|
|
Media conglomerate AOL Time Warner has taken a $100 million stake in online retailer Amazon.com, and the agreement that goes with that stake gives AOL the option of taking Amazon over. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, AOL may offer to take over Amazon, provided that AOL doesn’t announce its intentions publicly without Amazon’s agreement. Likewise, if Amazon announces that a deal is in the works, AOL will be freed from the confidentiality clause. The deal bars AOL Time Warner from taking more than a 5 percent stake of Amazon. But that restriction will be lifted if Amazon accepts a merger proposal. The $100 million stake that AOL has taken in Amazon is part of a five-year agreement under which Amazon will provide product comparisons and search services on AO and Amazon will endorse AOL as an internet service provider. AOL Time Warner’s stake in Amazon amounts to less than 2 percent of the company.
CNET axes 15 percent of staff
Technology news and information web site CNET Networks is firing about 300 members of its workforce, which amounts to about 15 percent of its 2,000-person staff. The company has not announced yet which departments and subsidiaries will be affected. CNET claims the job cuts are necessary because it lost so much money in the second quarter. It posted a net loss of $218.1 million, which is a 30 percent increase over its losses in the same period last year. Largely due to slumping ad sales, CNET’s revenue fell 32 percent, despite CNET’s much-talked-about introduction of larger-size ad formats. Ads make up about 49 percent of CNET’s revenue. CNET owns tech-news sites News.com, ZDNet and TechRepublic. The upcoming layoffs mark CNET’s second round of mass firings this year. In February, CNET let go of 190 members of its staff, which at the time amounted to 10 percent of its workforce.
IVillage to take Women.com off-line
In an apparent about-face from its previously announced strategy, women’s portal iVillage is taking its subsidiary and former rival Women.com off-line. The site will more or less go dark on Tuesday, July 31, when links to iVillage content will replace Women.com’s content. According to reports, Women.com staffers received an email notice about the change from Women.com managing editor Linda Zavoral yesterday. In the message, Zavoral warned Women.com writers to print out all their work, suggesting that the site archives will be taken down as well. Women.com likely will be resurrected in some form in the future. Last month, iVillage finalized its purchase of Women.com, saying at the time that it would maintain Women.com as a separate brand for younger women, under the iVillage umbrella. Women.com did not respond to a phone call from Media Life seeking comment. Also yesterday, iVillage announced that it narrowed its losses to $26.3 million in the second quarter, thanks to layoffs and other cost-cutting measures.
Annals of eBay: Shoeless Joe’s bat is for sale
“Shoeless” Joe Jackson’s prized hickory baseball bat is up for grabs on auction site eBay, starting Friday. “Black Betsy,” as the bat is nicknamed, is expected to fetch a record price for an article of baseball memorabilia. Bidding for the handmade bat, which Jackson received in 1924, opens at $500,000. To put the projected price range in perspective, Mark McGwire’s 70th home-run ball cost $3.05 million, and a Honus Wagner baseball card sold for $1.3 million on eBay. Black Betsy is actually brown these days, and pitted from years of collisions with baseballs. Besides being a legendary ballplayer, Jackson is best known for having been barred from professional baseball due to his involvement in fixing the 1919 World Series. The auction is being managed by auction house Real Legends and ends on Monday, Aug. 6.
Virulent SirCam virus still spreading
A sneaky new virus called SirCam is reaching epidemic proportions. SirCam is particularly insidious: Its creators figured out how to ensnare web users who aren’t in the mood for, say, photos of Anna Kournikova. Like most worms, Trojans and viruses, this one arrives as an attachment from someone the recipient knows. SirCam induces its victims to click on the attachment that unleashes it by posing as a message that appears genuine. The body of the SirCam-bearing email generally reads, “Hi! How are you? I send you this file in order to have your advice. See you later. Thanks.” SirCam emails itself to all the addresses in a victim’s Microsoft Outlook address book. It then attaches an arbitrarily selected document from the victim’s hard drive, and the subject line of the email comes from this random document. SirCam, which first appeared a week ago, is dangerous because it clogs up corporate email servers and can send out confidential information. Most antivirus software can catch SirCam.
July 25, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
Printer-Friendly
Version | Send
to a Friend
Cover Page | Contact
Us
