Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jerry A. Laska who wrote (57084)	5/17/1999 1:18:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

MiningCo.com changes name to About.com By Eric Auchard NEW YORK, May 17 (Reuters) - MiningCo.com Inc. <MINE.O>, a Web information gateway, on Monday said it had changed its name to About.com Inc. to more closely reflect the company's business of offering expert-guided Internet navigation. About.com said the name change reflects the company's evolution into a network of destinations that combine original content, Web search and community features at more than 650 topic-specific sites within 18 channels on the site. The name change announcement follows a $1.2 million, two-week teaser campaign that asked readers "Hello, is anybody out there?" in full-page ads in several national newspapers that otherwise left readers guessing who the sponsor was. About.com plans to spend $10 million over the next month in a national print, radio and television adverting campaign heralding its new identity, a spokeswoman said. The corporate and brand-name changes take effect Monday. On Thursday, May 20, the company's stock will begin trading under the ticker symbol "BOUT" on the Nasdaq stock market. Trading under "MINE," the stock was up 62 cents to $58.125 in late morning trade on Nasdaq. The switch comes less than two months after the company's initial public stock offering in March. "Mining Co has been great to get us where we are," Chairman and Chief Executive Scott Kurnit said. But Kurnit sees the Internet information search business evolving beyond so-called portals, or starting places, to become destinations where users remain. "Our view is that we are now entering the post-portal period," he said. The MiningCo name referred to the company's service helping Internet users "drill down" or "mine" the Internet to locate useful information, or by analogy, "gems." But Kurnit sees the company's business strategy evolving from an information gateway into a network of full-emersion Web sites dedicated to a range of content culled together by About.com's more than 650 category editors. MiningCo.com boasts 5.6 million unique visitors, about 700,000 of whom have signed up as members to receive e-mail newsletters on topics that interest them. The ad campaign will seek to highlight the advantages of its network of professional, human guides over automated search systems from popular Web networks like Yahoo! Inc. <YHOO.O>, Excite Inc. <XCIT.O> and Lycos Inc. <LCOS.O> and thereby boost sign-ups for About.com's personalized membership service. About.com will allow members who register at the site to operate with up to 15 different identities while navigating through different subject categories. These identities include information that members volunteer about their interests, enabling About.com to channel information to meet the member's interests. For example, someone considering pregnancy might use one identity to gather health and exercise information, and a different identity to look for stock information in its finance/investing information category.