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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DownSouth who wrote (8902)	5/2/1999 2:28:00 PM
From: E. Davies	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

Help me with this. Is ATHM just an ISP, and cable companies own the media to that ISP. What is the value add of ATHM? What part of the franchise does ATHM own? As far as I understand it that is correct. Right now @home is basically "just" an ISP. Their current main advantage in keeping the business is that they are owned by their customers (the cable cos.) What is the value added? That is what I keep trying to direct the conversation to. I state my opinions hoping for confirmation or clarification from someone who knows better. One thing is that being a broadband cable ISP is no trivial business, it can only be handled by a reasonably sized experienced organization. I am still trying to determine whether @home's national broadband centric network gives them an advantage over future potential ISP competition. @home is creating value added in it's brand name. This is more significant than many may think. @home ultimate value added will be in what content it can provide and what how they can profit from advertising and e-commerce. As I said before, they have some very big visions in this area, including the eventual driving of the subscription cost towards zero. They did not give a huge percentage of the company to Excite for nothing you know. I'd love to see discussions about how they can make these visions come true and what others think the value added is. Eric