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CNNfn market movers
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October 8, 1998: 11:27 a.m. ET
Mecklermedia roars up, Ziff-Davis droops, and FileNet shares get shelved
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - A buyout helped spare an Internet media player a wide sell-off, while another was hit, like Wall Street overall, by global cooling in stock markets.
But among the most preeminent movers was FileNET (FILE), which plummeted 5-7/8, or about 55 percent, to 4-5/8 after the maker of document-management software said it will report a third-quarter loss of 18 cents a share as the global economic crisis took a bite.
The consensus analyst forecast was for a 14 cents a share profit. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter subsequently cut its rating on FileNet to neutral from outperform.
It was slim pickin's on the upside Thursday, but Mecklermedia (MECK) shot up 6 to 26-3/16, or about 29 percent, after business news company Penton Media (PME) said it will buy the publisher of Internet World magazine for $274 million in stock.
Fellow Net information player Ziff-Davis (ZD) dropped 1-9/16 to 4-3/8 after announcing the ongoing world market turmoil forced the company to trim its workforce and cut its earnings targets for the fourth quarter.
But Jacor Communications (JCOR) didn't get much of a buyout-related boost, off 11/16 to 39-7/16 after Clear Channel Communications (CCU) said it will buy its rival for $4.4 billion stock and debt to create the nation's second-largest radio broadcaster.
Clear Channel lost 2-13/16 to 34-3/16.
Information Resources (IRIC) lost 5-1/4 to 7-1/4, or 42 percent, after the market research firm, which collects data from bar codes scanned at checkout counters, said it expects earnings in its third and fourth quarters to fall short of analyst targets.
The company, citing lower-than-expected domestic sales and restructuring costs, said it expects earnings of no more than 19 cents per share in the second half, compared with the analyst estimate of 29 cents per share, according to First Call.
Bassett Furniture (BSET) fell 1-9/16 to 4-3/8 after the home furnishings maker said it would post an operating profit of 29 cents a share in the third quarter, compared with the First Call estimate of 40 cents. 
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