U.S. Spending on Internet to Reach $518 Billion in 2002
Framingham, Massachusetts, June 25 (Bloomberg) -- Internet- related spending by U.S. companies and consumers will more than quadruple to about $518 billion in 2002, as more people do their shopping and communicating on the worldwide computer network.
The U.S. ''Internet economy'' already has mushroomed to about $124 billion this year from less than $30 billion in 1996, as companies rush to reach their customers, suppliers and workers more efficiently, said market researcher International Data Corp. Globally, 100 million people use the Internet regularly, it said.
Investor enthusiasm for Internet stocks has surged in recent months, with shares of the most prominent companies at or near records. America Online Inc., the largest online service, and top Internet directories Yahoo! Inc., Lycos Inc. and Infoseek Corp. are well-positioned to benefit from the increasing demand.
Business-to-business commerce is probably the most important driver of the adoption of Internet technologies,'' said John Gantz, author and primary forecaster of the study.
Yahoo! rose 3 1/2 to 152 1/4, after touching a record 156 1/4. AOL rose 4 1/8 to 108 1/16 after climbing to an all-time high of 108 3/8. Infoseek gained 1 1/4 to 34 3/4 and Lycos rose 1 15/16 to 69 9/16.
Business spending on Internet content, marketing and sales and services will increase to more than $300 billion in 2002. Internet commerce, or the purchase of goods and services over the Internet, will near $250 billion by that year.
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