Business

In an effort to add community dynamics to its e-mail offerings, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) announced Wednesday that it will pay about $434 million (US$) in an all-stock transaction to acquire free group e-mail service eGroups. The eGroups acquisition will also boost the new Corporate Yahoo! enterprise se...

RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK) announced Wednesday that it has forged an alliance with Nokia (NYSE: NOK) to distribute multimedia content to cell phones and other mobile devices.

According to data from Framingham, Massachusetts-based research firm IDC, online jewelry sales will grow from $77 million (US$) in 1999 to over $1 billion in 2004 and outpace the growth of consumer e-commerce as a whole.

Bracing for massive e-commerce growth, Chinese government officials are preparing a regulatory framework to govern the industry and lay out guidelines on taxation, advertising, content, and other key areas.

Not long ago, U.S. Vice President Al Gore took some serious ribbing for suggesting he played a major role in developing the World Wide Web. Now some of the same type of ridicule should be aimed at British Telecom for its pursuit of hyperlink patent royalties.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced Wednesday that it is investing over $1 billion (US$) to develop and promote its core Internet middleware technology, the IBM WebSphere software platform.

Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq NM: ORCL) admitted Tuesday to hiring a detective firm to investigate groups that came out in public support of Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq NM: MSFT) during its antitrust battle with the U.S. government.

Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ) announced Tuesday that it will partner with PacifiCare Health Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: PHSY) to develop a new Internet company that will focus on welcoming seniors into the digital age.

In an effort to boost demand for its microprocessors, motherboards and networking products beyond the PC market, Intel announced Tuesday that it plans to spend $100 million (US$) over the next year to open 15 e-business centers throughout the world.

Name-your-own-price Web retailer Priceline.com announced Wednesday that it is teaming with Internet investor group General Atlantic Partners LLC to launch Priceline.com Europe in the fourth quarter of this year.

Despite the recent decline in venture capital funding for Internet companies, North American e-tail sales will exceed $29.3 billion (US$) in 2000, according to new research from Gartner Group.

Mammoth Internet service provider America Online announced an agreement Tuesday with InterTrust Technologies Corp. that will allow AOL's 23 million subscribers to digitally download music and videos for a fee, while protecting copyrighted material from theft.

The "Global New E-Economy Index," a cyber atlas that maps the technological vitality of 47 nations based on five digital economy factors, was published Tuesday by IT research firm Meta Group.

Recently, when the U.S. Congress passed a bill giving digital signatures the same legal weight as old-fashioned pen-and-ink signatures, the concept of a paperless world once again reared its intriguing head.

Dell Computer Corp. unveiled on Tuesday a wide range of new online services geared toward small and mid-sized businesses, including Dell-branded Internet access, e-mail and purchasing services.