Business

Ministers from the 15 nations of the European Union (EU) adopted a copyright directive Monday aimed at updating copyright laws for the digital age to prevent Internet and high-tech piracy of music, books and other copyrighted works. The ministers approved the so-called Copyright Directive by co...

On Monday, Internet powerhouse eBay and other prominent investors took a combined US$15 million stake in ReturnBuy, a company that resells returned goods for both e-tailers and retailers. Ashburn, Virginia based ReturnBuy said that by using online auction house eBay and other online channels to ...

Months after the slowdown hit the U.S. economy, a consensus has failed to materialize on which came first: the dot-com shakeout chicken or the economic downturn egg? "The implosion of tech companies and the evaporation of their funding is more a symptom of the economic slowdown than a cause," B...

Providing a welcome dose of good news amid a flurry of dire earnings forecasts, e-tail giant Amazon.com said Monday that it would post a narrower-than-expected loss for the first quarter due to surging electronic sales. The Seattle, Washington-based online bellwether reported that it would post ...

Facing little prospect of turning a profit with a standalone Web business anytime soon, NBC said Monday it would buy out and absorb NBCi after less than two years of independent operations for the portal. The US$138 million deal reflects the woes of the overall Internet portal industry, which ...

Universal Music Group stepped forward Monday to announce that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire subscription music service EMusic in an all-cash deal worth approximately US$23 million. Redwood City, California-based EMusic is a potentially valuable acquisition for Universal becaus...

Microsoft announced a new alliance with Partner America on Friday designed to help small businesses venture into the world of e-commerce. Partner America, a public-private partnership between the United States Conference of Mayors and American Management Services, will be co-sponsoring a series...

The Internet promises a number of benefits to consumers and the economy, but there is "a real danger" that those benefits will not be realized if consumers identify the Internet with fraud operators, a U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) official testified Thursday. "The boom in e-commerce has ...

U.S. Commerce Secretary Don Evans told Latin American trade ministers Wednesday that e-commerce initiatives must play an integral part in the creation of any Western Hemisphere free trade agreements. "President Bush recognizes, as do I, that e-commerce will continue to be one of the driving forces...

Continuing a raucous week in the online music sector, subscription music download service EMusic announced Thursday that it had signed a non-binding letter of intent to be acquired by a "major publicly held media company," in an all-cash transaction worth approximately US$24 million. Although Re...

In a bid to survive in a slumping economy, Egghead.com said Friday that it has given pink slips to 21 workers in the company's Menlo Park, California offices and to 157 workers in its Vancouver, Washington facility. The cut will reduce Egghead.com's workforce by 29 percent. The company said that...

A month after announcing that its customers' credit card information was exposed to hack attacks, Bibliofind.com said Thursday that it will move its operations to the site of its parent company, Amazon.com. Bibliofind informed customers and merchants this week that it will take up residence in ...

Are there ways for dot-coms to trim the fat without resorting to layoffs? According to a study released Wednesday by Gartner, the answer is a resounding yes. The study, "Nine Ways to Cut Costs and Save E-Business Initiatives," outlines the ways in which chief information officers can improve th...

With the initial public offering (IPO) market continuing to languish, a report released Wednesday by IDC advises venture capitalists that the current economic climate makes it more important than ever to maximize the attention they provide to each firm in their portfolio. "For venture capitalis...

More than a year after the first salvo was fired between the recording industry and digital downloading freeloaders, the music industry is still trying to develop a subscription-based service that rivals Napster in popularity. Webnoize analyst Matt Bailey told the E-Commerce Times that no singl...