NetNoir to Go Public

NetNoir Inc., the black-oriented Internet company that’s 20%-owned by America Online Inc., is planning to go public in the first quarter of next year, Chief Executive David Ellington said. The San Francisco-based company operates NetNoir.com, a group of Web sites that offer news, entertainment, online shopping and chat rooms. It’s aiming to sell stock to the public sometime within the first three months of 2000, Ellington told Bloomberg News. NetNoir says it has about 500,000 users a month, putting it neck-and-neck with Tribune Co.’s Blackvoices.com site, which focuses on community and job-recruitment services for African Americans. Blackvoices.com said it plans to wait a couple of years before considering going public.