Gates, Dell among backers for ZixIt

The Dallas company turned heads about three weeks ago by announcing that a group led by H. Wayne Huizenga would invest up to $44 million. Mr. Huizenga is the businessman associated with such high-profile companies as Blockbuster Entertainment, Waste Management Inc. and AutoNation Inc.

Late Wednesday, the Huizenga group revealed its blue chip membership in a filing at the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investing $1 million are Microsoft Corp. chairman Mr. Gates and Mr. Dell, founder of Dell Computer Corp. Mr. Welch, storied leader of "old economy" conglomerate General Electric Co., also put up $1 million.

"Hats off to David Cook," said Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown efinance analyst Gary Craft.

Mr. Cook is the ZixIt chief executive who attracted the investors. He founded Blockbuster Entertainment Corp., the video-rental chain that Mr. Huizenga ran between 1987 and 1994.

In early trading Thursday, ZixIt shares rose 15 percent to $48.75. By 4 p.m. Dallas time, they were trading at $43.75.

Mr. Craft said ZixIt's technology turns delivery of sensitive and massive electronic files into a matter of seconds rather than hours or days.

"This a simple innovation, yet it has such profound implications," said Mr. Craft.

Doug Kramp, chief executive of the ZixMail unit of ZixIt, said Thursday that the company has invested $50 million in a data center to serve Web-based e-mail accounts. Customers can download the software for free and pay $12 a year, per e-mail address, for an account.

Mr. Kramp said ZixMail customers also have a digital signature for signing and sending receipts for the delivered documents.

Customers include major law firms across the United States and companies such as Conoco Inc. and the Perot Group.

As for the company's name, changed last October from Custom Tracks, Mr. Kramp said it's a combination of the acronyms ZIP for compression and X for encryption.

"We just dropped the (lsquo)p' and it became ZixIt. It's very memorable."