Hi all, CSL is back in operation -- most probably until the end of thismonth. In the past, we have closed the list over July and August. Please
send on any messages etc. However, there is already quite a backlog here at
CSL HQ. I expect the number and rate of messages will slow down by Monday.
Best wishes to you all, John & Joanne (Moderators).
==========================================================
-----Original Message-----
From: TheStandard.com [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 6:30 PM
To: Intelligencer Europe
Subject: INTELLIGENGER EUROPE: Music Sites to Merge
| http://www.thestandard.com
|=====================================================================
THE INDUSTRY STANDARD'S
I N T E L L I G E N C E R E U R O P E
This Week in the European Internet Economy
=====================================================================
Wednesday, 13 June 2001
TOP STORY:
* European Music Sites to Merge
WORTH REPEATING:
* The Midas touch?
THE WEEK:
* News highlights
BY THE NUMBERS:
* DVD takes off
/=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=\
If B2B sounds like a rock band and low-hanging fruit sounds like
lunch, then you're a Jargon Survivor. Seehow Jargon Offenders are
punished on Death By Jargon, from Hoover's Online. Take the Jargon
Challenge.....Play Now!
http://www.deathbyjargon.com
(The game is supported by Internet Explorer version 5 and above, and
Netscape 4.74 and above - the game may take a minute or so to load)
\=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=/
TOP STORY
~~~~~~~~~
European Music Sites to Merge
By Kristi Essick - Paris Bureau Chief
Buoyed by a market-defying share price, the Italian music site
Vitaminic plans to acquire its U.K. rival, Peoplesound.com, in a
stock-swap worth $29 million (34 million euros).
"In the last six to 12 months, weve seen that the largest players are
the ones that are winning the game," said Ernesto Schmitt, CEO of
Peoplesound. By merging with Vitaminic, the two independent companies
might have a chance to fight against the online distribution services
backed by the major labels, he said.
Both Peoplesound and Vitaminic operate Web sites that enable users to
download music from mostly unsigned bands, though lately they have
both focused on selling their catalogs, subscriber databases and
technology to third parties.
Being acquired by a rival might not be what Peoplesound envisioned
when it launched in June 1999 at the height of the dot-com boom in the
U.K., but it has struggled to come up with a profitable business
model. Vitaminic faces the same challenges in generating revenues - it
doesn't expect to break even until the end of 2002. However, after
raising $119 million (135 million euros) in an IPO last October,
Vitaminic has been largely spared during the market downturn.
Miraculously, investors have not deserted the stock, which remains
above its offer price. The relative stability of its stock price has
enabled Vitaminic to acquire companies such as the pioneering
unsigned-music site Iuma, and FranceMP3.com.
How has Vitaminic remained in the buyer's seat while its U.S. rivals
such as EMusic.com and MP3.com watched their stock prices drop more
than 90 percent, only to be acquired by Vivendi Universal? Dettori
chalks up his companys staying power to the fact that it never offered
copyrighted songs without permission. "MP3.com made one big mistake:
massive copyright infringement," Dettori said. After being forced to
pay out large settlements to record companies, MP3.com "had to be
acquired to survive," he said.
While the stock market is still shining favorably on Vitaminic,
Dettori might consider more acquisitions to bolster his goal of making
Vitaminic the No. 1 European music download service. That said, if
Vivendi Universal or another large music company comes knocking on
Vitaminic's door, Dettori wouldnt necessarily turn them away. "I would
not say no for certain to being acquired," he notes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
WORTH REPEATING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Whatever [Boris Becker] touches turns to gold."
A bank analyst commenting on the launch of German sports portal
Sportgate last August, which is heavily backed by tennis star Boris
Becker. The venture filed for insolvency on Monday in a Berlin court.
