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Technology Stocks : Ticketmaster-Citysearch (TMCS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bundashus who wrote (412)	3/9/1999 9:24:00 PM
From: blankmind	Respond to of 803

tmcs holders do not get to vote, since usai controls over 50%. i will assume you own lcos? the article confirmed that if the deal dies tmcs would rally, as would lcos. but the price can not rise to much, less it would permit the deal to close. cmgi nyet would certainly kill the deal, but how long will they wait to decide whether to vote for or against?

To: bundashus who wrote (412)	3/9/1999 11:44:00 PM
From: blankmind	Respond to of 803

from wsj: CMGI Hires Morgan Stanley To Explore Options for Lycos By JON G. AUERBACH Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL CMGI Inc., the largest shareholder of Lycos Inc., has hired investment bank Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. to seek other suitors for Lycos in a bid to quash the company's planned merger with operations of USA Networks Inc. CMGI Chief Executive Officer David S. Wetherell said one of the many options being considered is CMGI's outright purchase of Lycos, an Internet portal. CMGI controls about 20% of Lycos's shares, and Mr. Wetherell was among the company's founding investors. Mr. Wetherell said Morgan Stanley also is seeking other Internet companies that might be interested in a merger with Lycos. Morgan Stanley confirmed it has been hired by CMGI. Since Lycos and USA Networks announced their proposed combination a month ago, Lycos shares have fallen amid investor unhappiness with the deal. CMGI's shares, meanwhile, have skyrocketed on the soaring value of its other Internet holdings. When the USA Networks deal was announced Feb. 9, a CMGI bid for Lycos would have been almost unthinkable. At the time, Lycos had a market value of about $5.3 billion, about $1 billion more than CMGI. A month later, CMGI's market valuation has skyrocketed to about $9 billion, while Lycos shares are now valued at about $4 billion. Mr. Wetherell, who voted in favor of the deal as a Lycos board member, later withdrew his support. Tuesday, Mr. Wetherell resigned from the Lycos board so that he could oppose the deal more freely and rally other shareholders. That news helped drive Lycos shares up $12.375, or 15%, to $96.25 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. CMGI shares fell $5.25 to $194.4375. USA Networks declined to comment on Mr. Wetherell's board resignation and other recent moves. But people familiar with the company's thinking said USA remains committed to the combination and isn't prepared to renegotiate terms. CMGI's board hired Morgan Stanley about a week after the Lycos deal was announced, Mr. Wetherell said. He said his spot on the Lycos board hadn't allowed him to work directly with the investment bank, but since his resignation Tuesday morning, he is "now free to talk to" Morgan Stanley. Separately, Mr. Wetherell said a Lycos acquisition would immediately save CMGI from having to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a mutual fund. The run-up in CMGI's holdings has brought the company close to the threshold where it would possibly need to register as a mutual fund because of the value of its holdings. --Eben Shapiro contributed to this article.

To: bundashus who wrote (412)	3/12/1999 6:21:00 PM
From: blankmind	Respond to of 803

Dow Jones Newswires -- March 12, 1999 Ticketmaster Unit Starts Small-Cos Electronic Commerce Svc PASADENA, Calif. (Dow Jones)--Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch (TMCS), a unit of Ticketmaster Corp., unveiled CitySearch Commerce, a new service that enables small- and medium-sized companies to conduct electronic commerce on the Web. In a press release Friday, Ticketmaster said companies can list product and services, take orders through the Web site, process transactions securely and ship orders. CitySearch also provides marketing consultation to help merchants develop online sales. Ticketmaster's Internet sites carry listings of arts and entertain events, community goings-on, news and sports.

To: bundashus who wrote (412)	3/12/1999 6:22:00 PM
From: blankmind	Respond to of 803

