Broadcast.com won't cut jobs after buyout
Chief executive Todd Wagner says he and chairman Mark Cuban will stay with the provider of Internet audio and video after Yahoo completes its $6.08 billion acquisition of Broadcast.com.
In his first public comments since the purchase was announced April 1, Wagner said no jobs will be cut because of the acquisition. Broadcast.com employs about 280 people.
"We're going to run it just like we did before," he said after a speech to a Dallas technology symposium. "We are committed to it."
Broadcast.com, founded in 1995, agreed to be acquired by Yahoo in an all-stock transaction. Santa Clara, California-based Yahoo wants to add audio and video of sports, news, and music to its Web site. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.
Most of Broadcast.com's $22.4 million in 1998 sales came from corporate-communications services such as conference calls and speeches that it broadcasts over the Internet for other companies.
Wagner's comments came after a symposium in which he outlined the future of Internet broadcasting.
Unlike radio and television, Internet broadcasting can grow quickly because 99 percent of all U.S. offices already have the equipment needed to receive it--personal computers, he said.
More companies are finding Web broadcasts are an inexpensive way for executives to reach employees, analysts, and investors, Wagner said. At the same time, new applications that would allow people to listen to a football game broadcast live from a cellular telephone may be only a few years away, he said.
In one of its latest ventures, Broadcast.com signed an agreement with Trimark Holdings to provide pay-per-view movies over the Internet, he said.
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