DISNEY TO OFFER NEW STOCK FOR WEB BUSINESSES TODAY.Byline: Kim Curtis Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney Co. shareholders approved a plan on Wednesday to set up a separate stock for Disney's Web ventures in hopes of capitalizing on the phenomenal boom in Internet investments. The new stock, which begins trading today as ``GO'' on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. , represents the merging of Disney's Buena Vista Internet Group and Infoseek Corp., which Disney is buying for more than $2 billion. The action leaves Burbank-based Disney ``exceptionally well-positioned'' for future Internet growth, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael D. Eisner told about 500 stockholders at Wednesday's special meeting. The Go Network, at www.go.com, marries one of the Internet's top search engines with Web sites including the ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network cable channel, the ABC television ABC Television may refer to:
``Our company already is a strong presence on the Internet, with Disney.com, the No. 1 kids' site; ESPN.com, the No. 1 sports site; and ABCNews.com, the fastest-growing news site,'' he said. But Disney shares have languished while Internet competitors such as Yahoo! and AOL.com, have enjoyed booming stock growth. Offering a separate Internet stock Internet stock The equity security of a company engaged primarily in a business associated with the Internet. Also called dot-com. will help Disney capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. its cyberspace presence as new technology enables more customers to get programming directly from the Internet into their homes quickly and inexpensively. ``As computer processing power increases and the advent of broadband enables the streaming of full motion video, the Internet will become a medium for the delivery of entertainment, rather than just data,'' Eisner said. Eisner acknowledged Disney's stock has performed poorly and that Infoseek and Buena Vista have lost money, but ``when we get to a broadband world, that's where Disney will step ahead,'' he said. Disney revenues have lagged recently, sending its stock from a yearlong high of nearly $39 last January to a low of $23.375 last month. Disney stock closed at $25.937 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, down 18.75 cents. Sixty-three percent of shareholders who voted Wednesday in San Jose approved the change, which also reclassifies shares in Disney's non-Internet holdings as Disney Group Common Stock. |
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