John Lewell

[London, ENGLAND] Asset disposition firm Bid4Assets said Thursday it is to sell the last remaining assets of the (old) defunct boo.com north america inc. Although boo.com has risen again under new ownership, there are some remaining assets of the old company in North America where the European fashion retailer had headquarters in New York City. […]

[London, ENGLAND] Mobile phone giant Vodafone has shrugged its corporate shoulders in the face of pending lawsuits by U.S. brain cancer victims, saying it will not be liable as it does not operate directly in the states where the suits have been launched. Vodafone shares fell Thursday morning on reports that lawyer Peter Angelos, who […]

[London, ENGLAND] 2000 started with great promise for Internet companies in Europe, but is ending with uncertainty, despite a surge in Internet usage by the general public. The “misses” have included auctioneer QXL.com which has seen its share price decline by 99 percent. The “hits” have included AOL, which has accelerated its European growth by […]

[London, ENGLAND] Having spent US $2.19 billion on Japan Telecom and US $4 billion on Eircell already this week, U.K. mobile operator Vodafone Group has reportedly bid over US $10 billion for Australian mobile operator C&W Optus. 53 percent owned by Britain’s Cable & Wireless, C&W Optus has been inviting bids since September and recently […]

[London, ENGLAND] Internetworking solutions company ThruPoint, Inc., of New York, announced Friday it has strengthened its European presence by opening an office in The Netherlands. ThruPoint believes there is significant growth potential in the Low Countries for its technological services and solutions aimed at the network architecture consulting industry. With its European headquarters in London, […]

[London, ENGLAND] Paul Strzelecki, a former vice president of Motorola, is to become chief executive of Keen Europe, the European branch of the Keen.com community that provides answers to people’s questions over the telephone. Known as the “Live Answer Community,” Keen.com enables those who answer the questions to make money by charging a per-minute fee […]

[London, ENGLAND] AOL UK and European retail group Kingfisher announced Thursday a joint marketing and distribution agreement that will put AOL UK software into 2,061 Comet, B&Q, Woolworth’s and Superdrug stores. AOL UK is known for its aggressive marketing, but its latest deal is one of the biggest. Specially co-branded CDs for its flat rate, […]

[London, ENGLAND] U.K. mobile operator Vodafone Group announced Wednesday its purchase of a 15 percent stake in Japan Telecom for 249.2 billion yen (US $2.19 billion). Observers now believe there is a possibility that Vodafone will find itself in a bidding war with arch-rival BT which has a similar holding in Japan Telecom for a […]

[London, ENGLAND] BT must offer leased line services to other operators at wholesale prices, says a draft direction published Wednesday by U.K. telecoms watchdog OFTEL. Businesses have long complained of the high cost of “always on” leased line connections in the U.K. — the type of connection needed to run round-the-clock Web servers and other […]

[London, ENGLAND] U.K. telecoms network operator Energis announced Tuesday that it is paying US $719 million for a 75 percent stake in Ision, a German Web hosting company with operations across Europe. Energis is purchasing most of its stake from Distefora, the Swiss and German based information technology group that currently owns over 13 million […]

[London, ENGLAND] DrGlobe.com, the Swiss-based provider of online “Health Account” services for doctors, announced Tuesday a secure messaging service for doctor-patient communications. The new service will allow doctors and patients to correspond via a secure, confidential and central messaging system. Because it also has tracking facilities, DrGlobe.com says it is also “a new source for […]

[London, ENGLAND] Breathe.com, the U.K. ISP that terminated “lifetime” unmetered access for 50,000 customers recently, confirmed over the weekend that it has gone into administration. Although unable to find further financing to ensure its long-term future, Breathe.com will not close immediately. The administrator, PricewaterhouseCoopers, will try to sell the business as a going concern and […]