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To: Bill Harmond who wrote (36318)1/24/1999 5:30:00 PM
From: Dell-icious  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 164684
 
Hmm. Is it possible that there are very few people who share your thoughts about the Internet Sector's fall being linked in any way to Brazil's devaluation or China's potential devaluation ?
It's strange that the internet sector's rise during the asian crisis was attributed to their being impervious to the asian consumer's ups and downs.
Don't tell me that you bought YHOO and AMZN late last year because you saw the global markets improving and you sold this year because of Brazil ! You bought them because they are great companies. Probably great long term holds and you sold because they had come too far too fast.
Everyone else in the Internut sector had been thinking similarly and so it was overdue for a big correction.
How all of this has any relevance to a China Devaluation or Brazil beats me. Care to explain ?



To: Bill Harmond who wrote (36318)1/24/1999 7:41:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph  Respond to of 164684
 
The Internet Capitalist
SG Cowen Internet Research
2
[Note to readers: Back issues of The Internet
Capitalist can now be viewed - and printed out
for friends and family - on SG Cowen's Web
site at www.sgcowen.com/rs/rs5.html.]
The Week
And The Band Plays On
Though we had planned to lead off this week's
Internet Capitalist with the very good news of
continued strength in Internet sector
fundamentals in Q4 (the stock prices are
another matter…), we're going with the
@Home/Excite merger instead. As a contender
for attention, broadband has now officially
usurped e-commerce as the issue du jour, and
we're happy to jump on the bandwagon here,
since we think there are a few points that have
been too readily glossed over as forward
thinkers mull over the attractiveness of pipe
dreams.
The coverage that the @Home/Excite merger
received surprised us in its similarity; “the
biggest Internet deal”, “powerhouses”, “clash
of the titans”, “AOL v @Home”, etc. Most of
the debate bespoke of this all-or-nothing
thinking and rested squarely on the
assumption (conceit?) that broadband was
right around the corner. Because this type of
isomorphic thinking tends to create its own
reality, it wasn't long before we were receiving
calls about how much trouble Yahoo! and AOL
were in because they lack a tangible broadband
deal. As a rule of thumb, we're loathe to throw
cold water around deals, especially when we
believe so strongly in the intelligence of
transaction itself, but we think some tempered
reality should be equally digested when
considering the effects of the transaction on
consumers and on advertisers.
The Deal Makes Lots Of Sense To Us…
The elevator message on this merger is fairly
simple, and is contained in management's
repetition of the “media network for the next
century” phrase; a marriage of @Home's pipes
with Excite's content programming and
advertising skills fills in both companies'
weaknesses in offering consumers a one-stop
solution (an approach that has benefited AOL
tremendously). Excite's “pure media”
approach (of owning a great reach -17mm
users, of having great products and services -email,
community, personalization, and of
having strong advertising and direct marketing
skills), when coupled with @Home's
broadband pipes and MSO agreements (they
“pass” 60mm homes), could produce one of
the first real alternatives for consumers to the
AOL service. Though this alone could
eventually change the dynamics of competition
for AOL's natural customers (the mass market
consumer), we think it's wise to remember
that AOL holds many cards as the broadband
future unfolds (a case we make in more detail
below).
…But The Right Question Is “Who Will Have The
Biggest Broadband Footprint?”
Where Internet debates usually started and
ended with the word “e-commerce” over the
last several months, we suspect the debate will
move squarely into the broadband corner, as
investors (rightly) attempt to gauge how and
where shareholder value will shift thanks to
the emergence of broadband technologies.
Within this context, we think the best
question to ask is “Who will have the biggest
broadband footprint?” We suggest investors
keep a proper perspective when parsing the
(very) many potential synergies between
ATHM/XCIT and understand them within the
larger context of what's taking place in the
online market today.
Broadband Will Be Important, But Is No Closer
To Becoming A Mass Market Phenomenon Than
It Was 72 Hours Ago…