Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : CMGI What is the latest news on this stock? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: atlast who wrote (5809)	3/12/1999 5:56:00 AM
From: Mark Peterson CPA	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19700

FWIW CMGI throws its weight around By Owen Thomas Red Herring Online March 11, 1999 The mantra of Internet companies these days is to get big fast. CMGI (CMGI) seems to be doing just that. Today's IPO: Infosys Technologies Parsing the price-to-sales ratio Top 10 stocks for 1999 Thursday the company reported basic earnings of $14.1 million, or $0.30 a share, well above analysts' expectations of a $0.22 loss. Don't knock Wall Street, however; CMGI's large stock holdings, which it sells periodically to generate cash, make it hard to predict exactly when the company will record a profit. CMGI has been much in the news lately for one of those holdings: its 18 percent share of Lycos (LCOS). CMGI CEO David Wetherell recently resigned from the Lycos board to fight that company's planned merger with some units of Barry Diller's USA Networks (USAI). @Ventures raises $272 million. CMGI's Engage Technologies subsidiary buys up I/Pro. Barry Diller defends the Lycos-USA deal. In a conference call with analysts, Mr. Wetherell reiterated his dissatisfaction with the terms of the Lycos-USA deal -- and moved on to detail the success of CMGI's Internet operations and its @Ventures venture capital affiliate. The company completed a break with its past as a direct-marketing organization targeting colleges; on Wednesday, it announced the sale of its CMG Direct list-marketing subsidiary to the Marketing Services Group. What remains is an intriguing Internet pure play. TO MARKET, TO MARKET Mr. Wetherell said that among CMGI's portfolio companies -- both its wholly-owned Internet Group companies and its @Ventures investments -- several are planning to go public. SilkNet and Critical Path have already filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for public offerings, and two other unnamed companies were approaching investment bankers. "Chemdex is reviewing the prospects of an IPO," he said later in the call. Chemdex, a vertical portal for chemical supplies, has raised $15 million in venture capital in two rounds from investors including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Warburg Pincus, as well as @Ventures. He also noted the growth of AdSmart, an advertising-banner sales network whose page views follow closely behind 24/7 Media (TFSM) and DoubleClick (DCLK). "We think some time this summer or fall would be a good time to review the prospects of taking AdSmart public," said Mr. Wetherell. NaviSite is another possible IPO candidate. CEO Bob Eisenberg recently said the CMGI subsidiary was already planning to take outside investments. That step would prepare the Web-site hosting company for a spinout. Mr. Eisenberg also said the company would build out additional data centers and seek out acquisitions of smaller hosting companies, which would require additional capital infusions from CMGI or the public. CROSSOVER HIT CMGI could also increase its venture capital activities. @Ventures III, its latest fund, closed in December with $272 million in capital committed by CMGI and other investors. Its next fund, @Ventures IV, would be a crossover fund of $500 million to $1 billion, said Mr. Wetherell. Crossover funds invest both in private and public companies, and make larger, later-stage investments in private companies compared to other venture capital funds. With $106 million in cash and $957 million in marketable securities -- including stakes in Lycos, Amazon (AMZN), Hollywood Video (HLYW), and Open Market (OMKT) -- CMGI could fuel that fund by itself, though it would probably seek outside investors as well. CMGI is making another big-stakes bet on Internet broadcasting. It recently recruited Neil Braun, a former NBC executive, to head up a new Web broadcast network to be unveiled in May or June. "We believe there's an opportunity to launch the largest broadcast company on the Web, which in turn can become the largest broadcast company in the world," said Mr. Wetherell. Now that's a forward-looking statement.