National Discount Brokers Corp.
Monday signed a deal with Go2Net, making it the exclusive online broker across the Web network for the next three years.
Go2Net (GNET)
will receive an annual minimum payment of $7.5 million from NDB.com during
the three-year term. The total value of the deal is estimated at about $30
million.
The deal also includes a marketing and promotion factor, in which NDB.com
will be featured throughout the Go2Net Network and Silicon Investor, Go2Net’s premier
financial discussion and information site. Investment firm Vulcan Ventures
and Go2Net will purchase 500,000 shares of common stock of National Discount
Brokers Group at a purchase price of $27 per share and warrants to purchase
an additional 500,000 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $33 per
share.
Go2Net will develop a co-branded version of the Silicon Investor
financial discussion boards to allow NDB.com’s clients view and post messages
within NDB.com. As part of the agreement, Vulcan Ventures Inc. and Go2Net
have agreed to purchase up to 1 million shares of common stock of from
NDB.com’s parent company, National Discount Brokers Group Inc. (NDB).
Go2Net Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Russell C. Horowitz will join
the National Discount Brokers Group board of directors.
The agreement makes Silicon Investor, acquired and incorporated into the
Go2Net Network in 1998, the first online financial discussion site with
complete brokerage capabilities, complementing Silicon Investor’s community,
financial research, analytics and editorial content offerings. Silicon
Investor and NDB.com expect to have seamless content integration.
“This is an important agreement on many levels, as National Discount Brokers
is exceptionally well positioned to not only meet the needs of Silicon
Investor’s membership, but to excel in an online marketplace that demands
high levels of quality brokerage services,” said Russell C. Horowitz, Go2Net
chairman and CEO.
