KOZ.com SOLD TO CSAC

By: Staff Reports New Owner Says It Will Continue To Serve Newspapers


KOZ.com, the Research Triangle, N.C.-based company that provided
online newspapers with community publishing tools, sold its
assets late last week to Community Software Acquisition Corp.
(CSAC) after filing Chapter 11 only a month earlier.

CSAC, owned a group of investors who were familiar with KOZ, was
the successful bidder for the application service provider at
$712,000. The company, according to the News & Observer in
Raleigh, raised more than $37 million in investments during its
short history.

"The court approved the sale of assets to CSAC on Thursday," said
Sam Whitt, COO of KOZ. "It will be a two- or three-week process
before it's finalized." Whitt said that CSAC will continue to
host all of the community sites, adding that this restructuring
will better address newspaper concerns.

Whitt hopes the company will grow into one that will make money
for its customers. Of the last few years, Whitt said the company
followed the industry trend of building technology with the
assumption that revenue eventually would come along.

KOZ did have success with its message board technology that
merited iChat becoming a separate company that has not been
affected by the restructuring and continues to operate as a
separate company.

However, in August 2000 KOZ acquired the financially strapped
Internet Tradeline, the provider of Point & Shop e-commerce
technology. The deal had a negative impact on KOZ's financial
standing, Whitt said. Although the e-commerce functions were
integrated with KOZ's community offerings, the company absorbed
some debt with that acquisition.

KOZ has provided technology to a number of media clients
including KnightRidder.com.



Related stories:
KOZ.com FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY (04/30/01)
KOZ.com, INTERNET TRADELINE MERGE (08/15/00)



Copyright 2001, Editor & Publisher.