Cdnow.com +110,81% am Freitag - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

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UPDATE 1-CDNow sees merger or investor by June, stock surges (rewrites throughout, updates share price, adds details)

NEW YORK, June 2 (Reuters) - Shares of CDNow Inc. <CDNW.O> more than doubled on Friday after the cash-strapped online music retailer said it expected to announce a deal with a merger partner or investor this month.

CDNow shares were 2-9/16 higher at 5 in midafternoon trading on the Nasdaq. The 111 percent gain made the stock the market`s percentage-gain leader on day when the Nasdaq composite index had surged by more than 6 percent. CDNow`s trading volume was almost nine times higher than its daily average.

The share price has tumbled from a 12-month closing high of 23-1/4 in July amid concerns that it could be among the first Internet retailers to fall victim to an industry shakeout.

In a statement on Friday, President and Chief Executive Jason Olim said Fort Washington, Pa.-based CDNow had "attracted a number of interested investors ... We are on schedule with our investment process, and we expect to announce a deal with a merger partner/investor" by June 30.

The company has compiled a short list of prospective investors and merger partners from more than two dozen companies that expressed interest in CDNow.

CDNow said in March that it was seeking a merger partner or investor. That month the company said it could not show it had enough cash to make it through the year, and set up a cost-cutting plan to trim operating expenses by more than $12 million a quarter.

It posted a wider-than-expected first-quarter loss last month of $28.2 million, or 92 cents a share, on revenues of $43.6 million.

Goldman Sachs analyst Anthony Noto said Thursday that CDNow and online grocery retailer Peapod Inc. <PPOD.O> were among companies likely to fall victim to an Internet shakeout.

CDNow also said Friday it averaged 4.7 million visitors a month for three months ended in April, a 6.3 percent rise from the same period a year before.

((--Ian Simpson, Wall Street desk, [phone]))

REUTERS

Rtr 15:50 06-02-00
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Weiterhin Totalverlustrisiko? Würde mich über Meinungen freuen

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Goldman analyst lists online retailers headed for cash crunch

NEW YORK, May 31 (Reuters) - Buy.com <BUYX.O>, Autoweb.com Inc. <AWEB.O> and at least 10 other Internet retailers will have to figure out ways to boost their cash reserves by the end of 2000 or in the first half of 2001, Goldman Sachs` electronic-commerce analyst Anthony Noto said on Wednesday.

Since the beginning of 2000, many online retailers have become painfully aware of an impending shakeout within the sector. Analysts predict a significant consolidation within business-to-consumer electronic commerce that will thin the competitive clutter and help the top retailers extend their leads.

Since the fourth quarter of 1999, seven of the 32 publicly traded consumer e-commerce companies have accessed the capital markets, while others have cut discretionary spending to conserve cash, Noto said in a research note.

Noto, after forecasting each company`s cash position by the end of 2000, said 10 of the 32 will need to raise money, which could prove a challenge for those companies that have yet to display a successful business model and that lack a leadership position within their category.

In contrast, those companies that have reigned supreme within the business-to-consumer e-commerce market, such as retailing behemoth Amazon.com Inc. <AMZN.O> and "name-your-own-price" shopping service Priceline.com Inc. <PCLN.O>, will have enough cash to last them through fiscal 2001 and beyond without having to top up their reserves.

Noto divided so-called "e-tailers" into three tiers based on their cash positions, with online flower and gift retailer 1-800-FLOWERS.COM <FLWS.O> and bookseller Barnesandnoble.com Inc. <BNBN.O> on top, along with the likes of Amazon and Priceline.

Second-tier e-tailers, such as luxury retailer Ashford.com Inc. <ASFD.O> and toy retailer eToys Inc. <ETYS.O>, are among those who will have curb spending in order to conserve cash as well as return to the capital markets for additional funding.

Third-tier companies, which include beleaguered CDNow Inc. <CDNW.O> and Peapod Inc. <PPOD.O>, will have difficulty continuing as "stand-alone" companies and are likely to fall victim to an Internet shakeout, he said.

(( -- Monica Summers, New York Wired Desk, 212.859.1671, [e-mail]))

REUTERS

Rtr 18:36 05-31-00