Takeover hunger is stirring at SwissOnline
The ex-videotext provider is eager to expand - owner NTL puts in the financial cushion
The ex-teletext provider is eager to expand - owner NTL provides the financial cushionIn the past few years, SwissOnline has lagged far behind the general growth of the industry. The initial capital of 100,000 teletext customers has been joined by just 40,000 Internet customers since the company was founded in 1994. Competitors such as Sunrise, Blue Window or Datacomm grew considerably faster in the same period. However, SwissOnline is currently catching up enormously. In April, the portal was relaunched and a new job platform was launched, which combines the job offerings of Swissclick, Human Line, Top Jobs and Jobs&Adverts. At the beginning of May, a cooperation agreement was signed with the Swedish co-shopping site Letsbuyit.com.
But SwissOnline landed the hammer in mid-May. In one week, the provider announced two takeovers: Mediatex and Swissguide. Mediatex operates Swisstalk, the largest Swiss chat platform with over 200,000 registered users. The Internet directory Swissguide is also impressive with 11000 visitors daily. Swissguide is now to be turned into the Electronic Commerce Directory (ECD), which, according to Dangel, will cover as many providers as possible who offer products or services online in Switzerland. The ECD is to be launched this fall.
Focus on the local SME sector
Unlike Swissguide, where only customers and technology were taken over, but not the employees, Mediatex is to be fully integrated into SwissOnline. Mediatex co-owner Rudolf Neff will presumably take care of content and advertising management: "I see a large advertising volume in the local SME sector. It is conceivable that we will place advertising banners according to the zip code of SwissOnline users, a targeting strategy from Swisstalk."
It is hard to believe that SwissOnline's hunger for takeovers has been satisfied with Swissguide and Mediatex: at the last press conference in mid-May, it was announced that the American cablecom owner NTL wanted to invest CHF 1.4 billion in the Swiss market. SwissOnline, which is 51 percent owned by NTL, should also benefit from this.
is controlled by Cablecom. It is still unclear what content strategy NTL will pursue. It cannot be ruled out that Cablecom will take over the publisher's share in SwissTXT and thus increase its own block of shares in the SRG subsidiary from 3 to 27 percent.
Thomas Brenzikofer
But SwissOnline landed the hammer in mid-May. In one week, the provider announced two takeovers: Mediatex and Swissguide. Mediatex operates Swisstalk, the largest Swiss chat platform with over 200,000 registered users. The Internet directory Swissguide is also impressive with 11000 visitors daily. Swissguide is now to be turned into the Electronic Commerce Directory (ECD), which, according to Dangel, will cover as many providers as possible who offer products or services online in Switzerland. The ECD is to be launched this fall.
Focus on the local SME sector
Unlike Swissguide, where only customers and technology were taken over, but not the employees, Mediatex is to be fully integrated into SwissOnline. Mediatex co-owner Rudolf Neff will presumably take care of content and advertising management: "I see a large advertising volume in the local SME sector. It is conceivable that we will place advertising banners according to the zip code of SwissOnline users, a targeting strategy from Swisstalk."
It is hard to believe that SwissOnline's hunger for takeovers has been satisfied with Swissguide and Mediatex: at the last press conference in mid-May, it was announced that the American cablecom owner NTL wanted to invest CHF 1.4 billion in the Swiss market. SwissOnline, which is 51 percent owned by NTL, should also benefit from this.
is controlled by Cablecom. It is still unclear what content strategy NTL will pursue. It cannot be ruled out that Cablecom will take over the publisher's share in SwissTXT and thus increase its own block of shares in the SRG subsidiary from 3 to 27 percent.
Thomas Brenzikofer
