Untd?

bots2019 · 12-03-2007, 10:06 PM

Just curious if anybody knows what's going on with UNTD (united online).

Seems like it often nosedives then rallies, not sure if there's any real reason...

Thoughts?

terminator · 12-04-2007, 09:11 AM

I owned UNTD for a while. I would assume it is moving these days based on how investors think the Classmates IPO will perform.

On one hand, it's a nice little company with a cash generating business (dial-up Internet) that requires little investment so it has a lot of depreciation and little cap ex. Also, it has the Classmates and MyPoints which are growing revenues quickly. And it pays a nice dividend.

On the other hand, the dial-up business revenues are declining fast (they do offer branded DSL, but I doubt they make much on that) and the profitability on the media content businesses isn't very impressive -- the vast majority of the profits and cash flow are coming from the old dial-up business.

More generally, classmates.com essentially requires a subscription to use it and with MySpace and Facebook out there that is not a winning model IMHO. They were early to the social networking game and established themselves as the premier class reunion site, but in retrospect they really blew it by not having free registration and going with an advertising model IMHO. Instead Classmates.com has recently had anemic (almost flat) subscriber growth -- especially when compared to the other free sites.

It has been a few months since I looked at UNTD though since I sold it back in the summertime to buy something else.

**bssc** · 12-05-2007, 12:05 AM

Still own it. I agree with the comments on the classmates IPO.

terminator · 12-13-2007, 09:10 AM

BAD DAY FOR: Friendly IPOs, after United Online canned the planned spinoff of Classmates-dot-com, which would have been the first IPO of a social networking site. United cited a bad climate for IPOs, but analysts said that Classmates' business model -- both it and competitor Reunion-dot-com charge subscription fees -- make them less appealing than free sites like Facebook and MySpace.

(from Harold Maas column at Yahoo Finance)

12-03-2007, 10:06 PM	#1
bots2019 Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 119	Untd? Just curious if anybody knows what's going on with UNTD (united online). Seems like it often nosedives then rallies, not sure if there's any real reason... Thoughts?

12-05-2007, 12:05 AM	#3
bssc Moderator Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 2,915	Still own it. I agree with the comments on the classmates IPO. __________________ Angels danced on the day that you were born.

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12-04-2007, 09:11 AM	#2
terminator Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 221	I owned UNTD for a while. I would assume it is moving these days based on how investors think the Classmates IPO will perform. On one hand, it's a nice little company with a cash generating business (dial-up Internet) that requires little investment so it has a lot of depreciation and little cap ex. Also, it has the Classmates and MyPoints which are growing revenues quickly. And it pays a nice dividend. On the other hand, the dial-up business revenues are declining fast (they do offer branded DSL, but I doubt they make much on that) and the profitability on the media content businesses isn't very impressive -- the vast majority of the profits and cash flow are coming from the old dial-up business. More generally, classmates.com essentially requires a subscription to use it and with MySpace and Facebook out there that is not a winning model IMHO. They were early to the social networking game and established themselves as the premier class reunion site, but in retrospect they really blew it by not having free registration and going with an advertising model IMHO. Instead Classmates.com has recently had anemic (almost flat) subscriber growth -- especially when compared to the other free sites. It has been a few months since I looked at UNTD though since I sold it back in the summertime to buy something else.

12-13-2007, 09:10 AM	#4
terminator Recycles dryer sheets Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 221	BAD DAY FOR: Friendly IPOs, after United Online canned the planned spinoff of Classmates-dot-com, which would have been the first IPO of a social networking site. United cited a bad climate for IPOs, but analysts said that Classmates' business model -- both it and competitor Reunion-dot-com charge subscription fees -- make them less appealing than free sites like Facebook and MySpace. (from Harold Maas column at Yahoo Finance)

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