Source: Post on America OnlineSAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9, 1996--KPMG's
Information, Communications and Entertainment (ICE(SM)) practice, helping navigate the volatile and complex digital universe, has worked with a leading industry publication to identify 250 "shining stars"-- companies that industry executives and investors should watch closely.Produced by the editors of The Red Herring -- the monthly magazine that covers financial and investment issues in the information, communications and entertainment industries -- "The Red Herring Guide to the Digital Universe" provides an overview of digital commerce and profiles 250 companies on the leading edge of the digital environment. The book will be released April 18 by Warner Books. The companies that appear in the profiles section which makes up the book's second half were chosen based on performance metrics and company nominations provided by KPMG ICE consultants, and on interviews with venture capitalists, investment bankers, industry analysts and high-tech executives from the U.S. and overseas.
In conducting its portion of the evaluation, KPMG ICE found that traditional measurements, such as earnings growth, market share, balance sheet strength and stock performance, were not adequate for identifying the best performers in the digital economy -- capitalization, marketing savvy, management vision and the ability to respond quickly to rapid, drastic shifts in the industrial landscape counted for more. "Many of the most interesting companies are still private and in their early stages of development," Roger Siboni, national managing partner of KPMG's ICE practice, writes in the introduction to the book's company profile section. "To evaluate these companies, we needed methods that better describe their master of the continually changing environment that characterizes the digital world. In essence, we needed to establish a new performance metric for the '90s."
Starting with a pool of 1,000 companies, the list was narrowed to 250. To make the final selection, KPMG and The Red Herring looked at a range of characteristics within five main categories - assessing a company's ability to contribute to a paradigm shift (based on its technology, marketing, alliance activity and business model, among others); the quality of its management team (including vision, strategic thinking, ability to attract and retain talent, and grounding in reality); the strength of its financial resources (including cash flow, debt burden, proportion of revenues from recurring sources, and consistency of revenues and earnings); market dominance (ability to set the terms of competition and overall share or high ranking in main markets) and market potential (revenue from products introduced in the past five years, technology leadership, and ability to be first to market). Taken together, the new criteria provide a means for evaluating both large companies and young startups on an equitable basis, Siboni says.
Despite the diversity of companies included, there were common elements among the companies that made the "shining stars" list. They tended to be:
o Younger (71.2 percent were established after 1979)
o Smaller, in terms of staff, capitalization and revenue (58.8 percent had under 1,000 employees and 79.2 percent had under 10,000; nearly half -- 42.8 percent -- were privately held; 19.2 percent had annual revenues under $10 million and another 32.4 percent had none or wouldn't disclose)
o From the West Coast (61 percent)Forty percent were entertainment companies, 36.4 percent were from the computer industry (comprising hardware, software, networking and semiconductors, among others) and 23.6 percent were communications companies.
Siboni expects readers to challenge some of the selections -- and to point out omissions. In general, he believes that the list is more significant for the success criteria, company characteristics and industry trends it identifies, than for the particular companies that are listed. "In this technology business, things change fast. Today's bright star could be tomorrow's supernova. Whether these companies would appear in future versions of the list depends on whether they can adapt quickly, assess new opportunities and shift instantly to take advantage of them," he says.
-0-
One of KPMG's five industry-focused lines of business, the Information, Communications and Entertainment (ICE(SM)) practice provides assurance and advisory services to clients who produce content, distribution and delivery systems for the information superhighway. KPMG is the only assurance and advisory firm to dedicate a full-service line of business to these industries as a group.KPMG Peat Marwick LLP is the U.S. practice of KPMG, the Global Leader among professional services firms. Worldwide, KPMG has more than 6,000 partners as well as 72,000 professionals servicing clients through 1,100 office in 829 cities in 136 countries. In the U.S., KPMG partners and professionals deliver a wide range of value-added consulting, assurance, and tax services in five markets: financial services; manufacturing, retailing, and distribution; health care and life sciences; information, communications and entertainment; and public services.
