BELTWAY BIZ

Just the Cash, Please

The getting was good in early May, so executives at Network Solutions Inc. in Herndon, Va. got out. According to Securities and Exchange Commission documents, five company officers filed an intent to sell almost 140,000 shares, then worth $6.9 million.

Good timing. If they made that same decision a month later - after the stock lost more than 20 percent of its value - they would have walked away with $5.1 million.

Network Solutions, the registrar of Internet domain names, saw a major climb in its stock price preceding the insider activity last month. In the four previous months, the price shot from $11.75 to as high as $58. Since Battista and his cohorts sold out, the stock has dipped below $40.

Hanging Another Shingle

Steve Walker, founder and former CEO of Trusted Information Systems Inc. of Glenwood, Md., isn't taking his millionaire retirement sitting down. After selling his beloved company to Network Associates for $350 million, he decided it was time to give back. Enter Steve Walker & Associates.

The new firm, which includes five others from TIS, will be a cross between a consulting practice and an investment house. Walker said he will be investing in privately held start-up Internet companies.

He would not say how much money he and his partners will be investing. But right now, he's not seeking outside funding. "I'm not interested in being a venture capitalist right now," he said.

Just Can't Get Enough

When Global TeleSystems Group Inc. of McLean, Va., went public in February with a $148 million offering, the developer of telecommunications networks in emerging European and Asian markets was not even close to finished with its money-raising efforts.

Late last month, GTS filed documents with the SEC announcing a follow-on offering. Now it's looking to raise at least another $300 million by issuing more stock. And shareholders want to cash in another $200 million by selling their stock to the public.

The company will also issue $400 million in convertible bonds. That's more than $1 billion worth of GTS hitting the market in less than two quarters. Good thing the stock price is cooperating, having climbed 90 percent since the initial public offering.

- Bob Starzynski

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