Tag Archives: technology

Millennials Prompt Angie’s List To Tear Down Paywalls, Go Free: CEO

Online reviews site Angie’s List ( ANGI ) said Thursday that it will drop its current membership model this year and replace it with free access to its business ratings and reviews as part of a tiered subscription plan. The company promised changes last fall after it turned down a $512 million acquisition offer from IAC/InterActiveCorp ( IAC ) subsidiary HomeAdvisor. Angie’s List is trying to grow its presence in the $400 billion home services market. Indianapolis-based Angie’s List has struggled with competition from rivals including Yelp ( YELP ), search engines such as Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Google and others. The company announced changes and 2016 year guidance at its annual analyst meeting Thursday in New York. Angie’s List stock was up nearly 4% in afternoon trading on the stock market today , near 9. Angie’s List stock is up 28% in the past 12 months but down nearly 70% from its all-time high of 28.32, brushed in July 2013. “The new plan announced today transforms our legacy business model to bring in a new era of growth and profitability,” Angie’s List CEO Scott Durchslag said in a statement. “By removing the paywall for ratings and reviews, our new profitable-growth plan removes the barrier that has limited our growth and enables Angie’s List to engage with more consumers and more service providers than ever before.” He said, “We expect to reignite revenue growth and drive significant increases in profitability over time with minimal disruption to the business.” The new tiers — to launch this summer — include a free option where users can research ratings of local businesses, read reviews and see display advertising. Premium silver ($24.99) and gold ($99.99) annual subscriptions include options such as an emergency service hotline and fair price guarantees. “The reviews paywall served the company well for the last 20 years, but looking ahead to the next 20 years — millennials are not going to pay for reviews,” Durchslag told USA TODAY on Thursday. Angie’s List guided 2016 revenue at $345 million to $355 million, up 0.25%-3.00% year over year. That’s short of the $361.5 million analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had modeled. “There will be some trade-off in terms of consumers that will want to just get things for free as opposed to paying a subscription,” says Durchslag. “There will be others that want the new set of offers we’re launching.”

Ciena Sinks On Q1 Sales Miss, Dragging Fiber Optics Stocks Down

Fiber optic network and switch designer Ciena ( CIEN ) issued fiscal Q1 earnings early Thursday that beat Wall Street consensus, but its sales missed lowered estimates, as did its sales outlook, and shares plunged to a 15-month low. “Macro strikes again,” Nomura analyst Jeffrey Kvaal said in a research note after the earnings release, citing “recent volatility in the macro environment,” notably weak spending in European, Middle Eastern and African markets. Ciena stock was down 19%, below 17, in early afternoon trading in the stock market today . Shares are more than 35% off a two-year high of 26.50 touched last July. Ciena designs ethernet transport/switching systems used in network infrastructure by telecom and cable service providers. Infinera ( INFN ), Finisar ( FNSR ) and sector giant Cisco Systems ( CSCO ) work in similar or related spaces. Ciena dragged its entire IBD Telecom-Fiber Optics industry group down 4% by early afternoon, with Infinera down 8%. Finisar stock was down 1% and Cisco down a fraction Thursday afternoon. In December, Ciena had guided to revenue of $555 million to $590 million for its fiscal first quarter ended Jan. 31. It didn’t give EPS guidance. At the time, analysts had modeled EPS ex items of 28 cents on revenue of $638 million, but analysts polled by Thomson Reuters subsequently lowered their estimates to 14 cents and $576.3 million. So while Ciena beat on EPS, reporting 18 cents ex items, it beat only the scaled-back expectations, while Q1 revenue of $573.1 million missed even Wall Street’s revised estimate. Analysts expect the current Q2 ending in April to produce 31 cents per share ex items on revenue of $643.4 million, but Ciena forecast $630 million at the midpoint of its guidance range. Ciena guided Q2 gross margins to the mid-40s percentile, with analyst consensus at 44.9%, while operating expenditures of about $225 million “implies (an) operating margin of about 9.3% vs. consensus of 10.3%,” said Nomura’s Kvaal. “Despite some recent volatility in the broader macroeconomic environment, the demand drivers for our business remain firmly in place, and we are well positioned to translate our market leadership into continued growth and profitability this fiscal year,” Ciena CEO Gary Smith said in the earnings release.

Yahoo Prepping To Auction Off Its Core Internet Business: Report

Yahoo ( YHOO ) is about to hold a traditional auction for its core Internet search business and has begun sending nondisclosure agreements to prospective bidders, according to a media report. Rather than talking with buyers individually, “Yahoo is holding a traditional auction for the sale with formal bids,” according to an item carried by CTFN late Wednesday. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is under intensified pressure from major investor Starboard Value, which has urged the exit of Mayer and some directors, as well as the spinoff of Yahoo’s core search business. Yahoo directors are close to offering at least two board seats to the activist hedge fund in order to avert a proxy fight, according to a report on Friday in the New York Post. Analysts say Yahoo is poised to lose more ad dollars to Facebook ( FB ), Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google and high-profile startups such as Snapchat and Pinterest. On Monday, Yahoo said that it may have to write down the goodwill value of Tumblr , more than two years after the Web pioneer spent $1.1 billion to buy the microblogging site. Bloomberg reported last week that Yahoo was preparing to meet with potential suitors. Among the companies rumored to be interested in Yahoo are Comcast ( CMCSA ), Verizon Communications ( VZ ), AT&T ( T ) and Time ( TIME ). Rumors re-emerged this week that e-commerce giant Alibaba Group ( BABA ) might buy back a valuable stake that Yahoo now holds in the Chinese company. Yahoo’s Asian assets — comprised of its Alibaba holdings and a 35.5% stake in Yahoo Japan — represent the vast majority of Yahoo’s $3.8 billion market value. Yahoo owns a 15% stake in Alibaba, or about 384 million shares. But some observers say such a transaction is unlikely because of high tax implications for Alibaba. On Monday, Alibaba senior executives Jack Ma and Joe Tsai said they will spend a combined $500 million to buy company stock. It will be part of a $4 billion stock-buyback plan that Alibaba announced in August. Alibaba’s recent financial moves have some investors wondering if the Chinese conglomerate is ready to make a play for Yahoo , according to a report in Variety. Yahoo stock was down 0.5% in midday trading in the stock market today , near 32.75. Yahoo stock had risen in 11 of the previous 12 trading days, gaining 25% since early February, amid the buyout expectations. But shares still are down 25% over the past 12 months.