Time Warner's interest getting more clear through this article from NewYork Post foxmarketwire.com
WHAT A BEST WAY TO COMPETE WITH AMAZON!!!!! THIS IS WHAT THE STRENGTH COMES THROUGH TIME WARNER:
"Time Warner already sells books, videos and is a major direct marketer.
It also has Time Life Books, the Book of the Month Club, and, with Sony, owns Columbia House.
This past year, Columbia House launched Total E to compete with Amazon.com. "
Getting a buying/pricing power through both Columbia House and Book of the Month Club of Time Warner/Sony would help CDNow/N2K to compete severly with Amazon for Books, CDs, and Videos. A perfect synergy! If Time Warner jumps in for CDNow/N2K, Sony could invest in it as well!!!
Way to go, CDNow!
In case the URL does not work, here is the whole article:
Time Warner Eyes E-Commerce Universe
7.44 a.m. ET (1244 GMT) December 24, 1998 By Mary Huhn and Jon Elsen
NEW YORK — Time Warner, so far an Internet bumbler, wants to be an Internet player.
Having missed the e-commerce bandwagon, the media empire is talking deals with several cyber retailers and is also looking to acquire a portal, which would add services like e-mail to the company's editorial offerings.
Buying a portal would allow Time Warner to put the company's many Web sites in one place.
In particular, Time Warner is interested in acquiring companies that would aid in the sale of media products and merchandise online.
Among the e-commerce sites being mentioned in possible deals are music retailer CDNow, headed by Jason Olim, and startup BigStar Entertainment, one of the few remaining independent online sellers of film videos and DVDs.
"We know Time Warner is going to get serious about e-commerce in 1999 because their efforts to generate revenues from the web have largely failed," said Kate Delhagen, a senior analyst with Forrester Research.
"It's now or never for those guys to get their e-commerce positioning down and start to line up customers and, most importantly, convert existing customers from their books and music clubs to online customers before Amazon.com does," she added.
Time Warner's Pathfinder Network is the umbrella site for online content from the company's media properties such as Time magazine and CNN, as well as other content players, such as Dr. Andrew Weil's and Dr. Ruth's sites.
Time Warner already sells books, videos and is a major direct marketer.
It also has Time Life Books, the Book of the Month Club, and, with Sony, owns Columbia House.
This past year, Columbia House launched Total E to compete with Amazon.com.
CDNow officials had no comment. "We can neither confirm or deny discussions," said a spokeswoman.
Ed Adler, a spokesperson for Time Warner, said he also had no comment on any specific companies when asked about CDNow.
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