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To: Mike M who wrote (27912)	11/23/1998 6:31:00 PM
From: H James Morris	Respond to of 164684

<Seattle, Washington, Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. is accusing Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of waging an intimidation campaign against companies seeking to hire workers away from the world's largest retailer, court papers show. In response to Wal-Mart's suit last month alleging Amazon.com is luring away its workers to gain access to the retail chain's trade secrets, Amazon officials said Wal-Mart executives have been sending other companies letters threatening to sue them if they add former Wal-Mart employees to their staffs. Amazon didn't identify the companies. The allegation comes as Amazon asks an Arkansas judge to deny Wal-Mart's request for an order barring the Internet seller of books and music from using any trade secrets gleaned from ex- Wal-Mart workers. Wal-Mart contends Amazon and its units are intentionally targeting Wal-Mart workers to get secrets about its computerized merchandising and distribution systems. Wal-Mart has made it clear that ''regardless of the type of company involved, whether a direct competitor like K-Mart Corp. or a startup Internet bookseller like Amazon.com, Wal-Mart will make life difficult for any company that hires its employees and the employees who leave,'' Amazon's lawyers said in the papers. Wal-Mart officials dismissed Amazon's allegations about an intimidation campaign, saying it hasn't threatened other companies or any of its workers. No Threats From Wal-Mart ''We want to retain our good associates, but we don't do that by threatening them or any company they want to go to,'' said Betsy Reithemeyer, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman. ''People come and go all the time.'' Amazon officials refused to comment about any other companies who were the target of Wal-Mart's alleged intimidation campaign. ''If it's not in the brief, I can't comment,'' said Bill Curry, Amazon's spokesman. ''We can't go beyond what's in the papers.'' Kmart officials said they haven't been threatened with a suit by Wal-Mart over employee hirings. Amazon officials also denied they were attempting to siphon off Wal-Mart's workers to gather trade secrets in the papers. The company says it instructed its new hires not to use or disclose any trade secrets learned at their former jobs. Amazon has hired 15 current or former employees or consultants of Wal-Mart including Richard Dalzell, Wal-Mart's former chief information officer, the retailer contends in its suit. ''We believe they are targeting a specific part of our business, the information systems group, to meet their specific needs,'' Reithemeyer said today. But Amazon's lawyers contend the Internet startup, whose shares surged 21 percent today on expectations that holiday shopping on the World Wide Web will be strong this year, is copying Wal-Mart's rise to the top of the retailer heap. ''What Wal-Mart is attempting to prevent now is exactly the same conduct that helped to start Wal-Mart and to fuel its growth: the completely legal and ethical acquisition of talented people who are known for excellence in their field,'' the papers said. They cited Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton's book, ''Made in America,'' in which he admits he nosed ''around other people's stores searching for good talent'' when he started the chain. Wal-Mart's shares rose 1 3/16 to 74 15/16 while Amazon.com's rose 37 3/8 to 218. 18:19:30 11/23/1998

To: Mike M who wrote (27912)	11/23/1998 6:33:00 PM
From: H James Morris	Respond to of 164684

NEW YORK, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Nine leading specialty online retailers on Monday said they formed a network linking each online store to reach a combined audience of seven million to eight million -- just in time for the holiday buying blitz. Among the nine, computer products retailer Cyberian Outpost Inc. <COOL.O> surged more than 65 percent to $23.75, up $9.375 on the day, in Monday afternoon trading. music retailer CDnow Inc. <CDNW.O> rose $1.19 to $13.50 and travel services provider Preview Travel Inc. <PTVL.O> was up $2 to $17.06. The shopping network, dubbed ShopperConnection, also includes toy store eToys, brokerage Datek Online, garden equipment site Garden.com, florist PC Flowers & Gifts, movie-seller Reel.com Inc. and wine and gift-shop Virtual Vineyards. The network is designed to buttress the retail group against expansion by online shopping giant Amazon.com Inc. <AMZN.O>, which two weeks ago expanded into videos and holiday gifts from its roots as the top online book store. CDnow, which faces direct competition from Amazon.com in the online music business, spearheaded the project. "Amazon.com is a very healthy thing on the Internet because it has gotten so much visibility," said Bob Saltzman, CDnow's vice president of strategic development, rejecting the idea the network was a reaction to the online bookseller's expansion. Still, Saltzman noted that ShopperConnection could help the companies to take some of the spotlight, and dollars spent on the Internet, away from Amazon.com. The new network tried to distance itself from the shopping mall image. Critics had found that earlier difficult-to-navigate "virtual shopping mall" sites could be as stressful as a journey to the real thing. Saltzman says the network is different from a mall because it is a link of some of the strongest retailers solely working the Web. He also points out that the network is not, in itself, an online destination point. Rather, the customer will first log onto a favorite retail Web site and be given a chance to link to others only after making an initial purchase. "If you make a purchase, when you arrive at the order confirmation page, there will be a link to ShopperConnection," Saltzman said. "It's at the end they will see the link; we don't want to take customers away from what they are doing." >