Quoted by Newsbytes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
THE WEEK
~~~~~~~~
NOKIA DROPS: Shares in Nokia dropped like a stone and dragged Europe s
tech stocks with it after the world's largest manufacturer of mobile
phones lowered earnings estimate for the second quarter and warned
that sales growth for the quarter will fall significantly short of its
previous estimates.
http://click.email-publisher.com/maaacraaaP9b1bVFFsHb/
3G TIE-UP: British Telecommunications and Deutsche Telekom have signed
a deal to share the costs of the roll-out of 3G wireless services.
BT s Viag Interkom and Deutsche s T-Mobile will co-operate in Germany
while BTCellnet and One2One will co-operate in the UK. While the
German regulator seems okay with this arrangement it remains to be
seen whether Vodafone will buy it.
http://click.email-publisher.com/maaacraaaP9b2bVFFsHb/
HASTA LA VISTA: AltaVista, the search engine majority-owned by
internet investment group CMGI, has been handing out the pink slips
among its European regional managers as it centralizes operations into
the UK.
http://click.email-publisher.com/maaacraaaP9b3bVFFsHb/
LYCOS LOSSES: Terra Lycos chief Joaquim Agut has assured shareholders
in the U.S.-Spanish portal that losses are diminishing fast and it is
winning the battle to make customers pay for content.
http://click.email-publisher.com/maaacraaaP9b4bVFFsHb/
BT DEBT EXCHANGE: British Telecommunications has completed another
part of its debt reduction program with the sale of local exchanges
and offices to a property consortium. Telereal will pay BT a total of
$3.16 billion which will be used to meet the group s plans to reduce
its $38.5 billion debt pile by over $14 billion by the end of the
year.
http://click.email-publisher.com/maaacraaaP9b5bVFFsHb/
IBM GOES FAST: British-based data search and retrieval company Fast
Search and Transfer has been picked by IBM to operate the search
engine on the global technology group s Website. The deal, believed to
be worth over $1 million, heralds the start of greater co-operation
between IBM and Fast as the search company looks to gain a stronghold
in the market for corporate search engines.
http://click.email-publisher.com/maaacraaaP9b6bVFFsHb/
NEW EASDAQ: Two months after announcing it would acquire a majority
stake in Easdaq, Nasdaq has officially launched its European trading
system. Nasdaq Europe, as Easdaq is now called, will enable European
traders to buy and sell shares of the companies listed on the U.S.
Nasdaq exchange during European business hours, and trade shares in
the handful of European companies listed previously on Easdaq.
http://click.email-publisher.com/maaacraaaP9b7bVFFsHb/
DOWNSIZING BAN: As the U.S. downturn - and its consequent layoffs,
bankruptcies and pain - spreads to Europe, the French government has
hit upon a novel way to prevent large-scale job cuts: Outlaw them.
Under the terms of legislation proposed last week, profitable
companies would be restricted from using layoffs to cut costs.
Instead, mediators would juggle the demands of employers and employees
during large-scale restructuring.
http://click.email-publisher.com/maaacraaaP9b8bVFFsHb/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BY THE NUMBERS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The launch of the DVD format is widely regarded as the most successful
in consumer electronics history. Two years ago, just 3 percent of
American households had one. That's increased fivefold, and analysts
expect sales to continue growing rapidly. What s the secret? A key
factor to consider is price
http://click.email-publisher.com/maaacraaaP9b9bVFFsHb/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
STAFF
~~~~~
Written by James Price. Send news tips and
press releases to [log in to unmask]
GET MORE NEWSLETTERS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Enter your e-mail address at the following URL
and select the newsletters you wish to receive:
http://www.thestandard.com/newsletters
To UNSUBSCRIBE, click on this link:
http://thestandard.email-publisher.com/u/?bUrKLo.bVFFsH
FEEDBACK AND PROBLEMS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Send letters to the European editor:
[log in to unmask]
Email us with any problems that arise:
[log in to unmask]
Copyright 2001 The Industry Standard
************************************************************************************
Distributed through Cyber-Society-Live [CSL]: CSL is a moderated discussion
list made up of people who are interested in the interdisciplinary academic
study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list please visit:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html
*************************************************************************************
|
