“A new appointment to Napster’s board of directors indicates that the company is stepping up its efforts to shop its fledgling online music service,” Katie Dean reports for TheStreet.com.
“Napster said in an 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week that it added one more director to its board, Ross Levinsohn, the former president of News Corp’s Fox Interactive Media,” Dean reports. “While there, Levisohn spearheaded the acquisition of the wildly popular MySpace.com, gaming site IGN Entertainment and sports site Scout.com, among several other companies.”
Dean reports, “According to the filing, Levinsohn’s term will expire at the company’s annual stockholder meeting later this year.”
“Napster spokeswoman Becky Farina said that there was ‘no cloak-and-dagger’ explanation for abruptly bringing on Levinsohn. Board members are appointed for three-year terms, and “he’s just joining the group of board members who will be up for revalidation by the shareholders” at the meeting, she says,” Dean reports. “When asked why Levinsohn doesn’t just join the board at the annual meeting, Farina said that the company has an ‘interest in bringing him in sooner rather than later.'”
Dean reports, “That might be because investors are growing impatient for a sale.”
“Napster said it was exploring the idea when it hired banker UBS last fall. Shares had a nice run after the UBS announcement, but have sagged as months have passed without a buyer,” Dean reports.
“Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffrey, is confident that someone will buy the company, because the Napster brand ‘absolutely’ has value, he says,” Dean reports. “‘The problem is in acquiring Napster you’re stepping in front of a freight train, and the freight train is Apple,’ he says.”
Full article here.
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“Fledgling!!!??
How many years does it take before it leaves the nest?”
I think she meant “flailing.”
Yeah. She HAD to mean “flailing.”
She did mean “flailing,” right?
Note to Napster: subscription model doesn’t work. Nobody wants to ‘rent’ music. Period.
“Get a nappie for your Zune.”
Why this web site has Dell ads?
‘Napster CFO Nand Gangwani said on the latest earnings call that the company should conclude its fiscal year in March 2007 with about $60 million in cash and short-term investments, adding that “we feel comfortable that we have sufficient cash to fund operations at least through the end of calendar 2008.”
Even though he believes that Napster could make it on its own, Maxim Group’s Harding sees “the most upside provided by the takeout possibility.”‘
Now there’s a real vote of confidence…. I’m moving all my investments to a long position on NAPS! Not!
“fund operations”? ummm.. I guess that includes payroll. I’m sure that gives a nice “warm and fuzzy” to the all the Napster employees. How many are going to jump off this Titanic, especially after being promised that the ship was unsinkable?