Business

Brick-and-click retailer Office Depot announced Monday that is purchasing technology products vendor 4Sure.com and the businesses of its two online outlets, Computers4Sure.com and Solutions4Sure.com, for an undisclosed amount. Delray Beach, Florida-based Office Depot, which has taken a number of ...

Online grocer Webvan said Monday it has ceased operations in all its markets and will file for bankruptcy protection. Webvan, which has been exiting markets and selling assets in an attempt to stay afloat, had previously said it had enough cash to survive through the end of the year, but would n...

Travelocity announced Monday that it has acquired WhereTo, an Australian provider of online travel systems. Travelocity plans to integrate WhereTo's technology, which includes engines that facilitate the booking of fares, into its own site. According to Travelocity, the integration will allow th...

Luxury gift e-tailer Ashford.com said Monday it has struck a partnership with eBay that will enable it to sell leftover and closeout merchandise on the auction site. Ashford, which now specializes in jewelry, watches and other luxury items for the corporate gift and rewards program markets, will...

A controversial free shipping offer that generated significant customer backlash has been pulled by Amazon.com after two weeks. The offer, which promised visitors free shipping when they bought two or more items, in any combination, from the e-tailer's book, music, DVD or video stores, was part o...

The self-proclaimed "Saint of E-Commerce," a 19-year-old Welsh teenage hacker named Raphael Gray, was sentenced Friday in a Wales court to three years of psychiatric and community service rehabilitation for posting the hacked credit card details of thousands of people to the Web, according to rep...

Online travel company Expedia.com was slapped Thursday with another in what has become a series of class action lawsuits against the company alleging violations of federal securities laws. The latest complaint contends that Expedia, its president and chief executive officer Richard N. Barton, ch...

Online grocer Webvan will hold its third asset auction early next month, selling off US$30 million worth of equipment used to service the Altanta, Georgia market it departed earlier this year. The auction, scheduled for August 7th and 8th, is the latest bid by Foster City, California-based Webv...

Amazon.com expanded its reach into brick-and-mortar stores overseas with its announcement Wednesday that its British arm, Amazon.co.uk, has teamed up with European mobile phone provider Carphone Warehouse to offer customers pre-paid phones online. According to Carphone Warehouse, the deal is th...

Defunct e-tailer eToys became the latest company that will have to face off against shareholders in court, as investors filed a class action lawsuit alleging that the former online toy seller's initial public offering (IPO) prospectus was "materially false and misleading." Specifically, the suit...

Despite being in the grips of a regional shakeout of its own, Asian business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce is growing at a rate of 100 percent a year, according to a report released Thursday by the Boston Consulting Group. Dot-coms continue to fall by the wayside in Asia, BCG reported, but establi...

More than 20 million Europeans visited business and finance sites from their homes in May, according to research released Wednesday by Jupiter MMXI. The Internet research firm said that most Internet banking and finance consumers were visiting local brands offering online banking, financial info...

Internet consultant Organic has joined the growing list of former dot-com high fliers facing a Nasdaq delisting. Late Tuesday, the San Francisco, California-based company said it is seeking a hearing from a Nasdaq panel to avoid delisting. Organic shares have not traded at the Nasdaq's minimum bi...

Staples is proceeding with plans to buy back its online unit and fold it into its traditional retail operations, after agreeing to settle a suit with shareholders who alleged that company managers would reap unfair profits from the deal. As part of the settlement announced late Monday, Staples sai...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Monday that Netpliance, which manufactures a low-cost Internet access and e-mail device, has agreed to settle charges that its sales and billing practices violated a host of federal laws. According to the agency, Netpliance employed deceptive adve...