Internet Market Close Report for 1998.06.18
SEEK shares trade as high as $42 June 18 before backing down and ending the day up $0.625 per share at $35.125. Some of the deal had already been discounted ahead in SEEK which started to gain ground the past few weeks that a large media suitor would emerge. Now that it has Wall Street looks to see what it means moving forward.
The agreement aligns the world's number 9 (Infoseek) and 10 (Disney.com) Web sites in terms of users into what could be the world's number 3 site, assuming unduplicated reach, at 21.7 million users.
With Disney deciding on Infoseek that leaves its former larger rivals Yahoo and Excite without major media partners.
NBC hooked up with CNET/Snap last week and now the world's most valuable content, brand, media firm on the planet - Disney - stops 'Mickey Mousing around' with Infoseek. Disney vaults run deep: ABC, ESPN, animation, movies, theme parks and several of the world's most popular brands ever in Mickey Mouse and friends.
Infoseek opens its users up to the endless flow of Disney's high-quality content, something that can be leveraged into community, chat, news, video, email, portals, search, commerce, marketing, advertising, mixed media and more.
Strategically over the next 10 years Yahoo and Excite may feel the pinch of not having camped out on Disney chairman Michael Eisner's doorstep to get a deal done.
Here's how The Internet Stock Index reacted to the news:
18-Jun-98 |
point change |
% change |
|
ISDEX |
142.41 |
2.48 |
1.77% |
ISDEX Price Wtd. |
1,536.34 |
21.66 |
1.43% |
NASDAQ |
1,772.70 |
-3.70 |
-0.21% |
DJIA |
8,813.01 |
-16.45 |
-0.19% |
Who's left? CBS (TV network, stations, radio); Time Warner (almost as strong as Disney in every area); Viacom (movies and cable, MTV its flagship brand); News Corp. (Fox TV, studios, newspapers); Bertelsmann (music, film, publishing; linked with Lycos in Europe and we suspect may go further in the U.S. if Lycos sees the opportunity).
But by far, the best media brand in the world is now linked with Infoseek which could vault it to being an extremely large Internet media company very soon, maybe surpassing Yahoo at some juncture. On the other hand, the best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go astray. Infoseek was the runt of the litter on Wall Street. Can its current lineup execute to leverage the magic kingdom plopped in its lap? TomorrowLand (or TomorrowWeb) awaits.
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