Maura Ginty

Online travel company TRIP.com Tuesday bought THOR Inc., owner of the 24-hour online reservations service and its parent firm, Travel Industries Inc. TRIP.com will operate THOR as an independent wholly owned subsidiary. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. John Baker, THOR’s founder and chief executive officer, said the partnership will offer the added convenience […]

In a unified bid for eBay’s market share, FairMarket Inc., Microsoft Corp., Excite@Home and Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Inc. Monday officially announced a pact to create a new auction service. The four companies expect to capture 73 percent of the online audience. The newly released FairMarket Auction Network will serve as a platform for the MSN.COM (MSFT) […]

In a move to build content at its Spanish-language network, Yupi.com has bought Spanish and Latin American film site Claqueta.com. The site will contribute daily film news to Yupi’s virtual entertainment community, Ciudad Futura. “This agreement will allow us to further expand a unique Internet project that we initiated two years ago, by participating in […]

The Clinton Administration’s new encryption policy, which loosens previous restrictions on the export of encryption technology, has been greeted with varying levels of enthusiasm. The new policy will allow encryption software to be sold to any individual or business other than seven states the U.S. government considers sponsors of terrorism. The largest extent of government […]

JFAX.COM Thursday debuted its Free Fax Plus in the UK, offering free access to voice-mail and faxes via the Internet. The free service assigns users a personal phone number in the UK, through which it delivers all faxes and voice-mail messages to the user’s e-mail. The company’s Personal Telecom service gives users the option of […]

In a move to solidify its position in the Spanish market, StarMedia Network Inc. Thursday created a separate unit for the launch of Spanish-language portal Periscopio.com. The portal will focus on quick retrieval of personalized information, primarily through a search engine which boasts an index of more than 110 million documents. The engine can also […]

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission has ordered cable carriers to take 25 percent off the retail lowest rate charged to ISPs for use of high-speed Internet services. The cable companies are required offer the new resale rate within 90 days.

In a move to consolidate the company’s e-commerce efforts, leading credit card service Visa U.S.A. Wednesday launched its eVisa Internet unit. The company plans to use the new unit to market Visa’s credit card services as the “online currency of choice”. To reach this goal, eVisa will focus on relationships with vendors and merchants and […]

Online lender E-LOAN Inc. took a step forward in its plans to expand into Australia this week, appointing John W. McGee as chief executive officer of its joint venture with eVentures, I-LOAN Pty Limited. The mortgage site I-LOAN is expected to be launched early next year. McGee previously was the chief officer of finance and […]

Portal player Lycos Inc. Tuesday inked a $50 million joint venture deal with Singapore Telecom to bring localized versions of the Lycos Network to 10 Asian markets. Dubbed Lycos Asia, the co-owned company will create country-specific versions of the popular US-based portal. Lycos (LCOS) will offer services such as Web navigation, the Lycos search engine […]

More than $350 million rolled in to idealab Capital Partners second round of financing, which closed on Monday. The funds will be invested in growing Internet companies. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and California Institute of Technology were among the contributors to the second fund. ICP principals and first round investors also […]

Cortal, a subsidiary of French bank Paribas, Friday announced plans to launch an online discount brokerage which will trade on nine markets in eight countries. The e-cortal service, set to launch Sept. 27, will offer trades on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the main exchanges in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris […]