Investment.com and Garth Turner hook up to create mini media conglomerate

A bed manufacturer which has dabbled in coffee houses and mining over the last few years has reinvented itself once again over the past year as an Internet broadcaster specializing in investor news. On June 6, the Vancouver-based company - Global Investment.com Financial Inc - took another step to strengthen its presence on the web with an equity investment in WorkdayTV Corp, a Bay Street Internet broadcaster owned by Garth Turner, a former federal cabinet minister turned investment guru. Global Investment.com's Transformation1980-1997: Manufactured and distributed adjustable beds through its wholly owned subsidiaries Slumber Magic Ventures Inc and Slumber Magic Adjustable Bed Co. 1994: Acquired Castle Bay Coffee House Ltd, a coffee retailer. April 20, 1998: Above companies voluntarily dissolved. May 1997 to February 1999: In business of acquiring, exploring and developing natural resource properties. February 1999: Acquired assets of Webdex Data Corp, including its Internet domain name, investment.com. April 12, 1999: Entered into letter agreement with Stockhouse Media Corp to develop the investment.com domain name and a financial web site. November 22, 1999: Soft launch of the investment.com web site.The company reported no revenues between 1996 and 1999.Investment.com is a relative newcomer to the crowded financial information market trying to position itself as an intermediary between small investors and financial vendors. The company's focus, unlike many sites catering to tech-crazed day traders leans toward more conservative instruments such as mutual funds and real estate, rather than much-ballyhooed equities. The company reaches out to investors through the Internet, and two print publications, Investment.com Mutual Fund Review and Investment.com Magazine. In this latest deal, Investment.com is acquiring a 20 per cent equity stake in WorkdayTV, and building an Internet and broadcasting studio at Turner's home. The content that flows from the studio will be incorporated into WorkdayTV.com's daily Internet show.Investment.com will also add research and background for the upstart broadcaster. In return, WorkdayTV content will be streamed on the Investment.com site. Desjardins is reluctant to delve too deeply into the evolving relationship between itself and WorkdayTV, but acknowledges that new media and Internet broadcasting will obviously play an important role in the company's future plans. As he describes it, the Internet is essentially a "self-serve window" for digital media content. "You're always generating content from all the areas that we talked about - the magazines, the newsletter, the broadcasting," he says. "You're going to have to serve this stuff up when people want, and that's what it's going to be all about. You're going to have to serve it up wirelessly and that's really the opportunity in new media in the next generation." WorkdayTV is touting itself as the world's first wireless Internet television broadcaster, but it's not Investment.com's first alliance with a company involved in wireless applications. The company has been working with Vancouver-based Infowave Software Inc to use its company's compression technologies to deliver financial information wirelessly. The company should soon announce support for the wireless application protocol in Europe, and is in undisclosed talks with service providers for other applications. Desjardins says the company is well-funded, having completed a warrant offering in March that raised $3 million. He is also expecting to announce activity with equity partner Stockhouse Media Corp and further warrant activity shortly.

Investment.com and Garth Turner hook up to create mini media conglomerate

News | 06/14/2000 4:00 am EDT

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