posted 02-08-2001 10:25 AM         

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E-commerce software maker Vignette said Wednesday that it has formed a wireless spinoff to develop e-business and personalization software for mobile networks, despite recently shutting offices and shaving its work force. (source: CNET) http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-4741543.html

Online book seller Amazon has once again found a new way to squeeze an extra buck from its operations. The Seattle-based online retailer will begin charging publishers to take part in its email marketing program in which the company mails out recommendations of certain book titles to customers, according to reports today. (source: Upside) http://www.upside.com/Ebiz/3a8182903.html

posted 02-07-2001 09:18 AM         

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With its share price down more than 80 percent from its 52-week high, warnings of a larger than expected loss for its fourth-quarter results and analysts predictions of growing losses and shrinking growth potential in 2001, this columnist believes it may be time for for Internet venture Barnes & Noble.com to spin back into its parent company. (source: Upside) http://www.upside.com/Ebiz/3a7f22f06ab.html

Amazon.com rebutted a report issued by a Lehman credit analyst Tuesday which warned that the online retailer will face a "creditor squeeze" in the second half of this year because the company's liabilities are growing much faster than its assets. An Amazon spokesperson dismissed the report as "silly" and "chock full of errors." (source: CNNfn) http://cnnfn.cnn.com/2001/02/06/technology/amazon/

posted 01-29-2001 05:37 PM         

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Perhaps more than any other dot-com debacle, the rise and fall of eToys parallels the treacherous ups and downs of early e-commerce. Portrayed as a superstar of the new medium in 1999, the toy retailer's market valuation soared to $7.7 billion the day it went public, 35% more than long-established rival Toys “R” Us. But despite a boardroom full of Harvard and Stanford MBAs and blue-chip backers, eToys wildly overestimated the size of its potential market and the speed at which it would materialize. (source: The Wall Street Journal) http://public.wsj.com/sn/y/SB980113514634649993.html

Several dot-coms that were universally thought to have bitten the dust have since risen from the ashes, in most cases with new management intent on rebuilding their once (and often, much) maligned brands. Now that they have received the breath of new life, they're charged with figuring out how to make sure their brand name doesn't stand for insolvency in the minds of consumers, vendors, or investors. (source: Business 2.0) http://www.business2.com/content/channels/marketing/2001/01/23/25020

According to venture capital research firm VentureOne, there was not a single venture-backed e-commerce initial public offering in the last three quarters of 2000. So, can the market for e-commerce IPOs possibly can get any worse? This columnist thinks it can. (source: E-commerce Times) http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/6978.html

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