Beth Cox

Healthcare products giant Johnson & Johnson has acquired BabyCenter Inc. from the defunct eToys Inc. for $10 million in cash. BabyCenter.com is a resource for expectant and new mothers and fathers; the family of associated sites also includes ParentCenter.com and BabyCentre.co.uk. The BabyCenter Store was not a part of the transaction, and will be temporarily […]

An estimated 20 percent of the revenue at Internet travel sites could be threatened if more airlines follow the example set by Northwest Airlines Corp., which has said it will no longer pay commissions to U.S. and Canadian Web sites selling its tickets. The move was quickly condemned by the Interactive Travel Service Association (ITSA), […]

Walmart.com, a joint venture of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and venture capital firm Accel Partners, is laying off 24 of 250 employees, but expects to hire more than 50 others for engineering and technology jobs. The online retail operation is sharpening its focus, working to improve its design and make the check-out process easier. Most of […]

Thomson Financial’s EC Media Group launched ecomworld.com, a site that is the online sister publication of its Electronic Commerce World print magazine. The Web component will offer daily news and analysis, as well as “numerous portals dedicated to specific technology categories, such as enterprise application integration and XML, and portals dedicated to particular industries, such […]

Home and family publishing and marketing company Meredith Corp. signed an interactive media sales and marketing partnership deal with New York City-based ad network DoubleClick Inc. Meredith’s online publications Better Homes and Gardens (BHG.com), Ladies’ Home Journal (LHJ.com) and Family Money (FamilyMoney.com) will employ DoubleClick’s media sales and e-mail delivery solution. Financial specifics of the […]

Kent, CT-based online computer goods retailer Cyberian Outpost Inc. said that its results for the fourth quarter ending Feb. 28 will be below analysts’ estimates, coming in at a loss of 31 to 34 cents per share. Analysts had expected a loss of 16 cents a share. However, Outpost.com said that its fourth quarter revenue […]

As expected, eBay is continuing its push into Europe and indeed, the world, purchasing Paris-based online auction company iBazar S.A. in a stock deal valued at about $100 million. The move was widely reported as early as 10 days ago. In the formal announcement today, eBay said the move “redefines European online trading.” iBazar claims […]

General Motors , making an effort to refine its online sales strategies and keeps its dealers happy, signed an agreement with Irvine, CA-based Autobytel.com for a 90-day test of new online business model. The test program will combine the independent all makes, all models capability of Autobytel.com with a localized inventory search function and a […]

Discount giant Walmart has signed a deal with Seattle-based streaming media company RealNetworks Inc. to use its technology and infrastructure in a promotion for the sale of music CDs at Walmart.com. The retailer said that online shoppers will be able to hear 30-second RealAudio samples of every song on every CD in Walmart.com’s music inventory. […]

Menlo Park, Calif.-based E*Trade Group Inc. has added RIM Wireless Handhelds from Research In Motion Ltd. to the array of Web-enabled devices through which customers can access the service. E*Trade said it now has integrated wireless brokerage and banking service across all three major platforms — browser-enabled phones, Palm OS PDAs and RIM Wireless Handhelds. […]

With the blessing of the Justice Department and smiles from analysts, Homestore.com completed its acquisition of Cendant Corp.’s Move.com operation in a stock deal valued at approximately $790 million. Goldman, Sachs analysts were bullish on the deal, saying that “we expect the company’s revenues to grow to $472.2 million by 2002.” Cendant said it expects […]

The U.S. Census Bureau said that retail purchases online came to an estimated $8.69 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, up from third quarter 2000 sales of $6.39 billion. The bureau, a unit of the Commerce Department, said that for the first time, retail sales over the Internet accounted for 1 percent of […]