You are on page 1of 1
By Arik Hessoldaht ‘ant GLAZa must a times feel ke the Roney Danger- eld ofthe Internet He dont setnorespect. ‘At least he didnt get much re- ‘spect this spring, when the com- pany he runs, Zapata Corp., made a bid for the Web portal Excite. From the point of view ‘of Silicon Valley, with its infatua- tion with the concept of synerss, the bid seemed ludicrous. Zapata ‘was, after al, just maker of ish meal. It had offered Excite a measly $17 bilion. ‘What was tha about? ‘But for those who thought 2a. ‘pata would fall off the face ofthe ‘earth, the punchline seems to be ‘that maybe Zapata and its 37- yearold chief executive were ‘savwier than they seemed. ‘Since his humiliating rebuf at ‘the hands of Excite, Glazer has ‘snatched up 30 smaller sites in a bid to transform his Zelig ike holding company into an Inter- net upand-comer with the ‘snappy name of Zap. And if a ‘CBO is judged by his company’s ‘stock, Glazer has done very well indeed recently: Zapata's stock is ‘up some 60 percent since the ‘personality change that brought Zapata tothe Net. "The acquisition binge contin. ued last week as Zapata an ‘nounced the purchase ofits lat- ‘est Internet company, a gaming ‘and entertainment st called At titude Network. “Thisisjusta smal fraction of what we intend to acquire,” Glazer said ina recent interview this spacious home in Pittsford, NX, where he frequently works to avoid the distractions of his foffice in nearby Rochester. “There's no end in sight.” Wearing Khaki pants and a day's growth of whiskers, Glazer ‘described his strategy for cret- Inga new Intemet portal. He sad Ihe sees a flaw in the model of ex- ‘sting portals—namely, that such ‘companies don't own their own ‘content. That will come back to ‘haunt them, Glazer said. “The Yahoos ofthe Internet are ‘getting the short-term benefits of ‘Signing deals with, say, CDnow,” ‘sid Glaser. “But eventually, peo- ple are going to figure out that ‘you dont needto goto Yahoo fist ‘before you go to CDnow: “its ikea show on CBS adver- tising on NBC,” he added. "Its ‘reat for NBC profits this year, Dut next year the viewers will Just tur to CBS." ‘Glazer may be indulging in a China, Sted internat Te Law 1962 — Washington University, St Loi, Miser BS, Besesskdistratioe ‘Skills Specs in eying, onan fr casita Personal years od, arid, two chen litle revisionist history, of course. After all, Zapata did ‘choose one ofthe non-content- ‘owning portals (Excite) for its frst big acquisition bid. And ‘whether Glazer can tum the rela- tively unknown sites Zapata has bought into brand names seems a questionable proposition. ‘Aferal, Time Warners Walter Isaacson wasnt able to figure ‘out the content side ofthe Net. Bill Gates hasnt yet done so, e- ther, Who is Avram Glazer to thinke can do better? ‘What increases the skepticism about Glazer is that his position ‘as mover and shaker is atleast fortune has been amassed not through expertise in any one area—another source of Suspi- ion in technology-obsessed Si- con Valley—but through an eye for undervalued assets and a seemingly boundless. oppor- tunis. To reinvigorate his Iner- net initiative after the failure with Exeite, Glazer ran promi- nent display advertisements in newspapers about his interest in buying inemet sites. ‘Over the years, Glazer’ father “Malcolm has owned bg pieces of Corp, comprises the biggest piece of Zapata, the $117-lion- ‘year company has other sgnif- cant holdings, too. “What [the Glazers} are good. musing out of big sites as they try to build an audience, there are ‘many more modestly rnspecialty ‘sites that already eke outa living, “Many of the sites we've been looking at are profitable, but on ‘a small scale,” Glazer sai. “Think how much money they could make i they had twice the advertising” An Internet arriviste. Indeed, Glazer said a big part of the value Zapata can provide 1 its growing family of sites is ‘centralization of business opera- tions, like advertising and f- ‘ance. Tp his credit, Glazer has ‘not portrayed himself as the ‘manager to take these far-flung ‘Web enterprises and make their ‘sum into something greater than their parts. He seems to be hop- ng to delegate that task o some “ofthe executives joining Zap as a result fast week’ Atitude Net- ‘work acquisition [story, belo]. ‘One ean understand Glazer's ‘optimism. If he seems wet be- hind the ears to many in Silicon Valley, to Zapata's shareholders he is a sudden hero, Zapata's ‘stock, as low as $2.50 a share in 1905, was trading Friday after- ‘noon above $18. “just got off the phone with

You might also like