Its HOW big?
there are now 1.4 billion people online: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
What are the top internet sites by traffic? visit link here to find out: http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2399
Early-Stage Technology focus:
In KookyPlan, we are busy identifying trends in new technologies that might be of particular interest to early-stage investors. Some of the trends that we are following can be found in our guide to new trends in Technology , including reviews of the following topics:
JPMorgan’s Internet analyst Imran Khan and his team released a massive 312-page report this morning titled Nothing But Net that paints a bullish picture for the major Internet stocks (Google, Amazon, Yahoo, eBay, Expedia, Salesforce.com, Ominiture, ValueClick, Monster.com, Orbitz, Priceline, CNET, etc.). Some key takeaways:
—Noting that, in 2007, Internet stocks delivered a 14 percent return versus 5 percent
for the S&P 500, JPMorgan expects 34 percent earnings growth in 2008 for the Internet stocks it covers versus 8 percent earnings growth for the S&P 500.
—In general, as broadband penetration continues to rise, so do e-commerce revenues:
—But advertising revenues actually outpace the adoption of broadband:
—Free cash flow at large Internet companies will keep going up, fueling M&A and share buybacks. JPMorgan estimates that free cash flow among just five of the top Internet companies (Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, and Expedia) will rise from $8.8 billion last year to $12.5 billion in 2008. That is a lot of money for Web 2.0 acquisitions. Top acquirers Yahoo and Google, for instance, each spend about a third of their free cash flow on acquisitions.
—Search advertising will continue to dominate, rising from $22 billion globally last year to $50 billion in 2010. Here is JPMorgan’s forecast for the U.S. search advertising market (it expects global search revenues to rise 38 percent in 2008 to $30.5 billion):
—And here is its forecast for the U.S. graphical advertising market. Average CPMs for online ads, which bottomed in 2007 at $3.31, will start to rise again (see table below):
—As global GDP continues to grow faster than U.S. GDP (3.9 percent versus 2.2 percent in 2007), Internet companies with global reach will benefit. Amazon, eBay, and Google all get about half their revenues from international markets. Yahoo gets only a quarter of its revenues from abroad.
Concepts (external links)
More Companies (external Links)
Adobe Systems - Adobe Systems is a software company whose product portfolio includes several ubiquitous consumer technologies, including Flash for rich Internet applications and Acrobat... read more
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 Amazon.com - If Amazon’s 66 million active customers all lived in the same country, it would be the world’s 19th most populous country, larger than every European country except... read more
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 Baidu.com - Touted as the Google of China, Baidu has risen to become the number one Chinese language search provider and the most trafficked website in China since its launch six years... read more
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 EBay - eBay's (NASDAQ:EBAY) most prominent business is ebay.com, an Internet auction site that connects individual buyers and sellers worldwide. Its massive popularity--82 million active... read more
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 Google - More than just an online search company, Google is at its core the most successful internet advertising business now in existence. In 2006, annual revenue had increased an... read more
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 GSI Commerce - GSI Commerce (GSIC) is one of the world's leading e-commerce outsourcing firms. GSI's clients are typically retailers who would like to sell over the Internet, but do not yet... read more
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 Microsoft - Microsoft Corporation (NYSE: MSFT) is the world’s largest manufacturer of software, also holding a near-monopoly on desktop operating systems. Recent forays into the... read more
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 Playboy Enterprises - Playboy Enterprises is an adult media corporation that earns revenue from a diverse group of holdings; its businesses range from the world-renowned Playboy magazine to... read more
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 RealNetworks - RealNetworks is a digital media company focusing on expanding its core businesses of casual internet games and digital music distribution to emerging markets outside the... read more
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 Symantec - Symantec Corporation (SYMC), known by many as the producer of the Norton anti-virus program, specializes in providing information security and storage products. Symantec helps... read more
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 Time Warner - Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) is one of the world’s largest media conglomerates. It's properties include Time Warner Cable, America Online, Time Inc., Warner Brothers, and... read more
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 VeriSign - As the market leader for SSL authentication, the system of certificates and tokens that protects most internet transactions, and also as a powerful enterprise security provider,... read more
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 Yahoo! - Yahoo! Inc. (NYSE: YHOO) is an American global Internet services company that operates the Yahoo! Internet portal. It provides a range of products and content, from email and... read more
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Companies
Internet Conglomerates
IAC
11-2007, Barry Diller is finally streamlining his life by deconglomerating IAC. The Internet giant (with quarterly revenues of $1.5 billion) announced this morning that it will break up into five separate companies, each one publicly traded. They will be:
—HSN (the Home Shopping Network, both TV and online
—Ticketmaster
—Lending Tree
—Interval International (a marketplace for vacation timeshares, which will also include CondoDirect, Resort Quest Hawaii and VacationSource.com)
—IAC (the remaining Web businesses, including Ask.com, Bloglines, Citysearch, Evite, iWon, Match.com, BustedTees, and CollegeHumor)
Diller will continue as CEO and chairman of IAC, which still remains somewhat of a grab bag of about 30 Websites. But at least those businesses are starting to finally be able to stand on their own feet. It doesn’t make much sense for them to be weighed down by Lending Tree because of the mortgage credit crisis or overshadowed by the Home Shopping Network. IAC’s holding company model gave shelter to its startups with the earnings of its more established operations, but any troubles in the larger businesses are difficult for teh smaller ones to overcome no matter how fast they are growing.
That will continue to be the case in some respects within the Web-only IAC. While a portfolio approach does help to reduce overall risk, it is not what most investors are looking for (the stock was up nearly 9 percent this morning on the news). IAC is better off spinning off its larger standalone companies. Arguably, it could still benefit by shedding more businesses down the line.
IAC to split properties into five companies — IAC, the large parent company of Ask.com, is splitting into five separate publicly traded companies: Home Shopping Network, IAC, Interval International, Lending Tree and Ticketmaster. CEO Barry Diller characterized the move as a strategic one, intended to allow the disparate units to concentrate on their own respective businesses. He will remain on as chairman of IAC, which will control a number of well-known web properties including Ask.com, Citysearch, Evite and Match.com.
Internet Brands
Internet Brands going public with growing losses, declining sales? — We don’t get this one. The El Segundo, Calif., company has filed to raise $45 million in an IPO. But the company, whose sites include CarsDirect, WikiTravel, FlyerTalk.com among others, swung to a loss of $2.4 million in the first nine months of the year, and saw is revenues decline too. This, after buying 35 start-ups last year, enough to jolt any company. Buyer beware. It is backed by IdeaLab.
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