When IBM announced its takeover bid for Lotus, it used the Internet to reach its stakeholders, media, and Lotus employees. Once the financial markets had been notified, IBM's Web page featured the letter from IBM CEO Louis Gerstner to Jim Manzi, Lotus CEO. Also included were the internal memo to IBM employees, press release, audio clip of Gerstner explaining the offer, and a transcript of Gerstner's 45-minute news conference. By the end of the day, 23,000 people had accessed the Web page--about double the normal traffic. In contrast, Lotus's page had a four-paragraph statement from Manzi, and a company spokesperson said Lotus would respond when it had more to say about the offer.
As IBM demonstrated, the Web can be an effective public relations tool. The advantage is that a company can immediately transmit its message to stakeholders without relying on intermediaries, such as newspapers and TV, to redistribute messages. Of course, mass mailing is also a method for directly reaching stakeholders, but a letter lacks the recency and multimedia features of the Web.
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