Beth Cox

Cincinnati-based real-world retailing giant Federated Department Stores Inc. is integrating its bloomingdales.com e-commerce site with its Bloomingdale’s By Mail businesses, and will call the new entity Bloomingdale’s Direct. “The restructuring of Bloomingdale’s catalog and e-commerce operations reduces redundancies, streamlines operations and creates a more efficient organization … ” said Jeffrey Sherman, chairman of Federated Direct. […]

In a deal reminiscent of its recent cross-licensing a greement with eBay, Microsoft Corp. has signed a licensing and development deal with SpeechWorks International Inc. . Microsoft has licensed Boston-based SpeechWorks’ Speechify text-to-speech (TTS) engine, a technology that makes it possible for text-based information such as e-mail, news and other dynamic content to be read […]

In a move that helps in part to counter a recent magazine deal by rival Borders.com, Barnes & Noble.com and Barnes & Noble Inc. increased their investment in Internet magazine retailer enews.com to a majority stake. In addition to selling directly through its own Web site, enews.com has powered the Barnes & Noble.com magazine store […]

Microsoft launched the beta version of MSN Music, calling it a “free, easy way for music consumers to search for, listen to and discover music they like” The move comes only days after Real Networks Inc. entered into a venture with media giants AOL Time Warner Inc., Bertelsmann AG and EMI Group plc to create […]

General Motors Corp. established an e-learning alliance with online education company UNext in a deal that gives the automaker’s 88,000 executive, management and technical employees access to educational programs, including an MBA degree. The online MBA program will be available through GM’s own corporate education facility, General Motors University (GMU), which will provide students access […]

Early last fall Internet grocery sales and delivery company Webvan Group Inc. announced a $1 billion stock-base acquisition of HomeGrocer.com. Now, the stock price is down to 12 cents a share and its own auditors are reportedly questioning whether the company can remain in business. In Webvan’s annual report, auditors Deloitte & Touche are said […]

Mountain View, Calif.-based Internet e-business solutions provider Marimba Inc. today launched several initiatives, including a new XML-based performance management product family. The company also said that its Castanet and Timbale products are being enhanced and re-branded “as part of the company’s change management offering.” The new performance management products are designed for customers that need […]

In a move that doubles its footprint in Germany, Plano, Texas-based EDS is acquiring German information technology services firm Systematics AG in a cash and stock deal valued at about $570 million. Systematics has expertise in CRM, ERP, digital value chains and systems integration. “EDS will be better able to bring comprehensive, targeted industry service […]

Much troubled Priceline.com reiterated financial guidance it gave in February and said it still expects to achieve a pro forma operating profit in the second quarter as revenues improve. And the online travel business as a whole may be on the upswing, too. Goldman, Sachs analysts said they see several data points that “lead us […]

German e-business solutions provider SAP AG is acquiring privately held TopTier Software Inc., a developer of enterprise information portal software, in a cash deal valued at about $400 million. San Jose, Calif.-based TopTier has been an SAP partner since 1999 and parts of its technology are already integrated with the SAP enterprise portal offering called […]

A new industry report says that total consumer spending online in February trended upward to an estimated $3.4 billion, an improvement over January’s figure of about $3 billion. Consumers spent an average of $248 per person in February, compared with $229 in January, according to the report from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Forrester […]

A day after it received a stock delisting warning, Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Tickets.com tried to shore up confidence by announcing a multi-year agreement with the Milwaukee Brewers to include retail distribution through Tickets.com’s retail outlets and call centers. The Nasdaq warning said the B2B ticketing solutions provider has failed to comply with the minimum bid […]