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Workers at Etown.com and ShopAudioVideo.com will become the first dot-com employees to vote on whether to have union representation The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America filed apetition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Monday seeking an election, after getting approval fromabout 70 percent of the two companies' 36 c...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Tuesday it has reached a settlement with two Connecticut residents who operated what the FTC called an "elaborate" Internet pyramid scheme that conned thousands of consumers out of more than US$430,000 The defendants -- David Martinelli, Jr. and Deana Plourde of Terryville, Connecticut -- agreed to pay $...

Although many Internet firms are slashing advertising budgets in favor of direct marketing campaigns, a new study released Wednesdayby Andersen Consulting and Online Insight warns that e-tailersoften miss the mark when it comes to marketing initiatives "Companies are ignoring the basic marketing principles traditional business use -- first, choose ...

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) added wireless phones and services to its expanding roster of products Tuesday evening The Seattle, Washington-based e-tail giant said it will offer plans from severalleading U.S. wireless companies, including AT&T, Sprint PCS and VoiceStream,and such phone makers as Nokia and Samsung....

Drkoop.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: KOOP) tacked on1/32 to 23/32 Tuesday after the struggling health care Web company saidPricewaterhouseCoopers will stay on as its independent auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers had planned to quit its association with the companyafter the completion of a US$27.5 million private placement. "Followingdiscussions with the company'...

Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) fell 221/32 to 25 1/32 Tuesday after Banc of America Securities analysts said theyexpect the e-tail giant to experience a slowdown in growth next year "We are becoming incrementally cautious on the stock, based on our beliefthat Amazon's rate of growth will slow considerably in calendar 2001,without sufficient visibility o...

Interactive digital TV may be the Asia-Pacific region's key to catching up with the rest of the e-commerce world, according to a report released Tuesday by Andersen Consulting. According to the study, the Asia-Pacific region boasts the highest rates of TV penetration in the world, along with a substantial and growing broadband subscriber base. Cab...

It was a sweet bit of news from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Despite some lackluster months for e-commerce, the agency said, online spending jumped 15 percent from the second quarter to the third. In all, Americans spent US$6.3 billion online from July through September. Finally, there was something to balance the grim reports of dot-coms on l...

For the sixth month in a row, dot-com layoffs have reached record numbers, according to a report released Monday by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas (CGC) The Chicago, Illinois-based firm said that during the month of November, 8,789 dot-com employees lost their jobs -- an increase of 55 percent over October's layoff toll of 5,677 and...

The traditional kickoff of the holiday shopping season on Friday fueled a 27percent surge in online traffic from earlier in the week, according to datareleased Monday by Internet tracking firm Nielsen//NetRatings "Shoppers flocked to e-commerce sites the day after Thanksgiving,traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year forbrick-and-...

Further indicating that e-commerce is continuing to transform the traditional retail landscape,a new study released Tuesdayby business services firm Ernst & Young shows thatAmerican consumers will make nearly a third of their total holiday purchasesover the Internet in the coming weeks The company also found that the number of consumers doing at le...

Half of the 22 publicly traded U.S. consumer e-commerce companies will need to raise cash before the 2001 holiday season, and those that fail to do so are likely to fall by the wayside, according to a report released Monday by Goldman Sachs & Co By mid-2001, just 12 to 14 of the 22 are likely to be around, Goldman analyst Anthony Noto said. However...

Intuit, Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU) rose 1 15/16to 47 11/16 Tuesday after the company agreed to sell its online insurance servicesdivision to InsWeb Corp. in exchangefor a 16.6 percent stake in InsWeb, worth about US$14 million As part of a related agreement, Sacramento, California-based InsWeb willbecome the exclusive aggregator of online insurance servic...

European shoppers will spend US$2.2 billion online this holiday season, a figure that would nearly match total European online sales in all of 1999, according to a report released Monday by Forrester Research "As the number of online shoppers grows over time -- in the first six months of this year alone, the number nearly doubled -- retailers have ...

America Online, Inc. (NYSE: AOL) was up 25/64 at 44 23/64 early Tuesday following reports that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) delayed for the second time a meeting at which commissioners were expected to block the company's planned merger with Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) According to press reports, negotiations that would allay regulators' ant...

Youbet.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: UBET) was down23/64 at 51/64 Tuesday after announcing that it will lay off nearly 30 percent of its workforce and that its president has resigned. In all, 34 jobs will be cut The company said it is attempting to conserve cash so it canproceed with the ongoing aggressive development and expansion of its core horse-racing bu...

Despite an overall decrease in summer retail sales, e-commerce sales flourished from July to September, according to a report released Monday by the Census Bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce The third quarter witnessed a 15.3 percent online sales gain over the previous quarter, while total retail sales fell 0.4 percent....

A word to the CEOs, venture backers or board members of any dot-com companies teetering on the brink of collapse: Please, do everything that you can -- as long as it's not at the expense of your customers -- to keep your company up and running through the holidays. No one wants to find bankruptcy under their Christmas tree.

Although many e-tailers are frantically ramping up their offerings andservices for the holiday season, 42 percent of consumers willnot purchase gifts online within the coming weeks, according to a new surveyby PlanetFeedback.com and BBBOnline, the Internet arm of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) While many e-tailers would be more than satisfied wit...

Leaders of 10 Southeast Asian countries gathered in Singapore on Friday to sign the e-ASEAN accord, urging member nations to make e-commerce safe and effective for consumers, to establish high-speed Internet connections, and to approve digital signature legislation. The e-ASEAN accord also seeks to eliminate duties on information technology goods ...