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Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dbblg who wrote (64562)	6/25/1999 4:36:00 AM
From: H James Morris	Respond to of 164684

>>Sunnyvale, California, June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Shares of Beyond.com Corp., which sells computer software over the Internet, rose 28 percent on speculation that it may be bought by No. 1 online retailer Amazon.com Inc. Financial news network CNBC said Amazon.com may make a $48-a-share bid for Beyond.com, without citing sources. That would value the transaction at about $1.7 billion, based on Beyond.com's estimated 35.75 million shares outstanding. CNBC, which didn't give further details, called the report a ''rumor.'' The purchase of Beyond.com would give Amazon.com an experienced management team and immediate access to selling software, which could easily be distributed alongside its books, music and videos, analysts said. It may also help cut both companies' marketing costs because they could focus on promoting just one brand, shareholders said. ''Software is one large market that Amazon.com hasn't tackled that just fits right in with everything else they're doing,'' said Drew Cupps, fund manager at Strong Capital Management, which held about 31,200 Amazon.com shares as of March. ''I think it makes a lot of sense from each company's perspective.'' Beyond.com would likely benefit from teaming up with the leader in online retailing, in large part because it could tap Amazon.com's more than 10 million registered customers. ''Anytime you plug a new offering into a current Rolodex it's pretty powerful,'' said Cupps. Sunnyvale, California-based Beyond.com's shares rose 7 1/4 to 32 7/8 in trading of 13 million shares, more than nine times the three-month daily average. Amazon.com rose 1/4 to 117 3/4. Beyond.com spokeswoman Laura Fulda decline to comment. Paul Capelli, a spokesman for Seattle-based Amazon.com, said the company doesn't confirm or deny reports circulated in the investment community or in the media. Amazon.com Amazon.com Chief Executive Jeff Bezos has boosted spending to expand the retailer's business, which the company said earlier this year may result in losses 2.5 times larger than its first- quarter loss of $61.7 million, or 39 cents a share. It's been adding new distribution centers and widening its online products and services, most recently with the introduction of auctions and free services such as digital downloads of music. It's also spent heavily on promoting its brand; last quarter, its marketing budget tripled to $84.1 million. Beyond.com stands to benefit from Amazon.com's expertise in selling to consumers, which make up only a third of its business, analysts said. The retailer also sells to corporations and to the government, most recently getting a $121 million contract to supply software to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. ''Beyond.com's consumer business has been a drag on earnings,'' said analyst Sara Zeilstra of Warburg Dillon Read, who has a ''hold'' rating on both retailers. ''They've been spending millions of dollars on this consumer branding campaign, and it doesn't seem at this point that it's really taken off.'' Jun/23/1999 16:59 For more stories from Bloomberg News, click here. (C) Copyright 1999 Bloomberg L.P. <<

To: dbblg who wrote (64562)	6/25/1999 4:58:00 AM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

From WSJ>>Joseph Galli capped a wild day of career brinksmanship by announcing that he will join Amazon.com Inc. as president and chief operating officer, after twice signaling that he would take a top job at PepsiCo Inc. instead. Company Profile: Amazon.com Mr. Galli, a former top executive of Black & Decker Corp., this week suddenly became one of the most-fought-over corporate executives. As late as 6 p.m EDT Thursday, PepsiCo thought it had recruited him to be president and chief executive of Frito-Lay North America, the domestic snack-food division of PepsiCo. Mr. Galli said in an interview that his decision was "final." But in another interview at 9 p.m. EDT he said he was going to Amazon instead, calling it "one of the hardest decisions I've ever made." It's unclear whether Pepsi will accept Mr. Galli's sudden reversal without a fight. Last night, a Pepsi spokesman called the entire episode "a truly bizarre turn of events." Pepsi officials noted earlier in the day that Mr. Galli hadn't just told them he would take the Frito-Lay job; he had signed an employment letter. Mr. Galli said Seattle-based Amazon won out because "I want to be part of the new economy, and because I'm excited about the opportunity to work with Jeff Bezos." The 35-year-old Mr. Bezos is Amazon's founder, chairman and CEO. He holds Amazon stock valued at about $7 billion and is widely regarded as one of the leading figures in the fast-growing Internet economy. For Amazon, signing Mr. Galli is seen as a way to add badly needed depth to the online merchant's top management ranks. Mr. Bezos retains intense control of the company, going so far as to have his signature appear on customer refund checks as small as $45. In April, Amazon announced it was looking for a No. 2 executive to help Mr. Bezos handle the demands of running what is now a 4,500-employee company. Mr. Galli noted that he oversaw more than 10,000 employees at Black & Decker and said he is comfortable running a business as big as Amazon wants to become. "The bigger the better," he said. Mr. Galli also said his experience in brand management and global operations should prove useful at Amazon. For his part, Mr. Bezos praised Mr. Galli's commitment to high-quality products at Black & Decker, saying: "He's as obsessed as we are about the customer experience." The courting of Mr. Galli shows how the Internet has turned the management of corporate America on its head, with companies such as Amazon able to snatch prized executives from blue-chip companies such as Frito-Lay. While Mr. Galli and Mr. Bezos wouldn't discuss details of the new recruit's pay package, it's likely that Amazon won the final advantage on the strength of a blockbuster stock package. People familiar with the talks said Amazon had offered Mr. Galli options on 1.5 million shares earlier in the week, when it appeared that Pepsi's offer was going to win. While Mr. Bezos didn't say if Amazon sweetened its offer at the end, he did say: "Everyone at our company is an owner, and Joe is, too." It isn't known how Mr. Galli's options were priced. Meanwhile, PepsiCo itself is in the midst of a broader management reshuffle, engineered by Roger Enrico, the company's chairman and CEO. The company said Steven Reinemund, 50, Frito-Lay's chairman and CEO who for the past year has also run the North American division, has been named president of PepsiCo and will work closely with Mr. Enrico on corporate strategy. Mr. Reinemund will continue running Frito-Lay until a successor is named. Thursday afternoon, when it looked as if Mr. Galli was headed to Pepsi, Mr. Enrico said: "This guy has PepsiCo written all over him. He's a great people guy and was too good to pass up." Mr. Galli, 41 years old, had been in PepsiCo's Purchase, N.Y., offices Thursday morning and met with Mr. Enrico. By the end of the day, though, Mr. Galli had rallied round his new employer's business. He said he might start his new job within a week or two, before moving his personal possessions from the East Coast. He added: "I've bought books from Amazon for several years now, and I sold so many people in my old company on ordering from Amazon." At that point, Mr. Bezos interjected: "You can see why we like him." Norbert Gottenberg, a partner in recruiter SpencerStuart's New York office, handled the search for Amazon.<<