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To: roulette who wrote (23543)	1/29/1999 8:07:00 AM
From: Teri Garner	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 120523

Yahoo's Bid for GeoCities to Spur Others Buyouts, Analysts Say Yahoo's Bid for GeoCities to Spur Others Buyouts, Analysts Say Santa Clara, California, Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Yahoo! Inc.'s planned purchase of GeoCities for $3.9 billion raises the odds that other World Wide Web page providers such as theglobe.com Inc. will be bought out or partner with larger companies, analyst said. Yahoo, the world's biggest Internet search service, is gaining 3.5 million customers with personal Web pages as it buys GeoCities at a 66 percent premium to yesterday's closing share prices. That sent shares of rivals theglobe.com up 20 7/16 to 59 15/16 and Xoom.com Inc. up 21 1/2 to 61 1/16. Increased competition for both visitors and advertising, the largest source of revenue for free community Internet sites, will cause smaller Web page providers to seek pacts with larger companies. Yahoo's purchase will also likely prompt rivals such as Infoseek Corp. to try to acquire their own Web community sites to remain competitive, analysts said. ''It puts pressure on theglobe.com, Xoom.com and other players that only have one angle,'' said Abhishek Gami, an analyst at William Blair & Co. in Chicago. ''You have this giant Yahoo site that does everything, and that convenience factor is what brings people'' to visit. New York-based theglobe.com doesn't view Yahoo's proposed purchase of GeoCities as an immediate threat, although the company is discussing ''strategic partnerships'' with media and telecommunications companies, said spokeswoman Esther Loewy. She declined to elaborate. ''We view (the proposed acquisition) as positive. It's a confirmation of the value of communities,'' Loewy said. Officials at San Francisco-based Xoom.com weren't immediately available for comment. Infoseek, which operates the Go Network as a joint venture with Walt Disney Co., and Cnet Inc., whose Snap! directory is co- owned by General Electric Co.'s NBC unit, are both possible buyers of community sites, said John Robb, an analyst at Gomez Advisors, a Concord, Massachusetts-based research company. ''The Go Network, Snap, all these guys with big backers and lots of potential can go to the parent company and say, this is what we need,'' Robb said. ''It's just a question of time before these companies make bids on them.'' Officials at Infoseek and Cnet weren't immediately available for comment. Lycos Inc., the No. 3 Internet search directory, is in a better position than many of its competitors. It bought Tripod, a Web community site, last year for $58 million. ''Lycos struck an awesome deal'' with Tripod, said William Blair's Gami