Q: How do you lose $1.3Bn in a single quarter? A: Private Jet.

-Ian.

——– http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/010925/n25302148_4.html

Tuesday September 25, 6:03 pm Eastern Time

CMGI Q4 loss doubles, sees 2002 revenue off (UPDATE: Adds details about 2002 outlook in paragraph 2, byline)

By Tim McLaughlin

BOSTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) – CMGI Inc., the beleaguered owner of search engine AltaVista, on Tuesday reported that its fourth-quarter net loss doubled to nearly $1.3 billion as it struggles to keep its stable of Internet companies afloat. ADVERTISEMENT

Andover, Massachusetts-based CMGI also warned that its revenue for the current 2002 fiscal year would fall about 10 percent below fiscal 2001 levels as it reduces its portfolio of Internet properties. Once the darling of Internet investors, CMGI has lost the interest of Wall Street as its stock has declined steadily since March 2000.

After the market closed, CMGI said it posted a net loss of $1.27 billion in the fourth quarter, or $3.70 per share. That compared with a net loss of $633.7 million, or $2.17 a share, in the year-ago quarter.

The wider loss comes as CMGI marked down the value of Internet investments such as Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd., which was written down by $187.5 million.

CMGI said it expects to break even on a recurring operating basis during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2002, which ends July 31. But the firm is taking a series of drastic measures to conserve its dwindling supply of cash.

CMGI has ceased funding the operations of Internet access provider NaviPath and agreed to sell its Webcasting firm Activate.com to Loudeye Technologies Inc. (NasdaqNM:LOUD – news). In addition, CMGI’s majority-owned Web hosting firm, NaviSite Inc. (NasdaqNM:NAVI – news), on Tuesday said it could run out of money in the current quarter and could receive a “going concern” opinionfrom its auditors.

With Internet ad spending in a protracted decline, CMGI’s fourth-quarter revenue fell 32 percent to $255.5 million, compared with $377.2million in the year-ago quarter.

CMGI also has been losing executives, such as its long-time chief financial officer and the chief executive of Engage Inc.(NasdaqNM:ENGA – news), its majority-owned online marketing company.

Meanwhile, CMGI ended the fiscal year on July 31 with cash and cash equivalents of $710.7 million, and now stands at $677.7 million, said George McMillan, CMGI’s new CFO. The firm said it expects to exit fiscal year 2002 with more than $325 million.

CMGI’s stock closed up 1 cent at $1.19 on Tuesday, far below its year high of $37.38. The stock is off about 83 percent this year, underperforming the 39 percent decline on Nasdaq.

——– http://digitalmass.boston.com/news/2001/09/11/cmgi.html

CMGI’s CEO sues over airplane troubles By Globe Staff and Wires, 9/11/2001   

CMGI Inc. chief executive David Wetherell has sued General Electric Co. and Bombardier Inc., saying an airplane and engines made by the companies were defective.

Wetherell bought a $23 million Challenger 604 plane in February 2001; it later suffered two separate engine failures while in flight, according to the July complaint.

Wetherell is seeking a refund for the plane and for expenses such as alternative transportation and attorney’s fees, according to a letter Wetherell’s attorney sent to Bombardier, which made the plane.

GE made the engines.

(Bloomberg)

Hey guys, thought we could use a little humor during our pitching efforts this week… check out what some of the shameless PR firms are doing…

In Attacks’ Wake, PR Firms Find Their Pitches Fall Flat By JENNIFER ORDONEZ and MATTHEW ROSE Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Shortly after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, public-relations executive Nicole Wolfe pitched two reporters on a story about Upromise, a company that helps people save for their children’s college education.

“Unfortunately, today’s crisis in DC and New York is not the only crisis to hit American families,” Ms. Wolfe wrote in an e-mail. “There is also a HUGE debt crisis in America, which is only augmented by parents’ lack of saving for college.”

Ms. Wolfe’s former boss, Philip A. Nardone, the president of PAN Communications in Andover, Mass., says the company had given explicit instructions to hold off on all pitches after the attacks to avoid offending anyone. She apologized to the reporters but pitched the story again, says Mr. Nardone, who asked her to resign. Ms. Wolfe couldn’t be reached for comment.

