Currently controlled by Tampa Bay Buccaneers owner Malcolm Glazer, Zapata is now making a killing selling fish protein and sausage casings. Zapata spotted an opportunity to enhance shareholder value by transforming itself from a fish oil/sausage casings company with a tame Price/Sales multiple of less than three times trailing to a highflying Internet company; a move that could have boosted the value of its stock by five-fold. In fact, ZAP shares rallied as much as 120% from the $11.38 level traded at the time it launched a successful marketing ploy by making a $72 per share offer to acquire Excite Inc, which at the time was more than five times Zapata's size. While no one took this overture seriously, the company accomplished its mission of letting the world know it was now in the Internet business. Zapata quickly went about building its Internet empire by acquiring or taking stakes in 31 sites. Again, Zapata employed a clever strategy-- the roll-up. By offering stock in its Internet subsidiary ZAP, the company was able to gain Web presence and revenue with very little cash out of pocket. The plan was to spin-off ZAP and rake in the profits from an initial public offering, while allowing the debt/equity markets to fund the growth of Zapata's Internet hodge podge. Of course, the company's plan unraveled when global economic turmoil pricked the U.S. equity bubble, causing the more speculative Internet stocks to be tossed into the trash heap, the IPO market to dry up and forcing Zapata to abandon its effort to become the Wayne Huizenga of the Web. (For those not familiar with Mr. Huizenga he is the king of the roll-up strategy; examples: Waste Management, Blockbuster Video, Republic Industries)