A study conducted for BARRON's by Internet stock
evaluation firm Pegasus Research Int'l "indicates that at
least 51 'Net firms will burn through their cash within the
next 12 months," according to Jack Willoughby of BARRON'S.
Willoughby: "It's no secret that most Internet companies
continue to be money-burners. ... For many, there seems to
be little realistic hope of profits in the near future."
Pegasus' survey "assumed that the firms in the study would
continue booking revenues and expenses at the same rate they
did in last year's fourth quarter," and while Willoughby
notes this measure "cannot predict the future precisely," it
"helps answer a question that has been nagging many stock-
market analysts: When will the crowded Internet industry
begin to be winnowed?" Of the 207 Internet companies in the
Pegasus survey, 74% had "negative cash flows." Among the
sites that Pegasus cited could be "burn victims" and exhaust
their cash reserves are: Tickets.com (about nine months);
Quokka Sports (12-plus months), Fogdog (15 months) and
SportsLine (19 months) (BARRON'S, 3/20 issue).
