Articles by Chet Dembeck

Last week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair commissioned a blue-ribbon panel to examine why U.K. e-commerce companies lag miserably behind the United States, Germany and France I rarely get political in this column, but Mr. Blair and his counterparts in the U.S. need to realize that they are flying blind. Similar Internet-related studies are sprou...

Benchmark Capital announced today that it is pumping $15 million (US$) into Nordstrom.com. The venture is one of the Menlo Park, California firm's largest investments ever in a single company. "Benchmark is extremely excited to be working with Nordstrom.com, a company whose brand and customer service reputation have stood the test of time," said Benchmark general partner Bill Gurley...

The antitrust case against Bill Gates & Co. is often the subject of this column. Gates, the world's richest man, attracts an exorbitant amount of admiration and loathing -- as do most giants of industry The fact that his products have been instrumental in transforming the fabric of our economy from industrial to high-tech only makes his worshipers ...

In a move designed to enhance its e-commerce clout, Exchange Applications, Inc., bought closely held software provider GBI today for $24 million (US$) in stock Through the acquisition, Exchange Applications has added personalized e-commerce software to its arsenal. This software allows an e-commerce site to use e-mail for customer service and marke...

A new study done by Forrester Research Inc. shows that today's 16-to 22-year-olds have willingly embraced the Web in much the same way their parents once embraced cable television. However, unlike their parents, this demographic is a widely untapped resource for those e-marketeers astute enough to exploit it. Consider: 16 to 22 year-olds number mor...

Dell Computer Corp. announced today that it has updated and enhanced www.gigabuys.com, its online superstore. These new features, along with recently added Dell Auctions, Dellnet portal and Dellnet ISP, are part of an aggressive campaign to eliminate online shoppers ' needs to look elsewhere for products and services "Today's enhancements are part ...

Internet service provider PSINet Inc. announced today that it has made an agreement to buy Transaction Network Services Inc. for $45.28 a share in cash and stock, or $705 million (US$). Analysts say the move will give teeth to the Herndon, Virginia-based company's planned foray into e-commerce "As financial institutions continue to outsource their ...

The stunning success of Red Hat Inc. has generated much attention for the once obscure Linux operating system. However, some wonder if the color of money will spawn the kind of greed that could end up spoiling the entire party Since the Durham, North Carolina software vendor brought its shares to market, Red Hat has raised $5 billion (US$) -- an am...

For the second time in a month, Toys "R" Us Inc. has dropped the ball in its attempt to ramp up its e-commerce presence before the holiday shopping blitz This week, when the Paramus, New Jersey-based toy giant announced that it had severed its much-touted partnership with Benchmark Capital, some analysts just shook their heads. Toys declined to go ...

Move over eBay, there's a new kid on the block. German media titan Bertelsmann AG has staked a claim to the burgeoning online trading market with the launch of its own Internet auction site The new site, known as Andsold, will be operated through a partnership with its Gruner + Jahr and Bertelsmann Multimedia units. The move appears to some analyst...

America Online's latest spat with AT&T reveals that there are colossal egos nesting at the top of the number one online service provider AOL's recent court battle trying to bar AT&T from using the phrase "You've Got Mail," on its WorldNet online service also says a lot about the company's priorities. For instance, even after a federal judge threw t...

Portal site operator Lycos Inc. announced yesterday that it has exceeded Wall Street's expectations by achieving operational profitability in its fourth fiscal quarter Excluding acquisition-related expenses and other one-time charges, the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company generated a net income of $605,473 (US$), or one cent per share. This was ...

Last week, AltaVista, a popular search engine and Web portal, joined a growing number of companies that have begun offering free Internet access to consumers The move is seen by some analysts as an attempt by its parent company Compaq Computer Corp. to challenge America Online by offering free access with content. But other industry experts are qui...

A new surge of e-commerce investments in Europe will boost the number of regional Web start-ups, forcing traditional players to rethink their strategies -- so says a new report from Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Forrester Research Inc In the past, a dearth of venture capital has hindered the development of e-commerce start-ups in Europe -- allowin...

AmericanGreetings.com Inc., an online card company that enables people to send birthday and thank you cards via the Internet, announced Friday that it has filed for a $60 million (US$) initial stock sale The Cleveland, Ohio-based e-commerce firm said it plans to use the money raised by the IPO for working capital, to pay royalties to its parent com...

LookSmart Ltd., a Web directory and search tool, and iEscrow Inc., a provider of online escrow services, announced today that they have teamed up to distribute a new tool that will make it easier for webmasters and smaller sites to accept transactions online. The Buy It! Button, recently developed by iEscrow and distributed by LookSmart, enables users to accept credit card and cash orders online with no upfront investment or flat rate service charges...

The day after Red Hat Inc. stock more than tripled on its initial Wall Street debut last week, Canadian software developer Corel Corp. said it expects its Linux revenue to skyrocket next year Corel announced that it was the latest company to hitch its future financial success on the free operating system by developing Corel Linux -- to be released ...

This week, Microsoft Corp. and the U.S. Justice Department each filed yet another legal brief in this never-ending antitrust saga fought over the software giant's past marketing activities. In the government's telephone-book-thick summary, it once again repeated a litany of charges that boil down to this: Microsoft engaged in a "broad pattern" of illegal practices to protect its Windows operating systems monopoly...

Last week, American Express gave online banks, insurance companies and travel agencies an abrupt wake up call when it suddenly flexed its Internet muscles The world's largest credit card company said that it would begin pumping $250 million (US$) a year into expanding its Internet presence by improving its existing Web sites and introducing new pro...

General Motors Corp. announced today that it has formed an independent unit called "e-GM," which will be charged with expanding the company's presence in cyberspace -- plus developing new products One of its projects will be the introduction of "Web Car," a vehicle loaded with voice-activated Internet access, scheduled to be released by the end of ...