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Murky Future
PSINet canceled its March 29 earnings Webcast, raising doubts on whether the embattled telecom company will survive. To comply with the Securities and Exchange Commissions regulations, the company has to file financial reports no later than April 2, with an option for one extension. If it fails to do so, PSINets stock could be delisted from the Nasdaq. Efforts are under way to renegotiate bond payments, and PSINet is still seeking a buyer.
April 3: Back the Net Day
Efforts were spreading to promote “Back the Net Day” on April 3. Supporters were urging people to donate online, make at least one purchase on the Net or buy 10 shares in a company they support.
Real Deals
Three big record companies are reportedly negotiating to license their music to RealNetworks for use in its planned MusicNet subscription service. AOL Time Warners music group, EMI Group and Bertelsmanns BMG Entertainment are all reportedly negotiating with RealNetworks, which offers a player for streaming media.
IPO, Finally
Agere Systems, Lucent Technologies communications chip business, made its market debut at $6.03 per share. The offering raised about $3.6 billion, making it the fifth-largest IPO, and raised the company valuation to about $9.89 billion. Agere had expected to raise $6.5 billion.
Dump Verisign?
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers should reject a new agreement with VeriSign when it votes on the deal April 2, an advisory group to ICANN has recommended. Under the new deal, VeriSign would control the dot-com registry for the foreseeable future and keep its retail domain name.