Tom Taulli

While I still think that MP3.com (MPPP) is the premier online music site, this does not mean there are no other investment opportunities in the space. In fact, there are strong signs of consolidation in the industry. Interestingly enough, big Net players are entering the business, such as AOL (AOL), which purchased Spinner.com. An online […]

It is rare for individual investors to get an IPO at the offering price. But when this happens, the rewards can be immediate — especially with such moonshots as Juniper Networks (JNPR) , RedHat (RHAT) and so on. Suppose an IPO does not shoot-up on the first day? Is this a way to get a […]

With a share price of $165 and a market capitalization of $4.7 billion, there are many nice options for Kana Communications (KANA) , which is a leader in online customer service. Yesterday, the company agreed to use $271 million in stock to acquire Business Evolution and NetDialog. Both companies are privately held. Such acquisitions allow […]

What’s your opinion of FreeMarkets? Reply: Typically, in December the IPO market cools down, as people go on vacations and drink egg nog and such. However, there seems to be no stopping the IPO market. FreeMarkets is one of the companies that should be spectacular. It is a business-to-business company (need I say more?), which […]

It looks like it is finally happening. Paul Allen’s so-called “wired world” will be real. Yesterday, Paul Allen’s cable company, Charter Communications (CHTR) , announced that it will make St. Louis the testing ground for his vision. This was done by swapping cable systems in Texas, as well as five other states, for the AT&T […]

With the surge in RedHat (RHAT) , anything Linux has been red hot. For instance, the long-struggling software developer, Corel (CORL) , rocketed because of rumors of a possible acquisition from RedHat, as well as the release of new Linux-based applications. Linux is an operating system based on the open source concept. That is, programmers […]

To predict the stock of Oracle (ORCL) really requires the masterwork of a qualified oracle. The company is predictably unpredictable. Perhaps the reason is that the founder and CEO is Larry Ellison, who seems to thrive on instability. In the past month, Oracle’s stock has been surging. I would not be surprised if it continues […]

On November 10, 1998, Microsoft had its first-ever spin-off. Of course, the newly minted IPO was Expedia (EXPE) , the online travel site. Like any hot Net IPO, the stock soared on its first day, gaining $39.44 to $53.44, giving the company a $2 billion market capitalization. The stock eventually reached a high of $65-7/8. […]

Divorce is never fun. However, in the case with E*TRADE (EGRP) and Telebanc (TBFC), it looks like the divorce will come before the marriage. It was on June 1, that the two companies announced their engagement to merge and become a happy financial powerhouse. There would be tremendous synergy, combining E*TRADE’s online brokerage leadership with […]

Tom’s readers e-mailed him over the weekend with queries about XML, Agency.com and Electronic Arts. What is XML? I keep hearing about it. Reply: XML stands for extensible mark-up language. Basically, HTML (Hypertext mark-up language) was not versatile enough to handle the demands of e-business transactions. For example, suppose you wanted to add a new […]

On the eve of Thanksgiving, all markets rallied, with Internet shares doing particularly well. internet.com’s Internet Stock Index jumped 23.80, or 3.39 percent, to 724.90, the Nasdaq Composite climbed 77.57 to 3,420.44 and the Dow Jones industrial average added 29.67 to 11,025.30. Wednesday is the last full session of the week as U.S. markets will […]

The future of B2B commerce looks particularly bright, as has been evidenced by such rocketing companies as Ariba (ARBA) and Chemdex (CMDX). However, there is a serious threat to the growth: security. After all, in the B2B space, companies are exchanging confidential information over the Net infrastructure. If in the wrong hands, the consequences could […]