Leading Online Investment Training Co. Acquired by ZiaSun Technologies, Inc.
BUSINESS WIRE - April 08, 1999 10:18
SALT LAKE CITY (April 8) BUSINESS WIRE -April 8, 1999--Online Investors Advantage Inc. (http://www.i-advantage.com) is pleased to announce that it has been acquired as a subsidiary by ZiaSun Technologies Inc. (OTC BB: ZSUN, ziasun.com)
ZiaSun is a holding company focused on acquiring profitable, Internet and Internet-related companies with strong growth potential. Unlike many Internet companies, ZiaSun does not derive revenue from any single product or service. Instead, ZiaSun's wholly owned subsidiaries publish, market and service many Web products and services, and maintain the necessary value added support for these products. Any of ZiaSun's Internet products could be a stand-alone company. This creates a package of Web products that brings internal synergy and cross-fertilization of the group, while avoiding the competitive risk that comes with reliance on a single product or service.
Online Investors Advantage (OIA) is the leading U.S.-based company specializing in online stock education and training. OIA teaches investors who wish to trade securities by computer, how to access and use the tools available on the Internet for optimum investing results.
OIA was developed to fulfill a growing need in the marketplace for a sophisticated education and training program for the many thousands of people migrating to online stock investment.
According to a recent article published in U.S.A. Today (April 6/99), online brokerages register 440,000 to 460,000 trades a day, and have been steadily stealing market share from traditional full-service brokers. The article also sites from a report by Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Bill Burnham saying online trading volume rose 30% to 35% the first quarter compared with 4.9% for all trading.
"OIA didn't start the online investing trend, nor are we driving it," explains President of Online Investors Advantage, Mr. Scott Elder. "People are rushing online to trade stocks like millions of children on a hot summer day jumping into the deep end of a swimming pool. If they can't swim, they're going to lose their lives. Likewise, if someone doesn't know the formula and strategies for trading stocks, they' re going to lose a lot of money in the stock market. We're just standing on the edge of the online trading pool, saying, hey, before you jump in, you really should consider taking our online trading swimming lessons. We're getting them before they take the plunge into the pool and also after they've taken the plunge and realize the cost for our education is a lot less than what it's costing them to learn it through bad trading experiences."
As a subsidiary of ZiaSun, OIA will become an integral part of ZiaSun's infrastructure overseas, working in conjunction with its established subsidiaries.
"OIA's most obvious fit, initially, is with ZiaSun's online stock trading system, SWIFTrade, which is currently bringing London and Hong Kong online," says Mr Elder. "This expedites our rate of growth well beyond what we could have accomplished in the U.S. alone. ZiaSun has a powerful synergy amongst its subsidiaries, a synergy that will most benefit our company. We were approached by several leading Internet companies, but we have great confidence in the ZiaSun strategy. We believe that it's the next CMGI (Nasdaq:CMGI), but with an International presence, where the most growth potential for Internet products and services exists."
OIA is growing at an exponential rate, and is projecting 1999 revenues of $15,000,000 with $2,500,000 in earnings. Total revenue for the company's first year of operation in 1998 was $3,394,503 with a profit of $153,070. First quarter results for 1999 produced revenues of $4,440, 451, with earnings of $878,805.
Note: Any statements released by ZiaSun Technologies Inc. that are forward-looking are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Editors and investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements invoke risk and uncertainties that may affect the company's business prospects and performance. These include economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors discussed in the statements. |
