Beth Cox

Real estate and travel company Cendant is buying up the Trip Network, said to be the fourth-largest full service online travel company, and will make Trip’s Cheap Tickets operation into its primary consumer brand, closing Trip.com. Financial terms were not disclosed although Cendant said “the amounts were not material” The acquisition was made by buying […]

As eBay’s income from auction sales has grown at near-geometric rates, advertising revenues became less a part of the mix, which helps to explain why the auction giant is letting an ad sales deal with America Online expire. But a little friction may also be involved. Also, eBay has disclosed that its PayPal operating subsidiary […]

Trial is scheduled for next month in a complicated patent infringement lawsuit filed against eBay , according to the auction giant’s annual 10-K report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And the stakes are high. eBay says in its filing that “if the plaintiff were to prevail on any of its claims, we might […]

The push for an Internet sales tax is making progress in California, where a state Senate committee this week approved two bills paving the way for collections on goods sold by out-of-state merchants via the Web. California officials, looking at a state budget shortfall of $35 billion over the next 15 months, have estimated that […]

The English language has had a tight grip on top-level Internet domain names, but that appears likely to end soon as ICANN is set to approve new technical standards paving the way for names in languages such as Chinese and others that use different symbols. Officials of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers […]

Online movie download company Movielink signed its first content deal outside of those with its five founding studios, inking a pact with independent film studio Artisan Entertainment, perhaps most noted for “The Blair Witch Project.” Artisan has agreed to supply Santa Monica, Calif.-based Movielink with new releases and a selection of films from its movie […]

The al-Jazeera Arabic TV channel based in Qatar is known to most Americans only be reputation. Few Americans have access to the station’s satellite signal. But the station is reaching a new audience thanks to a newly launched website. With little promotion, the station’s Web site is being swamped with hits. The english.aljazeera.net site, described […]

In a coup of sorts, online loan origination site LendingTree.com signed a deal that makes it the exclusive, integrated loan provider on AutoTrader.com, an auto classifieds marketplace. Charlotte, N.C.-based LendingTree said that consumers who visit AutoTrader.com to research vehicles and search for cars online will be able to seamlessly access the LendingTree loan application technology […]

A new study of IT spending by the retail industry says things are starting to turn around just a bit, and that 2003 will see modest spending increases and the beginning of a compound annual growth rate going forward of 5.3 percent. The study by Framingham, Mass.-based research and consulting firm IDC predicts that IT […]

Back in the days of the pre-Internet America, spring was often marked by a gentle knock on the door from a fresh-faced Girl Scout trying to sell you some cookies and learn a bit about capitalism in the process. Nowadays, however, capitalism has met high tech, and a quick search on eBay recently produced 63 […]

Barry Diller’s e-commerce conglomerate USA Interactive , following through on an effort that began more than a year ago, is acquiring all of the outstanding stock of travel site Expedia that it doesn’t already own in a $3.3 billion deal. At the same time, Diller said he is resigning as CEO of Vivendi Universal Entertainment. […]

There’s more jockeying for position in the online hotel room reservation space, and this time it’s Priceline making the moves. In the face of problematic airline ticket sales given the threats of war and terrorism, the Norwalk, Conn.-based name-your-own price-travel company inked a distribution pact with Travelweb, a consortium of five major hotel chains. Priceline.comPriceline.com […]