The Walt Disney Company's Buena Vista Internet Group (BVIG) has named ABCInc. President Steven Bornstein as chairman. Bornstein will oversee BVIG'spreviously announced plan to merge with Infoseek, an internet searchengine, to form a single Internet business called go.com and issue a newclass of common stock to track the performance of the new enterprise. Thetransaction is expected to be completed by the end of the 1999 calendaryear. At that time, Bornstein, who is currently a member of the InfoseekBoard of Directors, will be named president of go.com. Bornstein will headan experienced team of Internet executives as the merger of BVIG andInfoseek is completed and go.com is established. Key team members includeSteve Wadsworth, president of BVIG, and Patrick Naughton, executive vicepresident of products for Infoseek. Bornstein noted that BVIG and Infoseekalready possess an unmatched array of Internet assets. In January of thisyear, the two firms launched GO Network, which combined Infoseek's user reach, servicesand Internet search engine with Disney's global brand awareness. BVIG isresponsible for creating and operating a broad array of family,entertainment, news and sports Web sites, including: Disney.com, a kids andfamily site; Family.com, a parenting resource; ABC.com, the TV network'sWeb site; ABCNEWS.com, a news site online; and ESPN.com, a sports site.