amex purchase shows a deal: The Wall Street Journal -- March 12, 1999 Technology: Ticketmaster Online to Offer Web Sales Service ---- By Nick Wingfield The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition Ticketmaster Online CitySearch Inc. will announce a new service today to help local merchants sell their goods over the Internet. The Pasadena, Calif., Internet firm also said it has launched a joint marketing initiative with American Express Co., under which the charge-card company will promote CitySearch's Web-site development and hosting services to its business customers. Eventually American Express may also promote Ticketmaster Online CitySearch's new electronic-commerce service, to be called CitySearch Commerce, but the companies said they haven't signed an agreement on the matter yet. American Express owns a 1.6% stake in Ticketmaster Online. Many small businesses can't afford the computers and technical staff to begin electronic commerce. So new services are hosting smaller firms' Web pages and offering a variety of services, such as managing credit-card transactions. Yahoo! Inc., for example, operates an online mall called Yahoo Store that handles credit transactions for small merchants, while Switchboard Inc. and Discover Financial Services, a unit of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., recently announced a similar effort. Ticketmaster Online Citysearch, controlled by investor Barry Diller, operates Web guides in many U.S. cities. Charles Conn, its chief executive officer, said he expects theater owners, merchants and other small businesses it now lists will jump at the chance to also begin selling through the new service. The company has been testing CitySearch Commerce, which will start at $500 a month for a basic Web store, in New York for two months and is now expanding the service nationwide. Robert Schagrin, co-owner of Gotta Have It! Collectibles Inc. in New York, said he expects to use the service. Mr. Schagrin is currently building his online store on the New York CitySearch site, where he plans to sell items like a $150,000 set of suits worn by the Beatles. But Mr. Schagrin is counting on cheaper items. "I do believe for lower-end stuff, it's the future," Mr. Schagrin said. Journal Link: For an online discussion about the future of e-commerce, see The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition at wsj.com

To: bundashus who wrote (412)	3/12/1999 6:23:00 PM
From: blankmind	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 803

Dow Jones Newswires -- March 12, 1999 Tech Stks-2:Investors Take Profits On Internet Stocks>LCOS Internet stocks are also down sharply with the broader market Friday as investors take profits on gains from earlier in the week. William Blair analyst Abhishek Gami said concerns over the proposed three-way transaction among Lycos Inc. (LCOS), USA Networks Inc. (USAI) and Ticketmaster Online Citysearch Inc. (TMCS) are hanging over the sector. Lycos' shares have tumbled 20% since the companies last month announced a deal for Lycos to merge with Ticketmaster Online, which USA Networks controls, and USA Networks' electronic shopping assets, including the Home Shopping Network, to form a new company called USA/Lycos Interactive Networks Inc. Many investors feel Lycos, which would initially get a 30% stake in the new company, is not getting a fair deal. David Wetherell, chairman and chief executive of CMGI Inc. (CMGI), which owns about 20% of Lycos, resigned from Lycos' board of directors earlier this week to protest the deal and to seek other options for Lycos. But Gami noted that Lycos and USA Networks appear to be digging in their heels to make sure the transaction goes through. "USA Networks has a lot to lose (if the deal doesn't go through) because this is their big entre into the Internet," Gami said. "If USA Networks is in fact set on being a big player on the Internet, they need Lycos." He added that if the deal does go through, it would put a lot of pressure on competing portal companies like Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) to beef up their electronic commerce operations since USA/Lycos Interactive Networks would be a giant in online retailing. Lycos shares were recently down 7 5/8, or 7%, at 101 3/8. Ticketmaster Online shares were down 1 5/16, or 3.5%, at 37 3/4. And CMGI shares were down 18 1/8, or 10%, at 164. Gami said CNET Inc. (CNET) shares are also dragging the Internet stocks lower Friday after the company's chief executive, Halsey Minor, told CNBC Thursday that the company is likely to remain independent. CNET's shares have doubled over the past month - hitting a high of 123 3/8 Tuesday after a 2-for-1 stock split - at least in part on takeover speculation. CNET's shares were recently down 8, or 8.3%, at 87 13/16. Also hanging over the Internet stocks Friday are questions about whether the group is headed for a seasonal slowdown, Gami said. Many analysts were expecting traffic and Web usage, as well as advertising and commerce spending, to lag in January after the holidays drove robust growth in the fourth quarter. But most Web companies have indicated that traffic remained strong through January, leaving many investors wondering if there will in fact be a slowdown. Gami said the summer could bring a seasonal slowing since Internet usage tends to trail off in warmer weather and since the technology industry in general tends to slow down in the summer. Among other Web stocks Friday, Yahoo was down 6 1/4, or 3.5%, at 172 3/4. Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) was down 4 3/8, or 3.2%, at 130 1/2. eBay Inc. (EBAY) was down 9, or 6%, at 141. And Onsale Inc. (ONSL) was down 3 3/8, or 8.4%, at 36 7/8. Finally, InfoSpace.com Inc. (INSP) was down 8 1/2, or 11.1%, at 68 1/4, following a 9.6% drop Thursday after the company announced plans for a secondary offering. - By Maria V. Georgianis; 201-938-5244; and Joelle Tessler; 201-938-5285