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To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (142480)	5/23/2002 7:37:03 AM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 164684

Here's some more good news from Wall Street. This should improve investor confidence. >>ALBANY, N.Y. -- Citigroup Inc.'s Salomon Smith Barney investment banking division decided yesterday to change compensation for its stock analysts, one day after Merrill Lynch & Co. settled charges that its stock analysts misled investors. Salomon will adopt the same analyst compensation ground rules to remove conflicts of interest that Merrill Lynch accepted in a deal with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer that also included a $100 million fine. Spitzer had accused Merrill Lynch's analysts of touting shares so the firm would win highly profitable investment banking business. He strongly encouraged the firm's rivals to comply with the settlement's terms, saying they were also being scrutinized. In a memo sent to Salomon employees yesterday, Chairman and Chief Executive Mike Carpenter said the settlement sets "a new industry standard necessary to maintain investor confidence and provide a useful template for the rest of the industry to follow." Carpenter said Salomon "will separate completely the evaluation and compensation of equity research analysts from investment banking."

To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (142480)	5/23/2002 11:38:57 AM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Vic, what did I tell you? Shares in Japan's number one mobile phone operator rose to a nine-week high on Monday, surging more than 7% as investors welcomed NTT DoCoMo's plans for an overseas listing. siliconinvestor.com

To: Victor Lazlo who wrote (142480)	5/23/2002 3:56:43 PM
From: H James Morris	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 164684

The rumor is eBay might buy Yhoo. SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- If you can't beat them, promote them. NEWS FOR EBAY Yahoo exits Europe auctions, promotes EBay instead Online media stays on the course to profitability In a move symbolizing a concession that it can't compete with EBay auctions in Europe, Yahoo is exiting from the online auction business in much of the region. Instead, the online media company will use its platform to promote EBay's service across five European countries. Under terms of their deal, EBay (EBAY: news, chart, profile) will advertise throughout Yahoo in the U.K. and Ireland and in France, Germany, Italy and Spain -- areas in which EBay already has a properties. Additionally, EBay will be named and featured as the preferred auction service on Yahoo (YHOO: news, chart, profile) in these countries. After several months of negotiations, the parties agreed to a marketing pact that will run for 21/2 years, said Kevin Pursglove, an EBay spokesman. Financial details were not disclosed. "EBay is now at a level when we'll see more aggressive marketing, in each of the respective countries, and aggressive marketing comes in the second phase of our development," said Pursglove. Indeed, EBay's international properties have increasingly performed well. EBay Germany has been up and running the longest and is the best performing of the five properties. EBay's international properties contribute about 21 percent of total sales, up 18 percent from the fourth quarter of 2001. And EBay's international operations have been profitable for two consecutive quarters. Shares of EBay rose 4 percent to $57.55 in recent trading. Its brand name is well known around the world. So, why then would EBay need an online medium like Yahoo to market its brand? "If you look at the way we developed our sites, we did a lot of cross-promotional advertising with AOL Time Warner," said Pursglove. EBay recently renegotiated its deal with AOL Time Warner (AOL: news, chart, profile). Essentially, EBay's obligation to pay AOL Time Warner advertising dollars through March 2004 had been reduced to one year, with additional years extended only on the basis of the media company's performance. "Here, we're entering a new arrangement with Yahoo to build an EBay brand and take on an extensive banner campaign with Europe," said Pursglove. The EBay and Yahoo marketing arrangement is the first formal deal between both companies. It was two years ago that both companies discussed merging, but any hope of a deal fell apart on concerns about the cultural fit of both companies. Yahoo has since watched its mainstay revenue stream erode. Terry Semel, who became the company's CEO in the spring of 2001, made it clear that he would aggressively diversify Yahoo's sales. One way to do so would be to build up services and charge for them. In the first quarter of this year, Yahoo's total sales of $193 million, 63 percent came from online advertising, down from 90 percent in the first quarter of 2001. That percentage dropped due to the inclusion of HotJobs, which Yahoo recently purchased. Fees and listings could "drive sales even if the ad slump continues," said Semel, at the time of Yahoo's first-quarter announcement. During the company's analyst day last November, former Yahoo President Jeff Mallett said Yahoo's goal was to generate only 50 to 60 percent of sales from advertising, by 2004. The rest will come from transactions and usage fees. But the latest initiative by Yahoo just shows how challenging this objective has been. "The exit from the European auction markets and its recent elimination of enhanced personal ad fee of $4.95 as a result of customer complaints point to the difficulties the company (Yahoo) faces in receiving paid services," wrote Heath Terry, an analyst at CS First Boston. Goldman's Internet New Media and e-commerce conference Priceline.com (PCLN: news, chart, profile) shares shot up 9 percent to $4.28 in recent trading. Late Wednesday, the online travel company reiterated its second-quarter outlook in a presentation at the Goldman Sachs Internet Conference. The online travel site sees per-share profit in the range of 3 to 5 cents, with revenue coming in between $320 million and $350 million.