They’re back, again. Internet stocks. The group pops on positive news surrounding deals and the newfound realization that interest rates may not be all the bogeyman it’s made up to be. We’re getting back to ISDEX levels not seen since late May. The current ISDEX value is 523.17 with a change of+29.30(+5.93%).
AOL (NYSE:AOL) continues to have a penchant for satellite for broadband dreams as it agrees to invest $1.5 billion in Hughes DirectTV efforts. AOL also cut a deal with Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) for satellite receivers. ‘AOL-TV and AOL Plus are the services the online giant wants to beam from above. A good move but I’d like to see a multi-platform broadband strategy: satellite, cable, DSL.
Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) denies a rumor that it and Reuters’ Instinet ECN digital stock exchange are working on a partnership, according to CBSMarketWatch reports. I think the rumored deal makes sense and also that the industry is moving in that direction. In a rival effort on my radar, Paul Allen bought part of Datek and Island, and owns a chunk of Go2Net (NASDAQ:GNET) (which owns Silicon Investor).
CDNow (NASDAQ:CDNW) twists and shouts on rumors that German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom may be interested in acquiring a stake in the online music etailer. I believe some entity — DT or other — could use CDNow as a platform to sell anything.
Salon.com (NASAQ:SALN) sells 2.5 million shares at $10.50 through WRHambrecht’s OpenIPO system, what I think offers elements of a next-generation IPO auction process. A sort of ‘eBay for stocks’ is one view of the future. On Salon.com itself I am not a fan of booking barter as revenue. Its ‘Beltway-esque’ content is also a niche. Pure content sites face challenges in scaling in Internet ways. However, Salon.com added TheWell’s discussion communities to its fold to address the issue somewhat.
