Stock Watch: Credit Card Deal Sends Ariba Soaring

Ariba, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBA) soared 10 to 80 1/2 Monday after the B2B software company announced it will team up with VeriSign (Nasdaq: VRSN), Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN) and American Express Co. to offer payment processing services for business-to-business online transactions.

The companies said they also plan to develop a new standard to allow communication between different companies' systems and provide greater security.

The new system, which the companies said will cut time and costs for buyers and sellers, will be available to businesses using American Express to pay for transactions made over Ariba's B2B network.

"This alliance is our latest step in building an open network of commerce services with leading infrastructure and service providers," said Eric Bochner, vice president of Ariba Commerce Services.

The news did not help shares of VeriSign, which fell 4 11/16 to 177 11/16, or American Express, which ended 7/8 lower at 55 5/8.