Articles by Jon Weisman

According to published reports, President George W. Bush on Wednesday signed into law a bill that renews the ban on key taxes related to the Internet and e-commerce The legislation extends for an additional two years a moratorium that prevents the state and local governments from imposing new taxes on Internet businesses....

E-commerce giant Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) has reorganized its business operations into five departments -- with an increased emphasis toward third-party services -- the company confirmed Thursday "We obviously want to make changes to the organization that make sense for the business," Amazon spokesperson Patty Smith told the E-Commerce Times....

Making another bid to reverse the economic slowdown that has hammered the U.S. economy overall and tech companies in particular, the U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday cut interest rates for the 10th time this year The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) said it had lowered its target for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 2 percent -- the ...

Internet portal Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) on Wednesday reported a net loss of US$24.1 million, or 4 cents per share, for the third quarter ended September 30th. However, during a conference call following the release of its earnings report, Yahoo! chairman and chief executive officer Terry Semel said that the online giant will rebound once the overall economy does...

Priceline.com (Nasdaq: PCLN), which in the past has gotten questionable results from investments outside the travel sector, announced Tuesday that it plans to exercise its option for a 49 percent equity stake in an online loan service co-founded by the company In making the announcement, Priceline noted that PricelineMortgage, which appears as a ho...

Gateway (NYSE: GTW) said Thursday that its third-quarter loss will be far worse than earlier Wall Street's expectations and blamed the shortfall in part on a drop in demand following the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States. The No. 4 computer maker also said it would take a charge of $100 million to $130 million in Q3, in additio...

O say, can you see "O"? Internet users looking to buy tickets for the film adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Othello" might have wondered. Typing "O" into the search box of some of the most prominent Web movie ticket sales sites produced no information about where or when you could see the movie. You had to find "O" through a mixture of pluck an...

O say, can you see "O"? Internet users looking to buy tickets for the film adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Othello" might have wondered. Typing "O" into the search box of some of the most prominent Web movie ticket sales sites produced no information about where or when you could see the movie. You had to find "O" through a mixture of pluck an...

O say, can you see "O"? Internet users looking to buy tickets for the film adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Othello" might have wondered. Typing "O" into the search box of some of the most prominent Web movie ticket sales sites produced no information about where or when you could see the movie. You had to find "O" through a mixture of pluck an...

E-commerce service provider Global Sports (Nasdaq: GSPT) continued its expanding ways Friday by announcing its intent to purchase perhaps the leading name in pure-play online luxury sales, Ashford.com (Nasdaq: ASFD) The acquisition is arguably the first of any significance in the e-commerce world since Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the United Stat...

Vanguard Airlines (Nasdaq: VNGD) accused Orbitz late Wednesday of making false statements regarding a dispute over booking Vanguard flights, and again recommended that customers avoid using the Internet travel site On Tuesday, Orbitz said that Vanguard has colluded with other parties to protect the interests of computer reservations system Sabre (N...

For those of you who think that there has been nothing funny about the struggles in the dot-com world this year, the E-Commerce Times begs to differ As we reach the halfway point in a year where nothing has been certain in e-commerce except uncertainty, indulge yourself with a selection of profound absurdities, or absurd profundities, that will mak...

Can an e-tailer make a simple mistake without being punished? Are e-tailers human enough to err, and can customers be divine enough to forgive? Here's the scenario. You come across a DVD player selling on a Web site for US$3.99. That's right. Just 399 pennies from your jar -- the pennies you'd dump at the bank if you could just take the time to stu...

Online grocer Webvan (Nasdaq: WBVN) announced late Friday that chairman and chief executive officer George T. Shaheen has resigned Robert Swan, chief operating officer of Foster City, California-based Webvan, will lead the company until Webvan's board of directors appoints Shaheen's successor, the company said....

Internet giant Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) announced after the markets closed Wednesday that it had met its own scaled-down expectations for the first quarter of 2001, but planned to lay off 12 percent of its workforce. The company also said that it expected a loss for the second quarter The layoffs will affect approximately 420 of Yahoo's 3,510 employee...

In the midst of a losing season on the business pages, can high-tech companies swing a ninth-inning rally on the sports pages? Opening Day for major league baseball is upon us, meaning that All-Stars like Pedro Martinez and Sammy Sosa will not only roam the hallowed grounds of Fenway Park and Wrigley Field -- but Qualcomm Stadium and Network Associ...

Perhaps the tone for eToys' imminent farewell from e-commerce was set in February, when the online retailer specifically warned investors that its own stock was "worthless." Forget about defiant last words. Forget about "if only" or "should have" disclaimers....

Analysts disagree on whether Tuesday's downbeat economic news, including a reported drop in consumer confidence to its lowest level in nearly five years, is likely to drag down e-commerce spending levels The Conference Board (TCB) reported that its Consumer Confidence Index fell in February for the fifth consecutive month and now stands at 106.8, i...

According to venture capital research firm VentureOne, there was not a single venture-backed e-commerce initial public offering (IPO) in the last three quarters of 2000. So, can the market for e-commerce IPOs possibly can get any worse? Worse than zero?...

As the 2000 holidays fade into the background, with e-commerce neither falling on its face nor proving that its growing pains are history, one might think that the industry is ready to take a step back and regroup for the future However, iflast year's post-holiday business was any indication, e-commerce is justgetting started....