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Online real estate company Homestore has admitted it overstated revenue from January 2000 to September 2001 by up to US$158 million, prompting Nasdaq to initiate proceedings to delist the stock. Homestore said it plans to challenge the decision. "Homestore has come clean on prior problems, and th...

With a single transaction, EBay managed to do what lawsuits and a raft of other bad news could not. The auction giant brought high-flying PayPal's stock back to Earth by paying US$43.5 million for the 35 percent stake in PayPal rival Billpoint that partner Wells Fargo took two years ago. "The tim...

Acquiring customers may be Job One for many e-tail marketers. But only those e-tailers that convert new customers into loyal ones will thrive over the long term. "Customer acquisition only really happens with a repeat purchase, not a first-time, heavily discounted purchase," Forrester Research an...

Someday I hope to understand how the U.S. government decides which mergers are allowed to go forward and which get stopped dead in their tracks. My best guess is that it involves either flipping a coin, drawing straws or pinning tails on a paper donkey. There simply is no other explanation that m...

Online hotel bookings are on the rise, with Forrester Research predicting consumers will spend US$30 billion between 2002 and 2006. But according to a Forrester report, the new Hotel Distribution System (HDS), a cooperative effort between five major chains, will not challenge the top players in t...

U.S. e-commerce purchases topped the US$10 billion level in the fourth quarter of 2001 and totaled $32.6 billion in the year as a whole, growing much faster than overall retail sales, according to new figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce. "If e-commerce was still able to get growth in 200...

Any doubt that fallout from the collapse of energy giant Enron -- which crumbled under the weight of a massive accounting scandal -- would reach the world of e-commerce has been put to rest in the past couple of weeks. "Everything is getting a lot more scrutiny due to Enron," Morningstar.com anal...

Online casinos are serious about getting people to try their luck on the Web. According to a new report by Jupiter Media Metrix, Internet gambling outfits increased online advertising 170 percent from December 2000 to December 2001, drawing 13.6 million Web users to their sites in December 2001.

Monster.com parent company TMP Worldwide said the job board saw its revenue drop in the fourth quarter but remains positioned for growth in a challenging business climate. Just over a week ago, Yahoo! closed its takeover of number two job board HotJobs.com, which TMP previously had tried to acqui...

Founded in August 2000, Carat Interactive specializes in digital messaging programs that are integrated both offline and online across all interactive mediums. The company's clients include Adobe Systems, Bank of America and Palm. In Part 2 of this interview, Carat Interactive vice president and ...

Those who have watched e-commerce grow up probably had a lump in their throats when they read research firm IDC's prediction that worldwide online sales will reach the US$1 trillion mark in 2002. So, what does it mean to measure e-commerce in trillions? Surprisingly little. E-commerce wins conver...

Web research firms Jupiter Media Metrix and NetRatings have called off a deal under which NetRatings would have acquired Jupiter for US$71.2 million in cash and stock. The two companies said opposition from the Federal Trade Commission proved too difficult to overcome. Competition was a major issu...

Sabre Holdings has announced it will seek to buy all outstanding shares of Travelocity.com. The buyout, which is estimated to be worth US$345 million, would give Sabre full control of the travel site. For its part, Travelocity said it has formed a special committee to review the bid. The company ...

Founded in August 2000, Carat Interactive specializes in digital messaging programs that are integrated both offline and online across all interactive mediums. The company's clients include Adobe Systems, Bank of America and Palm. Carat Interactive vice president and media director Mark Stephens ...

An online tax agreement reached this week by the European Union could be "a significant problem" for U.S. e-tailers, Gartner analyst French Caldwell told the E-Commerce Times. It also could cause international conflict. U.S.-based Web retailers worry that under the proposed law, they may have to ...