Erich Luening, CNET News.com
AltaVista targets B2B e-commerce with new unit
AltaVista is planning to launch a new business unit to sell the company`s search technology to business-to-business e-commerce firms.
The company next week plans to announce the formation of AltaVista Business Solutions. The new division will sell AltaVista search software to e-commerce firms so customers and partners can query information about inventory and product availability, for example.
"In the automotive market, a company could take all the information in their database and allow suppliers to search for specific parts and pricing information," said Rajiv Parikh, director of marketing for the new business division.
AltaVista executives said the company plans to announce a number of deals in the business-to-business market for the new software in the next few weeks.
AltaVista currently licenses its technology to e-commerce portals like online retailer Amazon.com. The new unit will sell a packaged product, priced starting at $5,000, specifically to business-to-business firms.
Parikh said the company will also announce next week a partnership with brick-and-mortar book retailer Borders. AltaVista will set up kiosks in stores so customers can search for books or other items in stock. Borders also plans to use the search technology on its Borders.com Web site.
Although next week`s announcement doesn`t include any new technology, company executives said a new product that combines both its Web searching technology--Search v2.3a, and back office database searching tool, SDK v2.6--will be rolled out by the end of this quarter. The new product is called Mercator.
AltaVista, based in Palo Alto, Calif., is majority owned by Internet investment firm CMGI.
A global Internet search, new media and commerce network.
Status/Tentative Pricing MAR6 wk
Lead Underwriter MORGAN STANLEY DEAN WITTER & CO
Exchange NASDAQ
Ticker ALTA
Price $-$
Shares -TBA-
Shares Offered by Company ALL
Over-Allotment -TBA-
Est. Offering Amount 300000000
Post-Offering Shares -TBA-
Lockup Period 180
Company Description
AltaVista is a leading Internet search, new media and commerce network that delivers personalized, relevant information and e-commerce services to millions of users worldwide. With our patented technologies, international presence, distinct service offerings and strong strategic partners, we seek to provide a smart, dynamic and thought-provoking knowledge resource for Internet users. Our goal is to expand our user base by extending our leadership in search and expanding our content and e-commerce capabilities, thereby increasing the attractiveness of our Internet properties to advertisers and merchants.
The quality of our services has enabled us to be one of the top web sites in terms of user reach. We target our services and branding towards Web enthusiasts. Web enthusiasts, whether experienced Internet users or newly
online, are passionate about the Internet and view it as a powerful tool to obtain knowledge and to communicate. We believe that the AltaVista user base, which in November 1999 we estimate consisted of more than 45 million unique
monthly visitors worldwide, is one of the most Web-savvy and brand-loyal on the Internet. Data from @Plan, a market research company, in the Fall of 1999 shows that the typical AltaVista user is a more frequent online user and more likely to buy products online than the typical Internet user. We believe that as Internet use continues to increase and users become more familiar and comfortable with using the Internet, the number of Web enthusiasts as a
percentage of total Internet users will increase.
Market research firm International Data Corporation estimates that the number of Internet users will increase from approximately 142 million at the end of 1998 to approximately 502 million by the end of 2003, representing a
compound annual growth rate of approximately 29%. Internet advertising revenues in the United States are expected to increase from $2.1 billion in 1998 to over $11.5 billion by 2003, according to Jupiter Communications, a market research
company. Forrester Research has estimated that consumer purchases of goods and services over the Internet in the United States alone will increase from approximately $20 billion in 1999 to approximately $184 billion in 2004,
representing a compound annual growth rate of over 56%.
We believe that we are well positioned to be the Internet`s trusted brand for highly integrated, personally relevant information and e-commerce offerings. We combine superior search technology, robust and timely media content, local content and personalized e-commerce offerings with a broad
network of strategic partners to supply our users with an easy-to-use, engaging online experience. Our web sites offer users ways to quickly, accurately and dynamically access the knowledge they seek. During November 1999, we delivered over 1.6 billion page views to our users.
Our portal has the following capabilities:
Superior Search Platform.
AltaVista Search offers advanced search functionality that enables Internet users to find information on the Internet.
We believe that AltaVista Search is one of the fastest Internet search services, includes one of the most extensive indices available and produces highly relevant search results. We also believe that our index, which is
frequently updated and contained over 250 million web pages at December 1999, includes more web pages than any other Internet search service.
AltaVista Live!.
We offer users a comprehensive destination for Internet
navigation, directory services, personalized content and rich local community information on the AltaVista Live! service. As part of our commitment to provide our users with high quality financial content as well as to further
broaden the community aspects of AltaVista Live!, in November 1999, we agreed to acquire Raging Bull, Inc., a finance-oriented community and content Internet company and an affiliate of CMGI, Inc.
AltaVista Shopping.com.
AltaVista Shopping.com is an e-commerce service that provides customers with the information necessary to make personalized online buying decisions and gives retailers the ability to reach a large customer base. AltaVista Shopping.com`s goal is to make the shopping experience informed, quick, interactive and personalized. We leverage our superior search technology to enhance the shopping experience by increasing the speed and accuracy of the shopping search, enabling our users to research, compare and purchase merchandise from among millions of products.
Free Communications Services. We offer a number of free services to help attract users to the AltaVista portal. We offer e-mail service and dial-up Internet access through our AltaVista FreeAccess program to our users, and recently began offering instant messaging services.
History
Historically, we were operated within Digital Equipment Corporation, which was acquired by Compaq Computer Corporation in June 1998. In January 1999, we were incorporated and began doing business as a separate business unit within Compaq. To broaden the capabilities of AltaVista, in February 1999, Compaq acquired Shopping.com, an e-commerce company, and, in April 1999, acquired Zip2
Corp., a local portal service. In August 1999, CMGI acquired approximately 81.5% of our equity ownership and Compaq retained approximately 18.5% of our equity ownership. In connection with this acquisition, the AltaVista Search web site and associated intellectual property, Shopping.com, Zip2 and other assets were contributed to us. In October 1999, we acquired iAtlas from CMGI to enhance our search service with iAtlas` filtering technology and distributed a stock dividend of all Zip2 stock owned by us to our stockholders. In November 1999, we agreed to acquire Raging Bull, a finance-oriented community and content Internet company and an affiliate of CMGI. We expect this acquisition to be completed during the first quarter of 2000.
Liebe Börsenfreunde,
ja, ich weiß, danke danke, jaaa, ich bin der allererste, der einen Thread über AltaVista eröffnet. Ist ja auch kein Wunder, als Seher nehme ich die Zukunft immer vorweg!
Hoffentlich wird CMGI wie einer einem früheren Börsengang einer seiner Tochtergesellschaften seine Aktionäre bei der zuteilung von AltaVista-Aktien bevorzugen. Und wenn nicht, dann kaufen wir halt an der Börse ein. Denn mittel- und langfristig gesehen wird die hochprofitable Firma AltaVista stark steigen. Yahoo!, Lycos, Go2Net, GoTo.com, Excite sind auch stark gestiegen, wie die Vergangenheit gezeigt hat. Also wieso sollte es bei AltaVista nicht auch so sein. Zudem setzt diese Firma immer mehr Fuß auf die gewinnträchtigen Felder E-Commerce und B2B. Also, haltet bis April einiges an Geld für die Aktien von AltaVista bereit, es wird sich mehr als lohnen
ErfolgREICHen Trade wünscht Euch Euer,
WallStreet2000