John Lewell

[London, ENGLAND] United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC) announced Monday that it has secured US $1.24 billion in additional funding from its investment partners. To raise the money, UPC has issued convertible preference shares for cash, the offer being taken up by Liberty Media Corporation, Motorola, Inc., UnitedGlobalCom, funds managed by Capital Research and Management Company, and […]

[London, ENGLAND] Supermarket chain Tesco and iVillage, Inc. have launched iVillage.co.uk, an online community for women backed with a US $66 million investment. Women are expected to make up 60 percent of the U.K. online audience by 2005, according to Tesco, and the new site is intended to dominate this market in both the U.K. […]

[London, ENGLAND] Oftel, the official U.K. telecoms watchdog, has issued a report that says British consumers are continuing to benefit from some of the lowest prices in Europe for telephone and Internet access. Recently accused of complacency by Internet industry leaders, Oftel now insists that consumers in the U.K. enjoy services that are comparable to […]

[London, ENGLAND] European e-business enabler has acquired Virus112.com A/S, a Danish virus detection company, in a shares and performance warrants deal. Euro909.com’s offer of 1.1 million ordinary shares and up to 1.1 million performance-based warrants has been accepted by the Danish company, which was founded as recently as May 2000. Virus112.com provides businesses with 24-hour […]

[London, ENGLAND] Wanadoo, the Internet arm of France Telecom, announced Wednesday a bid for the entire share capital of Freeserve, the largest Internet service provider in the U.K. The acquisition values Freeserve at £1,651 million (US $2,360 million), a premium of around 11.2 percent on the closing price Tuesday. If the offer becomes unconditional in […]

[London, ENGLAND] Online financial information service Multex.com announced Wednesday it has signed a multi-million dollar agreement to develop and host a $1 billion strategic venture for Merrill Lynch HSBC, aimed at online “self directed” investors. The new, global service will reach clients in the U.K., Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany, and France, and provide access to […]

[London, ENGLAND] Swiss banks Credit Suisse and UBS are leading the pack in Europe’s online retail banking industry, Forrester Research said Wednesday. Close behind the Swiss are the French, with Banque Directe and BNP Paribas respectively running third and fourth. Behind them come the Finns with one bank and the Germans with four banks in […]

[London, ENGLAND] Digital media company 365 Corporation plc announced Tuesday that it plans to launch Europe’s first comprehensive voice portal, complete with a voice-operated unified messaging system. Codenamed Guardian Angel, the service is designed to serve not only consumers but businesses and other organizations. 365, which is probably still best-known to U.K. Internet users for […]

[London, ENGLAND] United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC) and Excite@Home have abandoned their mega-deal to create Excite Chello, a venture that would have created the largest broadband company outside North America. The proposed deal, first announced in July this year, proved to be too complex and was fraught with difficult business issues that the parties were unable […]

[London, ENGLAND] Users up by 800 percent, losses deepen by 800 percent — that’s the year-on-year progress made by European late offers retailer lastminute.com, according to figures released Monday. In the year ended September 30, 2000, lastminute.com lost US $51 million and picked up the “Worst U.K. Travel Site” award from 6,000 readers of the […]

[London, ENGLAND] Mobile solutions provider AvantGo, Inc. launched Monday the first three of its country-specific European portals in the U.K., Sweden and Norway. The new portals, which provide access to a whole range of AvantGo channels, will be followed early next year by additional services in Germany and France. There are now more than 650 […]

[London, ENGLAND] Global fiber network operator 360networks announced Friday it is lighting networks in 11 European cities and building 24 other metro rings in North and South America and Asia. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, 360networks announced the commitment of a US $700 million credit facility back in October this year to fund its development of […]