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

To: Olu Emuleomo who wrote (74498)	8/18/1999 5:20:00 PM
From: HG	Respond to of 164685

Hey, I'd love to get another shot at Ebay at 70 !!!!! :-) Olu, what about Y2K jitters etc ?

To: Olu Emuleomo who wrote (74498)	8/18/1999 5:22:00 PM
From: Eric Wells	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164685

But what will EBAY do once it hits 150? Proceed to go to 200? -Eric

To: Olu Emuleomo who wrote (74498)	8/18/1999 7:23:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164685

Amazon.com sues to enjoin Amazon.gr trademark use (Refiles to fix typo in first paragragh.) By Rita Farrell WILMINGTON, Del., Aug 18 (Reuters) - Amazon.com <AMZN.O> has sued CITI Services Ltd., a British corporation based in Mykonos, Greece, alleging its use of the domain name Amazon.gr infringes Amazon.com's trademark and copyright. In papers filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Delaware, Amazon.com alleged that CITI was "operating a copy- cat' e-commerce Web site" intended to solicit Amazon's 10.5 million customers and capture a share of its 1998 revenues of $610 million. In May, CITI contacted Amazon.com to say they "were willing to sell their controlling ownership interest in CITI to Amazon.com in exchange for $1.6 million," court papers say. Amazon.com said it refused to buy the shares. Instead it sued CITI, CITI Services Inc, both shell corporations, and their principals, Aikaterini Theochari and Greg Lloyd Smith, seeking a court order to block further use of the domain name. Amazon spokesman Bill Curry told Reuters that amazon.gr had made some sales in the U.S., but he had no figures. Amazon.com has also asked the court to order CITI to transfer to Amazon.com the ownership of any domain name with the word "amazon" in it and to withdraw applications to register service marks such as "Amazon.gr Greece's Biggest Bookstore." Amazon.com is a leading on-line retailer with a catalog of more than 4.7 million books, music compact discs, videos and computer games and related products, which it began offering for sale on the Internet in July, 1995. In its lawsuit Amazon.com said CITI had "actively solicited individuals and entities to invest in CITI in the U.S." and had placed a prospectus on the Internet seeking buyers of 196,000 shares of common stock at $5 a share. Curry said he was not aware of the status of that offering. Amazon.com seeks unspecified damages for alleged willful infringement. No one could be reached at Milford, or Wilmington, Delaware addresses listed for CITI in the lawsuit. REUTERS Rtr 18:19 08-18-99

To: Olu Emuleomo who wrote (74498)	8/18/1999 7:29:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164685

Whizkid "Bondo" boards virtual videoshop BlackStar By Kirstin Ridley LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Internet newcomer BlackStar, a Belfast-based online video store, said on Thursday it wanted a listing in London or New York after securing a $6.0 million shot-in-the-arm from Atlas Ventures and a group of Texans. International venture capitalists Atlas and the Texans -- including David Bonderman of leveraged buyout specialists Texas Pacific, which has earned a reputation for spotting undervalued situations -- will be taking a 15 percent stake each. Altas specialises in investing in technology focused companies. Financial wunderkind David "Bondo" Bonderman from Texas Pacific Group is best known for piloting Houston-based Continental Airlines out of bankruptcy in 1992. BlackStar, which is seeking a listing either in London or on Nasdaq in 12 to 18 months time, is one of a small number of Internet groups to be generating profits from a vast, online store of more than 50,000 videos at www.blackstar.co.uk. Set up 18 months ago, the group says it now needs the financial muscle for a "loud" marketing campaign to fight heavyweight high street rivals such as Virgin Megastores, part of billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Group 1/8VA.CN 3/8 empire. "We need to prepare ourselves and gather a war chest to drive the marketing," Darryl Collins, one of BlackStar's three founders, told Reuters in an interview. "We've learnt a lot of lessons over the last 18 months about the sort of things that can trip us up. But using the marketing muscle that we're about to get, we should be able to see growth going spectacularly for at least the next year." BlackStar hopes the funding will help propel it further into the world of electronic commerce, which is becoming increasingly crowded with the likes of Reel.com <HLYW.O> to giant Amazon.com <AMZN.O> slugging it out with a growing number of upstarts. But the UK group says it has been protected to an extent from U.S. online rivals because video formats are incompatible -- although any advantage could be limited by the advance of multi format decoders. For the moment, however, BlackStar's main competition lies in the high street. Without its own high street presence, the group has significant fewer costs. But it said it may consider a "click and mortar" virtual and physical presence in the future. BlackStar sells videos at retail price, with free postage and aims to ship goods within 24 hours. It says revenue growth has surged to more than 30 percent month-on-month from a "fiercly loyal" customer base spanning 95 countries. Around 70 percent of sales are repeat purchases. Most high street retailers stock around 2,500 to 3,000 videos and the online and offline British market, including sales of digital video discs (DVDs), is valued at around 1.0 billion pounds ($1.61 billion) per year. Collins says 20 to 30 percent of those sales are forecast to be secured online within the next five years. Online sales in western Europe, which accounts for about 70 percent of BlackStar's current market, are expected to grow to more than $18 billion by 2004, according to market research group Fletcher Research. ($1=.6232 Pound) REUTERS Rtr 19:01 08-18-99