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

To: Trevor Quest who wrote (1472)	2/8/1999 12:43:00 PM
From: KEN G	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2222

online focus DECEMBER 09, 1998 In the battle of the portals, Infoseek (SEEK) plans to throw down the gauntlet December 14, with its upcoming preview of the 'GO Network'(go.com). In June of 1998, Disney, with some of the strongest franchises and brands in the world, made a move to strengthen its Internet presence. The company took a 43 percent stake in the search engine Infoseek, with options that could give Disney majority control at a later date. As part of the negotiations, both companies planned to establish a new Internet site to be named 'GO Network'. Based in Sunnyvale, California, Infoseek , together with Walt Disney's Online division, set out to recreate itself as a premier portal company, and Wall Street had expected no less from the entertainment giant. With the marketing muscle and its host of popular Internet sites that include ABC.com, ESPN.com, Disney stands to make quite an impact from the get-go. A host of rivals will be waiting for go.com's entry into the portal site arena, including Yahoo! (YHOO), Excite (XCIT), Lycos (LCOS), and Microsoft (MSFT). With the recent merger of America Online (AOL) and Netscape (NSCP), this duo may be the front runner with an almost 50% market share of eyeballs online. Not to be outdone, Yahoo! is largely believed to be the strongest pure Internet portal company with its main street brand recognition. They too enjoy just under a 50% market share. While Disney and Infoseek, separately control less than half the market share of their rivals, combining the two establishes them as the third highest trafficked site on the Internet say industry analysts. But perhaps Infoseek's most valuable asset may lie in its share price. While other portal companies have enjoyed terrific gains on Wall Street over the last year, Infoseek has largely been left behind. Much of the apathy may be attributed to the company's lack of news to spark investors' interest. December 14, all that might change as investors looking for the next Internet play see Infoseek's share price as attractive when compared to its rivals. What's more, Disney plans to roll out an aggressive advertising campaign that will include television and radio, to begin by year's end. With such a competitive landscape developing amongst Internet portal companies, smaller search sites are bound to entertain merger and acquisition deals of their own. Particularly Lycos and Excite, both of whom have been the subject of much speculation since June. On Wall Street, the portal mania has been somewhat abated. With the addition of the GO Network, things should get interesting. Now may be a good time to give this one a look. KELLY BLACK