GNET >>> Internet generated >$300 Billion in revenues last year
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Internet generated more than $300 billion in revenue last year, study says
Copyright © 1999 Nando Media
Copyright © 1999 Associated Press
By TED BRIDIS
WASHINGTON (June 10, 1999 12:01 a.m. EDT nandotimes.com) - A new study about the impact of the Internet on the nation's economy estimates it generated more than $301 billion in revenue last year and was responsible for 1.2 million jobs.
The study, whose findings were to be announced Thursday, found that electronic commerce - worldwide purchases across the Internet of books, automobiles and other goods and services from U.S. companies - generated nearly $102 billion.
Remaining revenues came from companies that create hardware or software, support the Internet's infrastructure or act as intermediaries for online transactions, such as online travel agents or brokerages.
The new report also found that revenues attributed to all sectors of the Internet have been doubling annually for the past three years, with no slowdown in sight.
"As more and more business activity moves into the Internet stream, you'll see an explosion," predicted Anitesh Barua, who conducted the study for the Center for Research on Electronic Commerce at the University of Texas. "Ultimately, the (online) transactions will go through the roof."
The study, which will be updated four times annually, was funded by Cisco Systems Inc. of San Jose, Calif., the $8.5 billion company that makes specialized computer hardware for the Internet.
"We've quantified the Internet economy and given a model that people can look at," said Don Listwin, an executive vice president at Cisco. "People have been asking us to do it to validate what seems intuitive."
The Commerce Department announced earlier this year it will begin tracking annual consumer sales across the Internet, but the figures from last year's shopping won't be available until the middle of 2000. Internet sales are estimated to represent less than 1 percent of all retail sales.
The new university study also said average revenue per employee of Internet-related companies was $250,000, vs. $160,000 per employee in typical industrial sectors.
The figures equal total revenues divided by the number of full-time employees, although the software industry typically hires temporary workers as programmers, who weren't counted in those results.
Barua called the figures a rough gauge for productivity.
The university said it compiled the study's results by looking at 3,100 U.S. companies that generate all or part of their revenues from Internet products or services. Some of the information was compiled using reports from research companies, financial reports and the Web sites for 300 of the largest companies.
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