Jan 11, 2002 : The webhost industry: week review
📅 - It was a frustrating week for technology stocks, as the Nasdaq couldn't seem to decide on a definite direction.
Much of the up-and-down nature of this week's activity, which kept the index in the 2,000 to 2,100 range, was due to cautious investors unsure of the economic road ahead in 2002.
It was another busy week for public hosting firms, with numerous new clients, acquisitions and other announcements to keep track of.
Sprint E | Solutions, the Internet division of communications giant Sprint Corp., had an extremely busy week. The company announced three new hosting clients this week, including mega-portal Yahoo! According to Sprint, Yahoo! will use Sprint's Silicon Valley Internet Center in Northern California for its "newest deployment of hosting requirements."
The announcement, which was made Wednesday, came on the heels of a statement from the company Monday welcoming real-time software provider Centra and life science firm PerkinElmer, Inc. as clients. Both companies will be managed from Sprint's Boston, Mass. IDC.
While Monday's announcements didn't seem to help the company's stock much, they made a strong recovery Thursday, and were trading at $19.51 Friday morning.
Thursday was a big day for Web software and services firm divine Inc., as the company announced it had completed it acquisition of Web hosting firm Data Return.
Divine purchased the company for $33 million worth of stock in early November.
As part of the agreement, shared in Data Return ceased trading January 9th. Although still under a dollar, shares in divine have made a significant recovery since the deal was first announced, and were trading at 83 cents early Friday.
Aside from Sprint's announcement regarding Yahoo! Wendesday, a couple of other companies also announced new hosting clients. Telecommunications firm WorldCom said it had been selected by computer provider eMachines to host and manage the Web site for the company's new online direct sales channel. Meanwhile, European communications firm Ebone said it had been selected to host, manage and maintain Virgin Holidays' online travel site. Virgin Holidays is the largest tour operator in the UK.
WorldCom also got a bit of good news Tuesday when managed hosting firm Digex, a WorldCom subsidiary, said Tuesday that Microsoft's eBusiness Acceleration Center, a technology competence center in Nice, France, has chosen Digex UK to host its infrastructure.
Shares in WorldCom dipped slightly this week, losing approximately 50 cents for the week heading in to Friday afternoon.
Also of note from Tuesday: SME hosting firm Interland announced it had decided not to further pursue its bid for e.spire Communications' Web hosting subsidiaries, FloridaNet, Inc. and CyberGate, Inc.
"As we've committed to our shareholders, Interland will only acquire business when it meets our strategic objectives and accelerates our path to profitability. While we did believe the accounts could be a good strategic fit for Interland, at the current bid price, along with the associated liabilities, we do not feel the acquisition would provide an acceptable rate of return for our shareholders," said Interland CFO David Buckel.
e.Spire Chairman George F. Schmitt, who offered $15.5 million in early December only to be outbid by Interland, had the winning bid for the company at $23 million. According to the terms of the purchase agreement approved by Delaware's Bankruptcy Court, the sale will close on or about January 23, 2002. Schmitt will take full control of CyberGate at that time.
Shares in Interland made slight gains this week, picking up about 20 cents. Interland was trading at $2.32 late Monday morning.
And finally, broadband provider Covad Communications, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, said it had purchased the assets of California-based ISP InternetConnect for $7.35 million. InternetConnect has been in bankruptcy since May 2001.
Shares in Covad, which have traded as low as 32 cents in over the past 52 weeks, were trading at $2.84 Friday afternoon.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will make a speech Friday afternoon that investors are hoping will help indicate the true state of the U.S. economy; look for his words to dictate the direction of markets for the next few days, tech stocks included.
Much of the up-and-down nature of this week's activity, which kept the index in the 2,000 to 2,100 range, was due to cautious investors unsure of the economic road ahead in 2002.
It was another busy week for public hosting firms, with numerous new clients, acquisitions and other announcements to keep track of.
Sprint E | Solutions, the Internet division of communications giant Sprint Corp., had an extremely busy week. The company announced three new hosting clients this week, including mega-portal Yahoo! According to Sprint, Yahoo! will use Sprint's Silicon Valley Internet Center in Northern California for its "newest deployment of hosting requirements."
The announcement, which was made Wednesday, came on the heels of a statement from the company Monday welcoming real-time software provider Centra and life science firm PerkinElmer, Inc. as clients. Both companies will be managed from Sprint's Boston, Mass. IDC.
While Monday's announcements didn't seem to help the company's stock much, they made a strong recovery Thursday, and were trading at $19.51 Friday morning.
Thursday was a big day for Web software and services firm divine Inc., as the company announced it had completed it acquisition of Web hosting firm Data Return.
Divine purchased the company for $33 million worth of stock in early November.
As part of the agreement, shared in Data Return ceased trading January 9th. Although still under a dollar, shares in divine have made a significant recovery since the deal was first announced, and were trading at 83 cents early Friday.
Aside from Sprint's announcement regarding Yahoo! Wendesday, a couple of other companies also announced new hosting clients. Telecommunications firm WorldCom said it had been selected by computer provider eMachines to host and manage the Web site for the company's new online direct sales channel. Meanwhile, European communications firm Ebone said it had been selected to host, manage and maintain Virgin Holidays' online travel site. Virgin Holidays is the largest tour operator in the UK.
WorldCom also got a bit of good news Tuesday when managed hosting firm Digex, a WorldCom subsidiary, said Tuesday that Microsoft's eBusiness Acceleration Center, a technology competence center in Nice, France, has chosen Digex UK to host its infrastructure.
Shares in WorldCom dipped slightly this week, losing approximately 50 cents for the week heading in to Friday afternoon.
Also of note from Tuesday: SME hosting firm Interland announced it had decided not to further pursue its bid for e.spire Communications' Web hosting subsidiaries, FloridaNet, Inc. and CyberGate, Inc.
"As we've committed to our shareholders, Interland will only acquire business when it meets our strategic objectives and accelerates our path to profitability. While we did believe the accounts could be a good strategic fit for Interland, at the current bid price, along with the associated liabilities, we do not feel the acquisition would provide an acceptable rate of return for our shareholders," said Interland CFO David Buckel.
e.Spire Chairman George F. Schmitt, who offered $15.5 million in early December only to be outbid by Interland, had the winning bid for the company at $23 million. According to the terms of the purchase agreement approved by Delaware's Bankruptcy Court, the sale will close on or about January 23, 2002. Schmitt will take full control of CyberGate at that time.
Shares in Interland made slight gains this week, picking up about 20 cents. Interland was trading at $2.32 late Monday morning.
And finally, broadband provider Covad Communications, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, said it had purchased the assets of California-based ISP InternetConnect for $7.35 million. InternetConnect has been in bankruptcy since May 2001.
Shares in Covad, which have traded as low as 32 cents in over the past 52 weeks, were trading at $2.84 Friday afternoon.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan will make a speech Friday afternoon that investors are hoping will help indicate the true state of the U.S. economy; look for his words to dictate the direction of markets for the next few days, tech stocks included.
Reads: 1341 | Category: General | Source: TheWHIR : Web Host Industry Reviews
URL source: http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/wrap011102.cfm
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