Business

In yet another example of consolidation in the online auto market, MSN Carpoint and AutoNation announced Friday that they have signed a deal that makes AutoNation the primary distributor of the car sales leads generated by Carpoint. AutoNation chief executive officer Mike Jackson said the agre...

With pressure building from union organizers and with a potential public relations blunder at hand, Amazon.com told laid-off hourly employees Thursday that they would not have to pledge to keep quiet about the company in order to receive a better severance deal. Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith tol...

Bertelsmann AG announced Wednesday that it is eliminating 55 jobs at subsidiary CDNow, in a move that will eliminate the entire advertising sales function at the online music site. Before being purchased by the German media giant, CDNow had turned to selling advertising space because it needed ...

Fired workers at Amazon.com are being urged by union activists to turn their backs on the Internet retailer's enhanced severance package. Many in the labor movement view the firings as opening the door to organizing thousands of dot-com workers around the U.S. "People who thought there was no...

In another move that could have a ripple effect on the online music business, German media giant Bertelsmann AG has named Joel Klein, the former U.S. Justice Department antitrust chief, to head its U.S. operations. Klein, who lead the government's antitrust case against Microsoft Corp., will be ...

In a bid to refocus on its core travel business, Priceline (Nasdaq: PCLN) announced Wednesday that it had enhanced its service to offer customers more convenient itineraries and shorter connection times between flights. The "name-your- price" e-tailer also said that it had hired travel expert Pa...

CarsDirect.com said Wednesday that it will buy Greenlight.com, an online car site backed by Amazon.com. The sale, which will reportedly result in about 75 jobs cuts before the merger is complete, is the latest sign of consolidation within the online auto sales sector, which has had trouble gaining ...

With the latest round of dot-com layoffs and the current assault on the viability of Net advertising, e-business is undergoing a genuine public relations nightmare. But is the recent bad rap justified? Or is e-commerce simply an easy target during uncertain economic times? Michele Pelino, direc...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Tuesday that the 2000 holiday shopping season "seems to have gone more smoothly for consumers" than it did in 1999. "Consumers reported fewer problems with online goods being delivered late than in the 1999 online shopping season," FTC Bureau of Co...

While the U.S. Congress debates proposed Internet privacy laws, a tech industry group announced Wednesday that it has issued a set of self-regulatory guidelines in a bid to ward off federal intervention. Although the Personalization Consortium said the standards provide a set of "best practices...

Despite a fourth-quarter 2000 loss that came in just ahead of Wall Street expectations, Amazon.com announced Tuesday that it is laying off 1,300 workers -- 15 percent of its total staff -- and closing a distribution center in McDonough, Georgia and a customer service center in Seattle, Washington. ...

News that Amazon.com is slashing 1,300 jobs continued to rattle the e-commerce world Wednesday, as analysts said reduced sales forecasts from the bellwether company are a signal that the era of spectacular growth may have ended for the e-tail sector. "They're on track to becoming an efficient ...

Despite the deaths of dozens of dot-coms and the stock market plunge that left many e-tailers gasping for air, U.S. consumers continue to shop online because they like the convenience and control it offers, according to a report issued Monday by Forrester Research. "Rumors surrounding the demis...

Even the backing of most valuable players Michael Jordan, John Elway and Wayne Gretzky could not help sports e-tailer MVP.com in the rough and tumble world of e-commerce. Online media company Sportsline.com announced Monday that it had purchased the domain names, trademarks and certain other asset...

Questions about the health of e-commerce led to a slowdown in venture investments during the fourth quarter of 2000, but venture capitalists still set a new funding record in 2000, according to a report released Monday by the National Venture Capital Association and Venture Economics. In its l...