Spurred by a slew of recent Net stock offering success stories, iVillage filed to sell up to US$46 million worth of shares in an offering of its own.
The company didn't disclose the number or price of shares for sale in the offering, which will be underwritten by Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse First Boston, and Hambrecht & Quist.
Based in Manhattan, iVillage operates a network of 12 sites tailored to women's tastes. Its properties include Better Health, Fitness & Beauty, Food, Parent Soup, and Relationships. Together, the sites get about 77 million page views per month.
The company makes its money by selling advertising space to firms that want to reach a female audience. Advertisers like to target spots to women because they make about 70 percent of the consumer purchase decisions in the average household.
Attractive demographic or not, iVillage is losing money. For the nine months ended 30 September, the firm lost almost $35 million against revenues of just $10 million. Its cumulative deficit tops $65 million.
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Infoseek, Disney Set to Go: Six months after they began working together, The Walt Disney Co. (DIS) and Infoseek (SEEK) will trot out a trial version of their long-awaited joint portal site on Sunday.
The Go Network will meld Infoseek's search engine with Disney sites like ESPN.com and ABCnews.com. The companies will test the site for a month before announcing the official launch date. An expensive national marketing campaign, financed by Infoseek, will follow.
The companies have been working together since June, when Disney entered a complex pact with Infoseek to purchase 43 percent of Infoseek in exchange for US$71 million. Infoseek also agreed to buy Starwave, a developer of Internet programming, from Disney.
Investors responded to the news by bidding up Infoseek's stock $3.50, nearly 10 percent, to $43.50 in morning trading on the Nasdaq.
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MS investing in investors: Microsoft will plunk down between $5 million and $10 million to invest in as many as 10 venture capital firms, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The report, quoting Microsoft's chief financial officer, said Redmond is talking with Benchmark Capital and other prominent venture capital firms in Silicon Valley.
By investing in these firms, the world's largest software company hopes to keep abreast of innovative start-ups with ideas that might turn into the next billion-dollar industry. Venture capital firms usually have the best view of the technology landscape.
Microsoft has reportedly made investments in two VC firms already, CMG Information Services (CMGI) and Accel Partners. But Microsoft is still getting the cold shoulder from some firms. Sequoia Capital has not responded to Microsoftian overtures, the Journal said.
