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Technology Stocks : InfoSpace (INSP): Where GNET went! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BillCh who wrote (1289)	2/17/1999 3:09:00 AM
From: BillCh	Respond to of 28311

Another one down - ZIP2 goes for $300M Compaq Is Buying Zip2 To Broaden AltaVista By GARY MCWILLIAMS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Compaq Computer Corp., continuing to broaden its AltaVista search engine through acquisitions, said it will pay about $300 million in cash for Zip2 Corp., a developer of online city guides backed by major U.S. newspaper chains. The purchase, the second in less than a month by the Houston-based computer maker, is intended to transform AltaVista from a largely informational Internet search site to a full-fledged "portal" offering access to local business directories and entertainment guides in 160 U.S. cities. "There is no other company now with the same breadth of content or with the connections to commerce at the local level," said Rod W. Schrock, president of Compaq's AltaVista Co. unit. Compaq last month said it plans to sell a stake in AltaVista to the public as early as this year. The latest definitive purchase agreement, with institutional investor Mohr Davidow Ventures and a group of newspaper backers including Knight-Ridder Inc., Hearst Corp. and New York Times Co., follows Compaq's $220 million pending purchase of electronic-commerce site Shopping.com in January. Zip2, based in Mountain View, Calif., brings AltaVista a business with access to revenue from classified ads, online business listings and software sales. "This is important for Compaq to be perceived as competitive with the other major search and directory players," said Mark Mooradian, senior analyst at market researchers Jupiter Communications LLC. He said the challenge for Compaq will be to get the media giants to allow AltaVista to redistribute their news and other content-something they have been reluctant to do in the past. Compaq's Mr. Schrock said AltaVista's 12 million visitors a month could be a potent lure to the media companies to release their content. He said by linking AltaVista to the sites now supplying local news, advertising and business listings, traffic could leap tenfold. Zip2 licenses its Web software and runs the Web sites for 120 newspaper groups. In addition, the three-year-old company receives advertising revenue. The companies declined to reveal revenue or profits. Compaq was represented in the deal by Greenhill Capital and Zip2 by BT Alex. Brown. Compaq shares closed down 18.75 cents at $42.8125 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading Tuesday.