-0-
The Red Herring Guide to the Digital Universe --
250 Companies to Watch
Selected by The Red Herring and the KPMG Peat Marwick Information, Communications and Entertainment (ICE(SM)) Practice
3Dfx Interactive Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. 3Dlabs Cascade Communications Acclaim Entertainment Inc CellNet Data Systems Adaptec Centigram Communications Adobe Systems Inc CheckPoint Software Advanced Fibre Communications Cidco Agile Networks Cirrus Logic AirSoft Cisco Systems Inc AirTouch Communications Inc CKS Group Alantec Clarify Amber Wave Systems Click3X (Corbett Group) America Online Colossal Pictures Ameritech Corp Com21 AnswerSoft Combinet Apple Computer Inc Comcast Corp Applied Materials Inc Compaq Computer Arbor Software Compression Labs Architext Software CompuServe ArcSys Computer Associates International Ascend Communications CONNECT AT&T Corp Conner Peripherals Atmel Corp Cox Enterprises Inc Attest Systems Creative Technology Autodesk Cyan Avid Technology CyberCash Baan Co CyberSource Bay Networks Datalogix International BBN Davidson & Associates Bell Atlantic Dell Computer BellSouth Corp Diamond Multimedia Systems Bertelsmann Inc Digital Domain BHC Communications Digital Generation Systems Bloomberg Discreet Logic BOSS Film Studios DIVA Communications Brilliant Media Dolby Laboratories BroadVision Dow Jones & Company Broderbund Software Inc Dreamworks SKG C-Cube DSC Communications Cabletron Systems Dun & Bradstreet Inc Cadence Design Systems E/O Networks Eastman Kodak Co IUMA Edmark Kaleida Labs Efficient Networks KLA Instruments Electronic Arts Knight-Ridder Enter Television Knowledge Adventure Ericsson Lam Research Excalibur Technologies Legato Systems First Virtual Corporation LookingGlass Technologies First Virtual Holdings LSI Logic Corp Flipside Communications LucasArts Entertainment FORE Systems Macromedia Inc Forte Software Magic Edge Four Media Company Magnet Interactive Studios FTP Software Matsushita Fujitsu Microelectronics Inc/FUJITSU Maxis General Electric (NBC) McClatchy Newspapers General Instrument MCI Communications Gensym Corporation MECC (Minnesota Education Computing) Geoworks Mentor Graphics Corp Global Village Communication Micron Technology Inc Goldstar (LG Group) Microsoft Corporation Grand Junction Networks MicroUnity Systems GT Interactive Software Minerva Systems GTE Corp MNI Interactive Hearst Corporation Motorola SPS Hewlett-Packard Co MultiGen @Home MySoftware Hughes Electronics Nashoba Networks Humongous Entertainment National Semiconductor Corporation IBM Corp NEC Id Software Netcom Illustra Information Technologies NetEdge Systems Individual NetManage Industrial Light & Magic Netscape Communications Corp Informix Newbridge Networks InSoft News Corp Intel Corporation NexGen Interplay Productions NeXT Computer Inc Intuit Nintendo Itron Nokia Northern Telecom Seagate Technology Inc Notable Technologies SEGA Enterprises Novell Inc SGS-Thomson NTT America Inc Shiva NVIDIA Siebel Systems Nynex Corp Siemens Corp Object Design Inc (ODI) Sierra On-Line Objective Systems Integrators Silicon Graphics Inc ONSALE Sony Corporation of America Open Market Sprint Oracle Corp Spyglass Pacific Data Images (PDI) StarSight Telecast Pacific Telesis Group Stormfront Studios Parametric Technology Sun Microsystems Inc ParcPlace Systems Synopsys Inc PeopleSoft Taiwan Semiconductor Performance Systems International Tele-Communications Inc (TCI) Personal Library Software Teledesic Philips Electronics NV Texas Instruments Inc PictureTel The Duck Corporation Pixar Time Warner Inc Platinum Technology Inc Tivoli Systems Play Toshiba Qualcomm TranSwitch Quantum Tribune Company R/GA Digital Studios Trilogy RadioMail Turner Broadcasting System Inc RAM Mobile Data US Robotics Real World US West Inc Red Brick Systems UUNET Remedy VeriSign Inc Rendition Versant Reuters Holdings Vertigo Development Group Rhythm & Hues Studios Viacom International Inc RSA Data Security Virage S3 Virgin Interactive Entertainment (Subsidiary of Spelling Entertainment) SAP AG Visio SBC Communications Walnut Creek CDROM Scientific-Atlanta Walt Disney Co Scopus Technology Whitetree Network Technologies Wired Ventures Ltd Worlds Xaos Tools Xerox Corp Xilinx Xing Technology Xylan Yahoo! Zilog IncKEYWORD: NEW YORK CALIFORNIA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED PUBLISHING
INTERACTIVE/MULTIMEDIA/INTERNET
APR 09,1996