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Technology Stocks : CMGI What is the latest news on this stock? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KurtSS who wrote (7904)	5/4/1999 6:11:00 PM
From: mike machi	Respond to of 19700

CMGI Breaks the Bank May 04, 1999 by Norm Alster How did a company with roots in direct marketing and fulfillment services become a star VC investor and incubator of Net startups? Since Peter Mills sees roughly a thousand new business plans a month, he was in no great hurry to study the proposal he received from David Bohnett. As managing partner of Andover, Mass.-based CMGI Inc.'s Internet investment and development unit, @Ventures LP, Mills knows he can pick and choose among the many hopefuls seeking venture funding for the latest Internet brainstorm. Bohnett, for his part, had already pitched his plan to 50 other venture capitalists. "I was shopping it everywhere," he recalls. When he did not hear from CMGI, Bohnett placed a call to Mills, who confessed he had not yet looked at the plan. But Mills told Bohnett: "Give me the 30-second pitch." That's just how long it took Bohnett to convince Mills he had something special in GeoCities, a venture that would help users create Web sites and form online communities with others with shared interests. "In that 30 seconds, he hooked me," recalls Mills. In January 1996, CMGI made an initial investment of $1 million. But who really hooked whom? When Yahoo Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., announced in January it would purchase Marina del Rey, Calif.-based GeoCities in what was then a nearly $5 billion stock deal, CMGI--holder of roughly 28 percent of GeoCities' stock--was the biggest winner. It's safe to say that the $5.9 million CMGI invested over the years was nothing short of a venture killing. CMGI holds more than 8.7 million GeoCities shares, which, following the acquisition by Yahoo, were worth about $1 billion as of late March. And GeoCities isn't the only instance where CMGI executives placed a swift, decisive and visionary bet on the Internet's future. They've also developed and cashed in big-time on their $2 million investment in Lycos Inc. of Waltham, Mass. No matter who winds up buying Lycos, which has already received a bid from New York-based USA Networks Inc., CMGI's 8.1 million Lycos shares are worth at least $700 million. CMGI has also rapidly developed and sold other Web ventures. Its sale of PlanetAll.com Inc., Cambridge, Mass., to Amazon.com Inc. of Seattle produced a $19.1 million gain. Its sale of online video retailer Reel.com Inc. of Emeryville, Calif., to Wilsonville, Ore.-based Hollywood Entertainment Corp. produced a $23 million gain. CMGI appears to have pioneered an Internet business model ideally suited to the economics of the industry. Let others try to justify lavish market values with minute operating earnings. CMGI flourishes on its sale of richly valued assets. With Internet profits scarce and assets dear, that clearly has been the way to go. And as an incubator of Internet assets, CMGI is unique. Some of its businesses were internally developed and are still wholly owned and operated. In other firms, CMGI is essentially a venture capital investor, with stakes ranging from less than 10 percent to more than 50 percent. With more than 30 holdings, CMGI has a hand in just about every type of Net business--everything from search engines to e-mail management, investor bulletin boards, Web site hosting and furniture "e-tailing." With at least half a dozen CMGI firms marching toward IPOs in the coming year, the market has decided that Mills and CMGI Chairman, President and CEO David Wetherell likely have some other jewels in their portfolio. That's why CMGI, with less than $100 million in fiscal 1998 revenue (year ending July 31), boasts a market value that recently topped $8 billion. Next Page \| CMGI's Genius

To: KurtSS who wrote (7904)	5/4/1999 6:15:00 PM
From: stock_bull69	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19700

Kurt, it's just a gut feeling I have that this rotation from INETS to the DOW has about run it's course. It could very well be wishful thinking on my part as I've only been in the market for a relatively short time (4 years) unlike some of the more knowledgeable posters on this thread. For example, I am disregarding the notion that the tech sector as a whole sells off in the spring and comes back in the fall as I certainly don't want to wait till September for a rebound! Steve