Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : QXL.Com (QXLC) - euro ebay? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: blankmind who wrote (103)	11/3/1999 1:16:00 AM
From: blankmind	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306

ARNAULT: Close to acquiring Phillips auction house French business tycoon set to purchase UK group for $116m. John Labate in New York, Charles Pretzlik in London and Samer Iskandar in Paris report Bernard Arnault, one of France's richest businessmen, is close to acquiring Phillips of the UK, the world's third-largest auction house, for more than œ70m ($116.2m), according to people close to the talks. Control of Phillips by Mr Arnault would mark the second French takeover of a leading UK auction house in less than two years. Mr Arnault's arch-rival, Fran‡ois Pinault, France's second-richest man, bought Christie's last year for more than $1.5bn. The two tycoons recently locked horns over Gucci, the Italian fashion house Mr Pinault rescued from Mr Arnault's hostile bid. Although negotiations between Phillips and Mr Arnault are at an advanced stage, it is believed that they could still fall apart or be threatened by the emergence of a rival bidder. 3i, the UK venture capital group, controls Phillips through a 64.5 per cent stake that it bought in January 1998 from Christopher Weston, its chairman. It had hammer sales last year of œ139m and earned income of œ31.9m. Phillips, which was founded in 1796, has 17 salerooms in the UK and two in north America. It also has a presence in Japan, South Africa, continental Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Best known as chairman of the French luxury goods conglomerate Louis Vuitton Mo‰t Hennessy, Mr Arnault has moved quickly to build an internet empire. Analysts believe Mr Arnault would seek to develop Phillips's sales through e-commerce. Mr Arnault recently set up Europ@web, a E500m ($535m) fund to invest part of his private fortune in the sector. He is one of the biggest investors in QXL, the European internet auction company floated on the London and the Nasdaq stock exchanges a few weeks ago. It is unclear whether the acquisition would be made by the fund or by LVMH. Leading art auction houses have scrambled to build online strategies recently. Phillip's two larger rivals, Sotheby's and Christie's, are building their own interactive internet auction web sites. Mr Arnault could help ensure that Phillip's remains at the top tier of companies competing for auction business. Other parties believed to have looked at Phillips include Amazon.com, the online bookseller, and eBay, the online auctioneer. In April eBay stunned the art world with its acquisition of Butterfield & Butterfield of San Francisco, the fourth-largest auction house, for $260m in stock. Seven weeks later Amazon.com acquired a 1.7 per cent stake in Sotheby's and formed a joint venture with the company to create a new jointly owned web site to auction high-end collectible items. In June eBay bought German auction company Alando.de, which is currently the centre of its European expansion. Christie's is also building its own online auction business, but has not announced a partnership with an internet company. Last month Sephora, the cosmetics retailing chain controlled by LVMH, opened the world's largest cosmetics store in New York. Simultaneously, it launched a web site to cover areas in the US where its has no stores.