Actually I got it of StreetSmart Pro early yesterday morning. I have no idea why the stock did not respond more yesterday. Maybe because the distribution was limited and did not hit the main wires. I do not subscribe to any news wires. I do know wht you mean by Schwab news feed though.
VeriSign to Break Off Units VeriSign Inc. has become the second Internet conglomerate in as many weeks
signal its intention to break off numerous peripheral business units and
on its core technologies. Reflecting the difficulty in unifying disparate Internet technologies under one roof, the Mountain View-based company's streamlining move, announced Wednesday, comes 10 days after media mogul Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp announced it will split into five publicly traded companies. Both IAC and VeriSign want to whittle down their operations to placate investors disenchanted with expansion that has cast the companies into markets far afield from their primary technologies _ and weighed down their stock. The volatility in their far-flung Internet businesses has made it hard for investors to gauge the growth prospects of both parent companies, officials
the companies said. Overseeing a variety of technology companies can also
engineering and other resources away from more profitable business divisions. Some VeriSign investors worried about the nearly $1.5 billion acquisition spree that started in 2004 under former Chief Executive Stratton Sclavos,
abruptly resigned in May for undisclosed reasons after 12 years as CEO. The spending was seen as unfocused and excessive. VeriSign and IAC are both trying to convince investors they can thrive as smaller companies. In VeriSign's case, it seems to be working: The company's shares rose 55
to close at $33.70 on Wednesday. Altogether this year, the stock has risen
percent, partly following a management shakeup and the resolution of a stock options accounting mess. Sterling Auty, an analyst with J.P. Morgan Securities, said in a note to investors Wednesday that because of the decision to sell off a still-unspecified number of business units, VeriSign's "long-term growth
profitability could be a bit better than people thought." The company's shares should continue rising when the company is smaller and more profitable, Auty said. For the first nine months of the year, VeriSign earned $76 million in profit on $1.1 billion in sales. Investors have been less sanguine about IAC, whose shares jumped 7 percent when its breakup was announced Nov. 5 but have since fallen back to previous levels. The stock, which declined 78 cents to close at $28.99 on Wednesday, has fallen 23 percent this year. IAC intends to spin off its HSN home shopping network, its Interval time-share business, the LendingTree mortgage referral unit and the Ticketmaster service. About 30 Web-only brands, including the Ask.com search engine _ which IAC bought for $1.7 billion in 2005 _ Match.com, Evite, Citysearch and Excite, would remain as part of IAC. Some analysts praised the move, to be completed in the second or third quarter next year, as a way to reinvigorate the company. But others were concerned
The company now boasts a boggling lineup of products and services. The
units up for sale are the communications division, which focuses on telecommunications routing technologies, and a unit that processes billing transactions for wireless providers. "We're getting a lot of interest," Roper said in an interview, declining
name a price for any division. "It's not a matter of these being cats and
that nobody's interested in. It's just a matter of, we might not be the
home for those businesses." The company has not selected all divisions to be sold, he said. However, the divisions VeriSign plans to sell, or is considering selling, include some of the company's biggest recent acquisitions: mobile billing specialist m-Qube, which VeriSign bought last year for $269 million; LightSurf Technologies, which specializes in wireless messaging technologies and VeriSign bought in 2005 for $275 million; and Jamba, a content services company that VeriSign bought for $266 million in 2004. News Provided by Acquire Media Corporation
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