While PGA Tour developmental-tour sponsor Buy.com lost
$66.4M in the first half of 2000, and "is expected to
announce a third-quarter loss of several million dollars"
next week, the PGA Tour remains "upbeat" as the "one-year
anniversary of signing Buy.com" as tour title sponsor nears,
according to Geoff Russell of GOLF WORLD. As part of the
five-year sponsorship agreement signed last year, Buy.com
pays $8.5M annually and issued the Tour 1.125 million shares
of stock. The shares are currently trading below $3, "down
from more than $35 in February." Russell wrote that "with
the stock nosediving, tour officials are examining what to
do" when they are able to sell their shares beginning in
early 2001. Buy.com Tour COO Bill Calfee: "Obviously, we're
not in a hurry to sell." Calfee calls Buy.com a "great
partner, and we have together significantly raised the
impact of the tour." Buy.com CFO Mitch Hill says the
sponsorship "has given us a lot of brand awareness, that's
what we were looking for." When asked if Buy.com would make
the same deal in today's different economic climate, Hill
said, "The reality is that we did do the deal and we believe
in our commitments and we're absolutely going to make the
best of our situation" (GOLF WORLD, 10/20 issue).