As public-relations executives get back to the business of pitching stories about their clients to the media, they’re finding how tough it can be to relate to the news without going too far.

DeLyon-Hunt & Associates, a PR agency based in Redondo Beach, Calif., says it was hoping to ease the nation’s post-attack doldrums when it sent out a media alert about the Kit-Cat Klock, a wall clock in the shape of a cat.

“Through America’s toughest time the Kit-Cat Klock has brightened our days for 70 years, through the Great Depression, World War II, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, Desert Storm and several recessions. Å  We thought you might be interested in a historical profile of the clock in light of current events.”

On Sept. 13, Quantum Tech of Memphis, Tenn., issued a press release under the headline: “WTC Collapse Highlights Need for Quantum Tech’s Remote Backup.” The release described how one of the company’s customers “was able to function the very next day” even though it had offices in the World Trade Center because it “used an off-site remote backup facility that stored its data safely.”

Just five minutes later, the company retracted the release. “Almost everybody called me and accused me of cashing in on the disaster,” says the release’s author, Rob Cosgrove, chief executive of Quantum in Memphis, Tenn. “They were really nasty and we were dumbfounded. But in hindsight I can see why people were upset.”

Meredith Coleman, an account supervisor at New York PR agency Bliss, Gouverneur & Associates Inc., says the firm waited until this week before sending “Branding in Troubled Times,” an e-mail pitch to promote the branding agency Sterling Group. “I suppose it could be self-serving,” she says. “But I saw it as helping companies to revitalize their brand.”

It isn’t easy to know what to say in the face of an unprecedented tragedy like the World Trade Center disaster. Complicating things is the amount of space and time media outlets are devoting to the recent attacks. In some cases, firms are evaluating whether it’s even worth the time, effort and risk of offending someone to pitch anything new.

“I wouldn’t want to try to fit a new Frito Lay [product] introduction into a tragedy,” says David Drobis, chairman of Ketchum Inc., a unit of Omnicom Group Inc. “But I’m sure I could.”

The Council of Public Relations Firms, which represents 80% of the top 50 firms, held an emergency meeting on Monday to help companies figure out how to maneuver through this difficult landscape. The PR industry, which grew 30% in each of the past two years, was suffering from a slowdown even before the attacks because of the slumping economy.

Jack Bergen, president of the council, says if PR firms don’t get back to business quickly, industry revenue could fall an additional 5% to 10%. “Clients are very apprehensive,” he says. “There’s no precedent for what we’re engaging in right now.”

Some companies are trying to get their names out there tastefully by offering their executives as experts, or promoting the insights their businesses can offer. Among the recent headlines on the press-release wires: “PRIMEDIA Experts Available To Discuss Terrorist Attacks’ Impact On Major U.S. Economic Sectors” from Primedia Inc., a magazine publisher; and “American Fire Retardant Corp. Favors Steps to ‘Harden’ Buildings Against Terrorists.”

Michael W. Kempner, chief executive of MWW Group, has told his employees to hold off, mostly, on putting out press releases. Still, he was eager to help underscore the good deeds of clients like the New York-area operators of McDonald’s restaurants, who gave out free food to New York relief workers. “The publicity happened — we didn’t manufacture it,” Mr. Kempner says. “Not only was the food hot, but there was something comforting about it.”

At least one PR firm used the down time to pitch itself. “How do we deal with our clients and business?” wrote Shannon Vander Hook, a public-relations assistant at New York-based Adam Friedman Associates, in an e-mail pitch. “I am wondering if you are interested in a story on or related to this topic, as I feel that it taps into many of the issues surrounding this terrible time.”

—— End of Forwarded Message

Wireless is HOT, for sure. Two Canadian companies, Research in Motion (RIM.TO) and Burnaby’s Sierra Wireless (SW.TO).. each of which have seen at least 200% market cap growth in the last year.

That’s a big reason why, after hearing very little from you all, I’ve decided to hold on my PALM shares for a while. 🙂

-Ian.

>Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 02:13:09 -0800 (PST)
>From: Adam Rifkin -4K
>To: fork [at] xent [dot] com
>Subject: CMGi Goes Wireless…
>
>Here’s my “Cliff’s Notes” version of the last five years of Internet
>investment trends. [Yes, I know everyone here is going to disagree with
>me, no need to post your disagreements.]
>
>In 1996, push was hot. Then, instant messaging was hot.
>In 1997, ISPs were hot. Then, portals were hot.
>In 1998, e-commerce was hot. Then, broadband was hot.
>In 1999, infrastructure was hot. Then, b2b was hot.
>In 2000, wireless is hot.
>
>So how does CMGi survive as a publicly traded Internet stock from year
>to year? What it means to be CMGi is this: whatever new hot trend
>emerges in the market, make sure everyone knows that you’re there. It
>was just a matter of time before CMGi announced they have a “wireless
>strategy”, and this one came a good 48 hours before the Ignition article
>in the New York Times that Rohit just forwarded…
>
>Even so, the following is a pretty ballsy claim, being as CMGi knows
>nothing about wireless:
> > “We see more than 50 percent (of new investments) in wireless and
> > broadband,’ Hans Hawrysz, CMGI executive vice president of corporate
> > strategy, said in an interview following a presentation at a PaineWebber
> > Internet conference held here.
>
>CMGi’s usual protocol is to hire experts in the new domains into which
>they are entering, so I’ll be watching for those critical hires.
>In the meantime, the “Big Daddy” of the “Wireless Web” is Infospace —
>or so it has been able to convince the market.
>
>It was just two months ago, after all, that CMGi was hiring b2b experts
>to help them manage their $1 billion b2b fund. (That fund’s latest
>investment, I kid you not, is a $12 million investment in GoFish.com,
>the “Internet’s first seafood market maker” which has closed more than
>$41 million in venture funding during its first six months of
>operations. GoFish is headquartered in that hotbed of Internet
>development: Portland, Maine. 🙂
>
>It’s just business as usual in the “Nasdaq 5000 World”. A world in
>which this week alone Benchmark announced a $500 million European fund,
>and Softbank countered two days later with a $1 billion European fund.
>There is simply way too much liquidity out there to make the bubble
>end anytime soon. [And yes, Rimpinths, you can quote me on that.
>Thanks for forwarding my FoRK comments to The Motley Fool as I’ve been
>too busy lately to post there. :]
>
> > CMGI plans expansion to new markets and regions
> > By Nicole Volpe
> >
> > NEW YORK, March 7 (Reuters) – Internet venture pioneer CMGI Inc. on
> > Tuesday outlined plans for financing the next stages of the Internet
> > revolution, including wireless Web access and Web-enabling businesses,
> > moving beyond its earlier focus on consumer Internet investments.
> >
> > In addition, a CMGI executive, which is known for its early backing of
> > Web companies such as Lycos Inc., said the company would make between
> > one and three acquisitions per month during 2000 in hopes of capturing
> > new hyper-growth markets.
> >
> > “We see more than 50 percent (of new investments) in wireless and
> > broadband,’ Hans Hawrysz, CMGI executive vice president of corporate
> > strategy, said in an interview following a presentation at a PaineWebber
> > Internet conference held here.
> >
> > He was referring to the hot areas of providing high-speed Internet
> > access over cable and phone lines and links to devices such as
> > cellphones. Hawrysz said he was surprised at how recent fascination with
> > wireless Internet access has eclipsed interest in high-speed Internet
> > access as the hottest Internet topic.
> >
> > “One surprising trend is… how broadband has receded and mobile has
> > come up to the front,’ he said. “Wireless has clearly taken over.’
> >
> > Hawrysz said the company would also devote attention and investments
> > toward online services that connect businesses to their suppliers and
> > customers, an area expected to become much larger than current
> > consumer-focused Internet businesses.
> >
> > “We see CMGI…as a competing force in this market as well,’ he said.
> >
> > Andover, Mass.-based CMGI has recently set out plans international
> > expansion through strategic partnerships, to markets such as Asia,
> > Europe and Latin America.
> >
> > CMGI will use partnerships with international heavyweights such as
> > Compaq Computer Corp., the world’s largest computer maker which owns
> > about 17 percent of CMGI, in its bid to branch out, Hawrysz said.
> >
> > CMGI currently maintains a stable of some 65 companies, which
> > collaborate efforts for growth in their respective markets
>
>—-
>Adam [at] 4K-Associates [dot] com
>
>The past may not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.
> — Mark Twain