Right now neither stock reflects merger synergies. In fact, Time Warner, although it's getting taken over by AOL, reflects no takeover premium. We think as the deal comes together and they uncover some new business opportunities and synergies, they will drive valuation. I think AOL trades like a media company and in a way it really doesn't trade like an Internet company anymore. So either it's an undervalued media company relative to its growth prospects or it's a very cheap Internet company, |
A bid in the low 90s would be the minimum for Lycos because Lycos brings so much more to the table than Terra does, |
A bid in the low 90s would be the minimum for Lycos because Lycos brings so much more to the table than Terra does. |
Ad inventory cuts are a necessary evil. I don't think it will stimulate accelerated growth. It will just allow the radio industry to remain competitive and maintain market share longer in an increasingly fragmented media environment. |
AOL, ... is the Internet play out there. It is the only fully integrated Internet player in the space. It basically has multi-brands across different areas of the Internet. And their flagship AOL Internet service continues to show very, very powerful subscriber growth. |
Because Comcast invests so heavily in acquisitions and development in infrastructure, their depreciation and amortization expense is huge and it really pressures the profit, ... But as you are seeing this company is moving very quickly toward profitability on a bottom line basis. |
Corporate America in general needs to establish Web sites in order to enhance their business prospects and the giant, successful dot.com companies like Yahoo! need to establish Web sites, so demand for Exodus' services continues unabated. It represents one of the fastest-growing companies on the Internet, in one of the most exciting markets and that's providing Internet infrastructure. |
Disney has yet to find a partner, News Corp. has yet to find a partner, and Viacom-CBS could go one step further and find an Internet partner, ... So the entertainment giants are well-positioned to be part of an internet and media consolidation phase. |
Exodus is the leader in high-end Web hosting and although a good number of their clients are dot.com companies, they're not completely reliant on dot.com companies, |
Having faced no significant competition so far, Audible has not been able to sustain a profit despite reasonably good revenue and subscriber trends, ... could much more efficiently build and launch their own sites. |
I think there's a realistic chance that Sumner Redstone and CBS are exploring some kind of venture. |
It also comes on the heals of AOL-Time Warner and the Terra Networks merger with Lycos, and shows that the Internet and media landscape is getting increasingly competitive, requiring more consolidation, |
It also comes on the heals of AOL-Time Warner and the Terra Networks merger with Lycos, and shows that the Internet and media landscape is getting increasingly competitive, requiring more consolidation. |
It does make sense to help focus investors. Sumner Redstone thought that the difference between the two pieces was holding back Viacom's valuation. |
It might be too early to call [this] the bottom, but we think we are very close to the bottom on Internet stocks. Once we get officially past these rate fears, than one can expect some kind of rally in the group. |