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Technology Stocks : WebNode.com - $4B Contract for Next Generation Internet -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Pueblo who wrote (200)	4/2/1999 4:00:00 PM
From: Tom C	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 588

> >April 1, 1999 > > Dow Jones Newswires >Gags Abound As Message Boards, Web Sites Honor April Fool's >By JOHANNA BENNETT >Dow Jones Newswires > > >NEW YORK -- When a popular financial Web site flashed news that shares of >eMeringue Inc. hit $218 less than three hours after going public at an >offering price of $22, investors rushed to congratulate themselves. > >"eMeringue made me rich," gushed one investor, relaying the convoluted tale >of how he obtained 10,000 pre-initial public offering shares after settling >a lawsuit filed after he swallowed an uncooked chunk of meringue. "I can't >believe my good fortune," he said. > >Can you say "April Fool's"? > >In a gag intended to celebrate April Fool's Day and spoof the recent craze >over Internet public offerings, The Motley Fool announced that it was >underwriting its first IPO. A small company, eMeringue, a former auto parts >dealer turned pie baker, was being taken public April 1 in an offering >initially priced at $11 a share. > >A Web site was created. Press releases were issued. A message board was >especially designed for the company. And according to news flashes posted on >The Motley Fool's Web page, within three hours, the offering was repriced to >$22, opened at $84 and skyrocketed 891% from the offering price. > >By noon, eMeringue announced plans to use its stock in a hostile takeover of >rival CyberCrust. > >"We are trying to teach a lesson," said David Forrest, community coordinator >for The Motley Fool, which has long maintained that IPOs aren't safe >investments for small investors. "What better way to do it than on April >Fool's Day? We consider it our national holiday." > > The Motley Fool's Been Pulling Legs For Years >The Motley Fool's fake IPO isn't the first time a popular financial Web site >has lent itself to holiday jocularity. > >The Motley Fool has used its Web site for a spoof every April Fool's Day >since 1994. Meanwhile, a group of well-known participants on the Silicon >Investor has engaged a pair of online spoofs, creating message boards and Web > sites for two fictional companies, FunPhone.com and WebNode.com. > >FunPhone.com. was touted on an Internet message board created two weeks ago >as a private Internet company that offers customers free phone service via >their desktop computers. A fake Web site was launched Thursday, including >e-mail links to the company and press releases regarding a $1.9 million >private placement. > >Meanwhile, the site also included ads for a "Titanium" Visa credit card, >"scratch and sniff" phone cards, bourbon-flavored voice-enhancing spray and >a lo-jack device designed to track down stolen kidneys. The site also issued >warnings banning pregnant women and cardiac patients from using the phone >service. > >"It's just an April Fool's gag," said "Tastes Like Chicken," one of the >instigators. > >Elsewhere, pranksters who created a Web site for WebNode.com were slogging >their way through the almost 1,000 e-mails received after they paid to have >a bogus press release sent out on BusinessWire, one of two wire services for >corporate press releases. > >WebNode.com, according to bogus corporate literature, sells nodes on the >NGI, otherwise known as the Next Generation Internet. The joke revolved >around news that the company was granted an exclusive contract by the U.S. >Department of Energy to sell 40 million nodes to help raise $4 billion in >funding for the NGI. > >"We figured if people could sell the Brooklyn Bridge, there must be a way to >sell the Internet," said Jeff Mitchell, a 38-year-old Connecticut resident >and one of the prank's instigators. > >Apparently, however, not everyone got the joke. Many of the e-mails sent to >the make-believe company were from investors, said Janice Shell, a prank >organizer. > >"This is beyond belief," Shell said. "These people are dying to buy this >stuff." > > - Johanna Bennett; 201-938-5670 Tom