The online midgets of two years ago suddenly find themselves overtaking the traditional media giants in size. This is enough incentive for traditional companies to put the Internet badge on their lapel whenever possible. Zapata Corporation, for example, a fish oil processor whose co-founder is US President George Bush, wants to transform itself into an Internet service and is currently running two web magazines. But seriously big companies have to worry to. On Tuesday this week, online share broker Charles Schwab overtook the banking giant Merrill Lynch in stockmarket capitalisation.
Most analysts are at a loss.
Whatever the explanation, there appears to be a lot of money out there ready to be invested into any company that claims to have a connection with the Internet. The result are violent share price movements. AvTel shares are now trading at just over four dollars. Such price movements make it a tricky market to ride. Chances are that investors find themselves having bought at the wrong moment.