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Technology Stocks : America On-Line (AOL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DOUG H who wrote (13651)	4/28/1999 12:12:00 PM
From: jacksoo	Respond to of 41369

Don't know if this has been posted before but..... THE INDUSTRY STANDARD'S M E D I A G R O K A Review of Press Coverage of the Internet Economy GET 4 RISK-FREE ISSUES OF THE INDUSTRY STANDARD MAGAZINE CLICK HERE: thestandard.com +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ April 28, 1999 * AOL: You've got profits . . . but what about broadband? * Chernobyl virus causes millions in damage in foreign meltdown See thestandard.com for more coverage on the Internet Economy. For technology news, go to our parent company's site at idg.net. Media Grok does not review stories from any IDG publication, but includes relevant links to TheStandard.com and IDG.net. /----------------------------------------------- advertisement ----- ** TIRED OF FAKING IT? *** Your E-Business prowess, that is. E-Business is the most overused and least understood word in business today. Well, fake it no more! CNET's E-Business Guide has everything you always wanted to know about E-Business but were afraid to ask. Like how to convert eyeballs to execution, or handle channel conflicts. Your FREE copy of CNET's E-Business Guide is at cnet.com. \-------------------------------------------------------------------/ AOL: You've Got Profits . . . But What About Broadband? You have to feel sorry for poor America Online. It released numbers to die for in its quarterly report yesterday: almost tripling profits, a subscriber base of 17 million, and ads and e-commerce revenues up 100 percent. But after a run-up in its stock the past few days, AOL stock dropped $9 to $153 ahead of the report, and fell further in after-hours trading. So what gives? Could there be trouble in ShangrAOL-la? One analyst told Reuters that the company beat profit estimates by 2 cents, but only matched - and didn't surpass - the more optimistic "whisper" number of 11 cents per share. Sheesh. In fact, ZDNet's headline on Sergio Non's Interactive Investor story was "AOL Meets 3Q Whispers." Is old-fashioned trading logic - buy on rumors, sell on news - creeping back into the market? CBS MarketWatch's Bambi Francisco used the past as a guide for AOL shares, saying they've historically run up before earnings, and dropped about 1 percent afterward. But Francisco also brought up another nagging problem for AOL: lack of a coherent broadband strategy. She said that execs reiterated AOL's intentions to "embrace all technologies" for high-speed access, but when the subject of teaming with Comcast to nab MediaOne (and by extension, Road Runner) came up, Case said, "we're not going to go there." Well, at least not for the conference call. The Washington Post's Paul Farhi and Shannon Henry said Case "suggested yesterday that his company would support Comcast's bid for MediaOne." When the topic of high-speed access came up in an interview, Case told the Post that some new possibilities had emerged over the past few weeks. When asked to elaborate, he said, "Well, MediaOne." As for the possibility that Microsoft (which owns 10 percent of Comcast) might jump into the fray, the Post duo said the software giant likely wouldn't take sides because it could mean losing a big customer. In fact, the MediaOne story filled out the bottom part of Thomas Webber's story in today's Wall Street Journal. Broadband, Case acknowledged, is a crucial part of AOL's strategy going forward. "We believe broadband is an important market . . . and we want to try to help drive down the price of broadband," Mr. Case said. But by and large today's AOL stories were stock earnings report litanies with tacked-on quotes from the ubiquitous Henry Blodgett of Merrill Lynch. If you care, see links below. Meanwhile, the New York Times picked a good time to tell us just what the hubbub is all about with broadband. Seems the kooky folks in Jenkintown, Pa. just can't get enough of their high-speed cable and DSL lines, according to reporter Amy Harmon in her front-page report. Harmon laid out all the positives and negatives, and noted that people tend to use the Net more often with "always-on" connections - though for less time. She made passing mention of AOL and the 4,500 ISPs that could be left out of the party, and asked, "Is all the fuss worth it? If the smug tone that creeps into conversations with many of the early broadband subscribers is any indication, speed does make a difference." Now we'll have to see just how fast AOL acts. AOL Profits Set Another Record (Reuters) wired.com America Online Profit Surges cbs.marketwatch.com AOL May Aid Comcast in Bidding for MediaOne washingtonpost.com High-Speed Access Begins to Alter the Role the Internet Plays in the Home nytimes.com AOL Outdoes Earnings Expectations news.com AOL Meets 3Q Whispers zdii.com