Cutting the Rug With ExciteAtHome

May 10 2000

Reporters typically dance a two-step in response to another journo's gaffe. First they swagger and imply it could never happen to them - then they secretly thank their stars it didn't. The jig also produces extra-careful follow-up coverage, as when the media zeroed in on the apparent false alarm Bloomberg News sent out to the effect that cable giant Comcast might want to buy out AT&T's stake in ExciteAtHome. For its part, ExciteAtHome was probably thrilled at the dust-up - in addition to inducing a stock spike, it also distracted from ongoing reports that its top execs prefer flight over fight.

The Philadelphia Inquirer went page-one with coverage of Bloomberg News' interpretation of a comment made by Comcast prez Brian Roberts during a panel discussion at the National Cable Television Association's annual meeting. According to the Inquirer, Roberts' comment about buying into ExciteAtHome was a quip meant to convey how attractive he thought the recent ExciteAtHome deal was to all parties, reporter Miriam Hill explained. But within 30 minutes of Bloomberg sending the news onto its wire service, CNBC and investors had picked up the story, and the company's share price shot up 56 percent. According to the Philly newspaper, Bloomberg stood by its original report.

The San Francisco Chronicle was careful to emphasize that "three different sources said a Bloomberg News reporter was mistaken in taking the comments literally." Besides, Todd Wallack wrote, Comcast and Cox Communications had just agreed in March to sell their ExciteAtHome stakes to AT&T for as much as $3 billion. Why would Comcast want to buy back in now? To be safe, Wallack got confirmation from Comcast, ExciteAtHome and AT&T that no deal was in sight. The Street.com hedged its bets, reporting the rumor with the caveat that ExciteAtHome had said no formal offers had been made. Not that the company wasn't flattered by the attention. "Comcast has not issued a bid, but we are thrilled with the endorsement," ExciteAtHome spokeswoman Melissa Walia gushed to The Street.

News of the stock flip duked it out for coverage with reports that ExciteAtHome's ex-CEO Tom Jermoluk will tell us today what the Wall Street Journal told us on Monday: He's joining his buddies at venture-capital firm Kleiner Perkins. The standard drill, as uttered to the media by Jermoluk and others, is that, shucks, he's an engineer at heart and, as Reuters quoted a spokesman saying, "loves building strong companies." Which ExciteAtHome is not. Reuters pointed out that the company has "suffered from growing pains, a battered share price, fierce competition and some confusion over its strategic direction." Who wouldn't bail?

San Francisco Chron reporter Todd Wallack noted that Jermoluk isn't the only ExciteAtHome exec doing a jig of his own. The president of subscriber networks quit two weeks ago, and the senior veep and general counsel is leaving in June, according to Wallack. "There are a bunch of resumes on the street," Sean Doherty, an AtHome co-founder who now runs Urban Media Communications, told the Chron. It's a crowded dance, isn't it? - Deborah Asbrand

They Should've Looked Before Leaping
Philadelphia Inquirer

ExciteAtHome Soars After Comcast Expresses Interest in Buying a Bigger Stake
TheStreet.com

Excite Chairman Steps Down, Keeps a Seat on the Board
Wall Street Journal

Ex-ExciteAtHome chairman joins Kleiner Perkins
Silicon Valley

Senior Executives Fleeing From ExciteAtHome
SFGate

ExciteAtHome's Jermoluk Joins Kleiner Perkins
CNET