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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (46404)	1/31/1999 5:29:00 PM
From: Catcher	Respond to of 97611

the 2 tiered aspect of the AV announcement was a little unusual. maybe you hit on it with trial balloon theory. more unusual, from my standpoint was timing of initial announcement (AV appetizer?) 1 day before earnings release. why cloud things? not as bad as inventory shenanigans a year ago tho

To: Steve Fancy who wrote (46404)	1/31/1999 5:45:00 PM
From: hlpinout	Read Replies (69) \| Respond to of 97611

Steve,this article indicated that the date of the announcement was used to correspond to the 1 year date of the DEC merger announcement. May have been a smoke screen but the statement was by EP. (01/26/99, 1:02 p.m. ET) By Joe Wilcox, Computer Reseller News Compaq spun off its AltaVista online search engine Tuesday as a separate company and plans a public offering of the new AltaVista Co. Rod Schrock, formerly senior vice president of Compaq's consumer-product group, will run the Palo Alto, Calif., organization. Schrock is best known for successfully revitalizing Compaq's consumer division. Schrock's group Internet-enabled Compaq Presario PCs in the third and fourth quarters by introducing Internet keyboards and ADSL modems. The Presario 5170 and 5150 were the top-selling retail PCs during December, according to PC Data, in Reston, Va. Compaq acquired AltaVista when it bought Digital Equipment. Compaq chose Jan. 26 to announce the AltaVista Co. because it is the one-year anniversary of the Compaq-Digital merger announcement, said Compaq CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer identified three basic reasons for spinning off AltaVista. "Success in the Internet market requires a different business model, one built around speed, agility, and an unwavering focus on what customers want in terms of information and services on the Internet," he said. Pfeiffer also emphasized the importance of delivering superior search and shopping services. "We will [also] unlock AltaVista's tremendous value to shareholders," through the public offering, Pfeiffer said. He also revealed a technology-sharing agreement with Microsoft Network that would make AltaVista the "primary search engine powering MSN." Under the agreement, AltaVista users would also get an AltaVista branded version of Microsoft HotMail and future Internet messaging technologies. Last week, Houston-based Compaq courted other content providers and at one point, discussed a merger with Timer Warner, said one source close to the negotiations. Compaq's CEO made it clear the Internet would increasingly play an important role in the company's strategy moving forward, including promoting, selling, and delivering Compaq products and services via the Web using Compaq's website "to deliver superior value to our customers." "We will make most of our consumer and commercial PCs Internet-ready, including direct one-button access to the Internet e-commerce and e-services," Pfeiffer said. Compaq plans to generate revenue through online sales and offer customized services to consumer and commercial customers, Pfeiffer said. Tuesday's announcement follows by little more than two weeks Compaq's agreement to acquire shopping.com. At that time, Compaq executives said AltaVista would provide the back-end services and operations for shopping.com. "The Internet today is a lot more than just computers. It's about information and services," Pfeiffer said. The CEO said he estimated the market for Internet content and services to reach $170 billion by 2002. "That will make it larger than the entire PC industry today," he said.