Netscape Analysis Report Essay -- essays research papers

Netscape Analysis Report I. History Netscape Communications Corporation, originally named Mosaic Communications Corporation (MCOM) was founded in April 1994 by Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen. They released their first browser products free to Internet users in September 1994. Jim Clark is chairman of Netscape Communications Corporation. Before founding the company, Clark was the chairman of Silicon Graphics, a computer hardware manufacturer he founded in 1982. Marc Andreessen is vice president of technology for Netscape Communications. He helped develop the original graphical World Wide Web browser, Mosaic, while he was at the University Of Illinois at Urbana/Champlain. The Internet is a global network connecting thousands of networks by use of high speed digital lines called ATMs, T3s and T1s. It was just being introduced to the general public at the time of Netscape's conception and they would NOT have been successful if they had not had this timing advantage. II. Location Netscape's corporate headquarters are in Mountain View, California -- in the heart of the Silicon Valley. However, due to the nature of the global networks its software transmits over, Netscape is able to sell worldwide via the Internet. There are virtually no walls to its "retail outlets." Its software products are also distributed through computer stores worldwide. III. Product Line Netscape Navigator is a software program to browse information available on the Internet. It is available for all common computer system platforms, including 16-bit PC, 32-bit PC, Macintosh, and all UNIX systems. Navigator also allows people to check their e-mail on the Internet through use of a password (MIME) encoding scheme. Netscape Server is a piece of software that installs on UNIX and Windows NT based systems that allows serving of data on the Internet's World Wide Web. It also provides for secure transactions such as those involving credit cards. IV. Corporate Structure The founders, Jim Clark and Marc Andreessen, own 35% of the company. There are other major shareholders, and it is also publicly held. The board of directors and other executive management are listed in the following table: James H. Clark- Chairman of the Board James L. Barksdale- President, Chief Executive Officer and Director Marc L. Andreessen- Vice ... ...quarter of 1995, Netscape showed a profit. VIII. Graph Please see attached sheet IX. Other Information A. Netscape is involved in a project to put all of California's public schools on the Internet. (Star Ledger, "Net Day ‘96") B. America Online entered into a partnership with Netscape to have Netscape's browser software available to AOL users. (3/12/96, DJIN) C. CompuServe entered into a licensing agreement with Netscape to let CompuServe's users use Netscape as their primary browser software. (3/11/96, DJIN) X. Conclusion I would suggest this stock as a good investment in the Stock Market Game because its price fluctuates enough to earn a decent profit from trading it. I would not, however, suggest Netscape as a good investment in real life until its price becomes lower, because it seems to be on a downward trend. (Although Netscape is a good long-term investment as well, because of its potential and the demand for the Internet) Works Consulted Netscape 10Q Quarterly Report (4th quarter 1995) Netscape 1995 Annual Report Netscape Prospectus for Public Offering Of Stock Star Ledger, "Net Day ‘96", ? Dow Jones News Retrieval Service, (3/11/96, 3/12/96)