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

To: H James Morris who wrote (20949)	10/9/1998 2:01:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

14.13 % YTM, for a spread of over 950 basis points over the Treasury. The whole junk bond market is in the toilet though, so it's difficult to tell how much of the beating is Amazon specific and how much is general risk aversion in the market. As recently as last week they had traded back to 11 % YTM. James, That is quite interesting. That is a bond I would not want to own. I have a high risk tolerence but not nearly that high. Glenn

To: H James Morris who wrote (20949)	10/9/1998 8:26:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

Old but worth a read: "NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1998 OCT 7 (NB) -- By Bob Woods, Newsbytes. Investors who have sunk money into Internet bookseller Amazon.com Inc. [NASDAQ:AMZN] seem to be shaking in their boots Wednesday morning, a day after German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG said it would pump $200 million into rival barnesandnoble.com, a unit of Barnes & Noble Inc. [NYSE:BKS]. With the deal, Bertelsmann will own 50 percent of barnesandnoble.com. Terms of the deal call for Bertelsmann and barnesandnoble.com to establish a joint venture. In the process, the proposed initial public offering (IPO) of barnesandnoble.com stock will be "temporarily postponed," officials said. Besides the $200 million payment, both Bertelsmann and barnesandnoble.com will contribute $100 million to the capital of the joint venture. Bertelsmann will also contribute certain US resources to barnesandnoble.com from its previously announced BooksOnline service. Bertelsmann, which had signaled its intention to open its own bookstore, said it intends to move forward separately with the launch this November of it BooksOnline in several European countries. "BooksOnline will utilize its network to collaborate with barnesandnoble.com in offering US and worldwide customers of both ventures a unique, seamless experience of online shopping for a vast array of books in multiple languages," Bertelsmann officials said. Amazon.com fell $16.688 or 15.4 percent to $91.625 in late morning trading on Wednesday, while Barnes & Noble rose $1.438 or 6.1 percent to $25. All three companies have various number ones to their credit: Bertelsmann is the number one publisher of English-language books, Barnes & Noble is the number one book retailer, and Amazon.com is the number one Internet-based bookseller. Several analysts have warned, though, that the combination of the former two companies could hurt the latter, in terms of Amazon.com's number one e-bookseller status. Mike Bernstein, an analyst in Gartner Group's Marketing Knowledge and Technology group, told Newsbytes that the Bertelsmann/barnesandnoble.com teaming is "much more of a threat with the companies combining, than having two separate companies go against it." Bernstein said with the joint venture being a 50/50 partnership, "there might not be clear leadership (at the venture), and things might go wrong from a political standpoint." But, "Amazon.com is sweating this one," Bernstein added. A possible separate merger between CDnow Inc. [NASDAQ:CDNW] and Music Boulevard operator N2K Inc. [NASDAQ:NTKI], confirmed to Newsbytes earlier today, could hurt Amazon.com's new music sales initiatives, some analysts also said. Bernstein, though, said the Bertelsmann/barnesandnoble.com joint venture is much stronger than a possible CDnow/N2K merger, because the latter is borne out of an instinct for survival. "Both (CDnow and N2K) realize they're going up against some heavy hitters in the online retailing environment," and consolidation is one way to combat those powerhouses, he added. Amazon.com's Web site is at amazon.com on the Web. Barnesandnoble.com is located at barnesandnoble.com . Bertelsmann AG's site is at berteslmann.de . CDnow's Web site is located at cdnow.com . N2K's Music Boulevard is at musicblvd.com . Reported By Newsbytes News Network, newsbytes.com . "