@Home CEOs: Glass always half full
Read the optimistic words of top Excite@Home executives--from 1999 to 2001--as the company rose to a market value of about $20 billion and then crumbled.
These were the optimistic words of top Excite@Home executives as the company rose to a market value of about $20 billion and then crumbled.1999
"We are merging with Excite not only for what they have achieved, but what we become together--the new media network for the 21st century."
--Tom Jermoluk, chairman and CEO of @Home Network, in a Jan. 19 press release announcing the merger with Web portal Excite
"This merger brings together the leading broadband technology company with a leader in Internet personalization and media. In addition, this combination brings to advertisers the most powerful interactive marketing solutions available--the ability to target, measure and report their advertising in a single, unified venue across narrowband, broadband and ultimately all devices."
--George Bell, CEO of Excite, in a Jan. 19 release
"The closing of this merger (with Excite) represents the dawn of a new Internet era that will revolutionize the way consumers view and interact with communication, information and entertainment services."
--Jermoluk in a May release
"More than half our new customers are ex-AOL users."
--Jermoluk to The New York Times in a July 4 report
"We're a long way from being a demand-limited system. We have 38 million registered Excite users. You think we have any problem generating demand?"
--Jermoluk in an Aug. 9 New York Times report
2000
"No other Internet company has this kind of exclusivity. Market conditions will never be more favorable than they are now."
--Bell in a June 12 Fortune report
2001
"We are as optimistic as ever about the accelerated adoption of broadband services by consumers, underlined by our strong year-end broadband subscriber growth."
--Bell in a Jan. 23 release in which the company also announced plans to lay off 250 employees
"We continue to set the pace for the growth of broadband services around the world. We expect continued rapid growth in 2001, and accommodating that growth with a high level of quality and reliability in the performance of our network--a network with no peer in the marketplace--is our primary focus."
--Bell in a Jan. 25 release
"I am proud of leading Excite and then Excite@Home through its remarkable journey thus far, and of setting the foundation for the company's leadership in broadband. Most of all, I am proud of the people in this company--their talent and passion foremost."
--Bell in an April 23 release announcing his resignation
"I'm a broadband believer, and today, we're just at the beginning of the game. Broadband has and will continue to change the way we work and live--it is the future of communications and entertainment. My operational expertise will provide the foundation to nurture the wealth of talent at the company, taking us to the next level of service with the goal of becoming profitable."
--New CEO Patti Hart in an April 23 release
"While it is disappointing that market conditions make it necessary to discontinue certain European businesses, it is important for us to continue to focus more closely on our strengths."
--Hart in a June 6 release
"Selling and reducing our narrowband media assets that do not contribute financially or strategically to the broadband access business is the right direction for our corporate viability."
--Hart in a Sept. 25 release in which the company also announced plans to lay off 500 employees
"This (bankruptcy) filing is a tool to protect the value of the broadband business for the benefit of the company's financial stakeholders and will help reassure our customers that service will continue uninterrupted through the restructuring process."
--Hart in a Sept. 28 release
"Excite@Home...has reached a transition agreement with (several cable companies) to provide continued @Home service and transition services from now until February 28, 2002...Upon the expiration of the transition service agreement, Excite@Home intends to cease operations."
--Corporate release from Dec. 4