StarMedia Shares Rise on BellSouth’s Stake

Shares of StarMedia Network Inc. rose 38% after local-telephone company BellSouth Corp. bought an 11% stake in the Internet media company that targets Spanish-speaking consumers. BellSouth paid $25 million for the stake.

BellSouth plans to include content from StarMedia as part of a wireless Web service it will begin selling in South America and Central America in the next six months.

StarMedia rose 76 cents to $2.77 on Nasdaq. The shares have dropped 85% in the last year as advertising declined and investors shunned unprofitable Web companies. StarMedia’s cash fell to $61.5 million on March 31 from $93.4 million in December.

StarMedia said it raised an additional $11 million from J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. and Primedia Inc.