Beth Cox

Sprint signed up with CyberSource to expand its e-commerce offerings for business customers, specifically online payment processing services. Kansas-based Sprint said the deal will enhance the e-commerce offerings at its 10 Sprint E|Solutions centers across the country. Financial terms were not disclosed. Mountain View, Calif.-based CyberSource said the payment service offered by Sprint enables real-time […]

There’s good news for e-commerce entrepreneurs – a new industry report says that a majority of American retailers reported profitable online operations last year. In fact, the Shop.org annual study, entitled “The State of Retailing Online 5.0,” says that fully 56 percent of retailers reported online profits in 2001, compared to only 43 percent in […]

The online travel industry has been both lucrative and volatile, but has it been good for the consumer? The government (and the conventional travel business) wants to know, and a special commission began hearings today to find out. The commission, formally called the National Commission to Ensure Consumer Information and Choice in the Airline Industry, […]

Bellevue, Wash.-based drugstore.com Inc. , which is still looking for that first-ever profitable quarter, found some help when it re-upped its deal with Seattle-based Amazon.com . The renewed marketing partnership, extending through the first quarter of 2003, means that Amazon.com shoppers continue to have easy access to health, beauty, wellness and pharmacy products. Financial arrangements […]

In a move aimed at pointing more of its users towards activities and sites that generate revenue, Internet portal Yahoo is said to be testing a redesigned front page that puts more emphasis on fee-based services and opens up a little more space for advertisers. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo! , which for 18 months has been […]

For American males of a certain age, this news must seem like a dream come true: eBay and Playboy are teaming up for a June 23 auction. Yes, the venerable men’s magazine and related merchandise empire, in a move aimed at reaching the teeming millions, is planning an auction and has opened a storefront on […]

Denver-based payment services giant First Data Corp. is acquiring E Commerce Group Inc. (ECG), an electronic bill payment and presentment company based in New York City. Privately held ECG developed and markets Speedpay, a proprietary technology that allows companies to receive electronic bill payments through multiple sources including call centers, automated voice response units and […]

First Lowestfare.com stopped selling airline tickets, and now the operation owned by financier Carl Icahn, former chairman of TWA, has sold its trademarks and domain names to name-your-own-price travel company Priceline.com. Norwalk, Conn.-based Priceline said the Lowestfare.com Web site is still operational. Priceline will be making its services for airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars […]

Houston-based Continental Airlines has launched a site co-branded with auction giant eBay that will let its customers bid on vacations and other events using their frequent flier miles. The deal with Continental allows Continental OnePass members to visit the new site and bid on sporting events, VIP performing arts experiences and Continental Airlines Vacations using […]

Telecom giant WorldCom , its battered stock down to $1.45 from a 52-week high of almost $19, is reportedly considering massive job cuts, perhaps as many as 16,000 people or 20 percent of its workforce, according to USA Today, which broke the story. Many of the job cuts, which would also include contract employees, are […]

Priceline wrangled itself a little more exposure, inking a deal to feature its name-your-own-price service for leisure airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars and other vacation offerings on LastMinuteTravel.com. Norwalk, Conn.-based Priceline said the deal includes a listing on Last Minute Travel on AOL. Under the agreement, customers visiting LastMinuteTravel.com will be able to check […]

Travelocity.com put a lock on its exclusive relationship with Yahoo, signing a deal that expands its existing (and exclusive) alliance with the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based portal to include a new marketing services program. Fort Worth, Texas-based travel services company Sabre Holdings , which bought up all the shares of Travelocity last spring, said that the companies […]