July 2, 2003 Dow Jones WebReprint Service®
Dot-Com Hope: Akamai, Others Discover New Life
By William M. Bulkeley
Cambridge, Mass. — IT IS THE BUSINESS equivalent of a medical miracle.
Less than a year ago, Akamai Technologies Inc. looked destined to become another bit of dot-com road kill. The provider of Internet speedup services was burning through cash, revenue was dropping and its stock was delisted by the Nasdaq Stock Market after it fell below $1.
But now, Akamai seems to be in the midst of a surprising comeback. Big customers such as the Sony Ericsson cellphone venture, the U.S. Army and BMW are buying more of its services, its executives are blithely predicting positive cash flow by year’s end, and its stock is above $4.