Internet Fund's Jacob to start firm
From The Wall Street Journal -- subscribers only
The soap opera out of Babylon continues. So far this week the Kinetics Asset Management has seen the sale of its Internet Fund fall through and Ryan Jacob, the fund's 29 year-old manager, resign. Now Jacob has revealed that he is founding a new firm: Jacob Asset Management. Jacob has tendered his resignation along with analyst Michael Dubrow. Not surprisingly, Jacob will focus on Internet-related investments an launch both retail and institutional products.

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TD Waterhouse's IPO Flies, but doesn't soar
From The Wall Street Journal -- subscribers only
TD Waterhouse pulled off the biggest Internet IPO in history yesterday, according to Thomson Financial Securities Data. Investors, though, may not have been thinking net as the shares closed up only 6.8%. Altogether, the brokerage sold 42 million shares at $24 each and raised $1.01 billion. The shares trade on the NYSE under TWE and closed at $25.625.

Privacy provision sparks conflict on the hill
From The Washington Post
Last week, the House Commerce Committee adopted a provision in the pending financial services overhaul bill that would give consumers new authority to stop merging banks, brokers and insurers from sharing private customer information. Now, many Republicans, under pressure from the financial services industry, are trying to delete the provision. Industry leaders argue that allowing consumers to ban the sharing of information defeats the purpose of the bill. Democrats, on the other hand, are sponsoring the provision. While Republicans and Democrats seem to be at odds over the privacy provision, a "rankled" David Runkel, spokesman for the House Banking Committee, defends that both parties are working together to mold the bill. They have one week left. Yet another complexity remains: the White House and the Banking Committee want both the Treasury Department to regulate the banks, while the Commerce Committee wants only the Fed.

Internet's impact felt by brokers
From USA Today
USA Today trods the well-worn path of the wonders of the Internet and its impact on brokers. Across the country, they have begun to feel the pressure inflicted by the growing popularity of "cheap online trading." The threat posed by the Internet is the biggest to hit the trade industry in decades. Brokers are being forced to follow one of two paths: jumping on the Internet bandwagon or hoping the market itself will sway customers back to old-fashioned full service. While companies such as Salomon Smith Barney and A.G. Edwards remain offline, others, such as Merrill Lynch and Prudential Securities, seem to be embracing the Internet.

CMGI seeks help from AltaVista
From SmartMoney
Venture capital firm CMGI is currently in talks to purchase AltaVista, the Internet search engine firm owned by Compaq Computer. CMGI has two primary gains to expect from such a purchase. AltaVista's major portal site would help CMGI handle the 40-odd Internet companies in which it has stakes. But another possible advantage of the acquisition is CMGI's ensuing ability to escape regulation as a mutual fund under SEC rules. CMGI "may have exceeded" the value limit of its securities as of October 1998, and thus the company has until October 1999 to fix the problem. "That's why they have to find a company like AltaVista, to take them back [over the threshold]," says a former member of the SEC.

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