To: oldcrow who wrote (2772 ) 12/8/1998 7:24:00 AM From: Islander Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 19700
XOOM's IPO tomorrow should be considered a plus for CMGI's stable of IPO's to come in the near term, imo: XOOM COMMUNITY FOR SALE, IPO WEDNESDAY By Greta Mittner Red Herring Online December 7, 1998 Xoom.com's spin on the community site model has captured the hearts of analysts and Internet players alike. The company is expected to go public on Wednesday, with a pricing later today. Xoom is a Web community, as are GeoCities (GCTY) and Theglobe.com (TGLO). But it's also an e-commerce site utilizing a direct marketing approach. "It's the combination of both that will pique interest," says Patrick Keane, a senior analyst with Jupiter Communications. "Xoom has large traffic numbers married to e-commerce." Bear Stearns, the same underwriter that brought out the current most successful IPO in history Theglobe.com, has raised Xoom's original $9-$11 offer range to $12-$14 and increased the number of shares it plans to sell from 3 million to 4 million Monday, indicating a high demand for the offering. Rave reviews In perhaps one of the most fortuitously timed press releases for the young Xoom, Media Metrix released its Top 25 Web property and Web site rankings Monday, the day before the offering is scheduled to price. The Internet metering company ranked Xoom twelfth in Web properties and fifteenth in Web sites, measured by the percentage of Web surfers who visited Xoom.com at least once in October. In addition, Xoom was the second fastest growing Web site in the first half of 1998, and its reach has increased to over 11 percent in September 1998, up from less than 2 percent in January 1998. "This is a very young company that already has 40 percent of the reach of GeoCities," says Francis Gaskins, editor of Gaskins IPO Desktop. "There is something magical about how they generate traffic." Mr. Gaskins believes that this proven ability to generate traffic will alone make this an incredibly hot IPO. Xoom into Talk City Xoom also leverage its community for e-commerce, a tactic that allows it to avoid relying on advertising sales. Because advertisers are leery of community sites that don't edit the content of members' Web pages, analysts are still not convinced that even highly trafficked community sites like GeoCities can make money. But Peter Friedman, CEO of community site Talk City, believes that Xoom has found the solution in leveraging its community for e-commerce purposes. "Xoom began as a direct marketer of clip art," says Mr. Friedman. "They are experts on direct marketing." Mr. Friedman contends that other community Web sites will want to get in on e-commerce in their desperation for revenue, but can realistically only expected 10-15 percent of their revenue to come from e-commerce, while Xoom's revenue has, until recently, come almost solely from e-commerce. Talk City has recently partnered with Xoom with in an attempt to increase its e-commerce revenue from its current slender 1 percent. Xoom will provide the direct marketing, and Talk City will provide its member database. The marketing will remain permission-based, and the two companies will share revenues from their cobranded site. Xoom blooms Despite its unique e-commerce angle, Xoom is looking to increase its ad sales in order to diversify its revenue streams. So far it has been successful. Xoom claims that primarily as a result of the company's increased membership, site traffic, and ad sales force, its revenue attributable to advertising has increased from 5 percent in the nine months ending September 30, 1997, to 19.6 percent in the nine months ended September 30, 1998. Like most Web businesses, Xoom is not currently profitable and does not expect to be so for some time. In 1997 the company suffered a loss of $3.1 million in income as opposed to $0.8 million in sales. However, over the past twelve months, the company's quarterly revenue has increased from approximately $222,000 to $2.3 million. As far as profit or loss, "it doesn't matter," says Mr. Gaskins. "The only thing that counts is that it is ahead of Amazon in traffic." And the IPO? "It's going to be hot, no question about it," says the analyst. Xoom, Inc. Proposed ticker: XOOM Proposed offer price: $12.00 to $14.00 Shares offered (mil.): 4.0 Post-offering shares (mil.): 12.1 1997 Sales (mil.): $0.8 1997 Income (mil.): ($3.1) Underwriters: Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.; Deutsche Bank Securities