To: esecurities(tm) who wrote (4736 ) 3/26/1999 From: Marc Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 5102
CNNfn.com in Joint Venture Talks with PC Quote By George Mannes Staff Reporter 3/25/99 9:35 PM ET The financial news site CNNfn.com is in discussions with the stock-information company PC Quote (PQT:AMEX) to partner on a joint Internet venture, people familiar with the discussions say. The venture would combine the original online reporting from CNNfn.com, a unit of Time Warner (TWX:NYSE), with stock price feeds and other market data from PC Quote. "I cannot comment one way or the other," said PC Quote chairman and CEO Jim Porter. A CNNfn.com spokeswoman declined comment. PC Quote, which supplies stock, bond, mutual fund, commodity and options information to professionals and consumers, started offering real-time data on the Web in 1996. Since then, a growing share of the company's revenue has come from delivering financial data to investors over the Internet, in addition to its traditional business of transmitting financial data to investment professionals via dedicated connections and satellite broadcasts. The company had revenues of $23 million and an operating loss of $4.7 million in 1998, compared to revenues of $17.1 million and an operating loss of $8.9 million the prior year. From 1997 to 1998, the company's Internet revenues grew from 29% to 44% of total revenue. CNNfn.com, which launched in December 1995 along with the CNNfn Channel, has made ongoing efforts to offer more financial tools on its site. On Thursday, the site announced the launch of the CNNfn Bond Center, using bond information supplied by BARRA (BARZ:Nasdaq). The company billed the new area as the "most complete source for free, searchable bond information on the Web." Earlier in March, the site launched an online comparison shopping service utilizing a new search engine from Inktomi (INKT:Nasdaq). The CNNfn.com site already contains stock quotes from Standard & Poor's, as well as links to Intuit's (INTU:Nasdaq) Quicken site. It was unclear what effect, if any, an agreement with PC Quote might have on these other arrangements. © 1999 TheStreet.com, All Rights Reserved.