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

To: Mark Fowler who wrote (30983)	12/24/1998 12:08:00 PM
From: Zeem	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

SENATE KEEPS EYE ON BARNES & NOBLE PURCHASE 12/24/98 [Newsbytes,465 words] WASHINGTON, DC, U.S.A., 1998 DEC 24 (NB) -- By Robert MacMillan, Newsbytes. Senate Commerce Committee member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is a noted fan of high-technology progress in electronic commerce. As a result, he recently said he has sought and received promises from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that the agency would investigate fully the controversial merger between Barnes & Noble Inc. and Ingram Book Group. Although a Wyden staffer told Newsbytes that no further information was available, several published reports said Wyden is committed to discovering whether there are any major downsides for the electronic commerce industry to the Barnes & Noble-Ingram merger. Newsbytes, which reported the FTC investigation in November, notes that the FTC and the Justice Department both have planned merger investigations for Barnes & Noble and Ingram Book Group, which an FTC source told Newsbytes is typical procedure for these types of mergers. Several companies and associations, comprisingly mostly Amazon.com Inc. [NASDAQ:AMZN] and independent booksellers, have complained that the merger would harm both independent book dealers and Amazon.com, which depends on Ingram Book Group as its largest distributor. Borders Books [NYSE:BGP] also is an Ingram Book Group customer. The groups also have complained because they suspect a successful merger will lead to higher book prices. Ingram Book Group is a subsidiary -- albeit a large one -- of Ingram Industries Inc. It is selling Ingram Book Group to Barnes & Noble for $200 million in cash and $400 million in stock. Amazon.com, itself fighting against accusations from retailing giant Wal-Mart, has long claimed to be the world's largest bookstore, a claim that was challenged in the media and in the courts by Barnes & Noble. Barnes & Noble at the time in 1996 was struggling to put together its own online offering, Barnesandnoble.com, which since has proven formidable competition for Amazon.com. Nonetheless, whereas the argument in 1996 was which company had the bigger aggregate bookstore, the argument now is which company is smaller -- for Barnes & Noble so it can get its merger approved, and for Amazon.com so it can prove that the merger should be rejected. Amazon.com has said that the merger would constitute a barrier to entry for it to get into the bookseller-distributor market, and therefore should not be approved. Reported by Newsbytes News Network, newsbytes.com . (19981224/WIRES ONLINE, LEGAL, BUSINESS/)