New Lohse Company, NetWeb, to Offer Ad, Sales Services

William Lohse, a pioneer in the technology industry and veteran of high-tech publishing, formed NetWeb, a new company that will offer Web site builders a suite of advertising, sales, marketing, and digital commerce services.

Lohse said San Francisco-based NetWeb will focus on serving the needs of Web sites rather those of their customers. The successful public offering of DoubleClick, the valuation of GeoCities at over $250 million, and the growth of LinkExchange suggest that a fundamentally new market has emerged for the Internet, he said.

“The time has come for each site to prove the return on the investment in it. We are just now seeing the rise of companies serving site publishers. This new segment will have the same success trajectory as those companies focused on visitors because management is demanding that sites turn a profit, investors are requiring it and Web publishers are committed to making it happen,” said Lohse.

Lohse was the turnaround publisher of PC Magazine, founding publisher of PC Computing, and president of Ziff-Davis Publishing in the 1980s. He helped start several software companies, including Breakthrough Software (now part of Symantec), ACCPAC (now part of Computer Associates), Wordstar, and Knowledge Adventure.