Here is one for the Internet crowd: Shares of Beyond.com (BYND),
which used to go by the name Software.net, are rising on heavy volume
these days.
Several Internet chat groups and bulletin boards say the company, which
sells software via the Internet, might be an acquisition target for bookseller
Amazon.com (AMZN). Beyond.com shares, at 10 1/4 Monday, are up
from 7 or so just four trading days ago. Beyond.com, which sells software
to government buyers and ordinary consumers, lost almost $9 million in its
most recent quarter.
What the Internet discussion groups don't say is that the CEO of
Beyond.com is the former vice president of marketing at Amazon, Mark
Breier. If a marketing executive can't convince his former employer to
take the plunge, who can?
Beyond.com shares, which came public in June at 9 a share, rose as much
as 2 1/4 to 11 1/2 Monday, giving it a market cap of $240 million.
Amazon, one of the benchmark Internet stocks, owns a market cap of
$6.2 billion.
The company Monday cited a broad rally in Internet stocks as a possible
reason for the shares' rise, according to the Dow Jones news service.
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