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

To: M CAHILL who wrote (6109)	3/16/1999 8:58:00 PM
From: Todd Pagel	Respond to of 19700

Paine Webber conference notes... What follows are some highlights from the conference: CMGI Has No Plans to Slow Down Peter Mills, managing director of @Ventures, the venture-capital arm of CMGI Inc., has reason to wax enthusiastic about the Internet-investment firm's successes: After all, CMGI's public holdings are worth more than $1.5 billion today, up from just $194 million last July. But its strong run doesn't mean CMGI plans to stop growing. Over the past year, CMGI has acquired seven new Internet companies, sold five, and taken Web-community site GeoCities public. Meanwhile, e-business solutions provider Silknet and e-mail service provider Critical Path are in the registration stages for an IPO. Mr. Mills said the operational side of CMGI will be fueled with more acquisitions, rather than through the sale of investments. "We are long-term players," he said. "We intend to hang on to those [companies]." Mr. Mills noted that CMGI, which invests in Internet start-ups, is today the largest shareholder in four of the top 10 Web sites ranked by number of unique monthly visitors and the total time spent online by those users. The @Ventures branch is investing in new Internet firms at the rate of one per month; CMGI recently began @Ventures III, the third venture-capital component of the company. So far it has accumulated $272 million, which for the first time included stakes from investors such as Microsoft Corp. and others aside from CMGI. CMGI also has a direct-marketing component and an Internet group, which consists of wholly owned subsidiaries. In total, CMGI comprises e-commerce, and Web content, infrastructure and community. "We look to be instrumental in the full spectrum of the Internet," Mr. Mills said. With so many components under one virtual roof, analysts have had difficulty evaluating CMGI using traditional means. Mr. Mills noted that CMGI would work on the challenge of assigning a net-asset value for the firm going forward. But shareholders can't complain. CMGI went public in 1994 at $8 per share, on Tuesday shares closed at $180.75 -- and that's after one 3-for-2 and three 2-for-1 stock splits, giving it a 244-fold increase in five years. A year ago, shares were trading around $13. "We're an asset play. The market finally got that," Mr. Mills said. After Wednesday's market close, CMGI will join the Nasdaq 100, an index comprising 100 of the largest nonfinancial U.S. stocks listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.