What's new with the 'Thing'?
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BURBANK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 25, 1999--Matthews Studio Equipment Group (Nasdaq SM:MATT) Monday announced that its new "one-stop shop" online resource for entertainment industry information and merchandise, ShowbizMart.com has been accepted in the Associates program of Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN), the leading online retailer.
By joining forces with Amazon.com, ShowbizMart.com's customers will be able to easily purchase Amazon.com's vast selection of entertainment books, videos, CDs and other merchandise related to the entertainment industry.
The Amazon.com Associates program allows ShowbizMart.com to provide hassle-free commerce by recommending books, videos, CDs and other merchandise and referring its visitors to Amazon.com. In return, ShowbizMart.com will earn referral fees of the sales generated from orders processed by Amazon.com.
Amazon.com handles the secure online ordering, customer service and shipping. ShowbizMart.com is expected to be fully developed by the spring of 1999.
Carlos D. DeMattos, chairman of the board and chief executive officer, stated, "This exciting new association with Amazon.com will allow ShowbizMart.com to further its goal of becoming the entertainment industry's true single resource for industry insiders as well as consumers and collectors of show business-related items and merchandise."
Matthews Studio Group supplies lighting, grip, transportation, generators, camera equipment, professional video and audio equipment, and complete theatrical equipment and supplies to entertainment producers nationwide.
With corporate offices in Burbank, Matthews Studio Group operates from a diverse network of facilities throughout the United States, including locations in California, New York, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Tennessee, Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Washington, and Baja California, Mexico. <<
>>Seattle, Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc. shares are ''sentiment driven'' and a price-war by online rival Onsale Inc. could hurt Amazon's shares, said CIBC Oppenheimer analyst Henry Blodget, the Wall Street Journal reported. OnSale's announcement last week that it will start a service called at-Cost to sell computer products at wholesale prices and Buy.com's strategy of selling books, music and videos close to actual cost could send the companies' shares down. Investors fear Amazon's shares and profit margins ''will go to hell,'' said Blodget, while OnSale Chief Executive Jerry Kaplan said the company's tactic will make money, and Amazon.com declined comment, the paper said.
Shares in Amazon.com, the largest online book and music retailer, surged in mid-December after Blodget said its shares could reach $400 a share in the next year.
(WSJ 1/25 C1 wsj.com)
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>>Pittsburgh, Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Greg Meyers finally bought a new computer last month so he could shop on the Web. He wasn't wooed by the hype surrounding Amazon.com Inc. and other online retailers, though. He's looking for bargains on steel.
His company, Wolverine Steel Inc., plans to start buying steel coils on MetalSite, a new Pittsburgh-based service that matches up steel purchasers and sellers on the Internet. ''My guess is that the industry is going to become totally computer- driven,'' said Meyers, whose company is in Toledo, Ohio.
The Internet may seem ill-suited to steel, which can't seem to shake its old-fashioned, smokestack image. But some steel buyers may find it the easiest way yet to save time, reduce paperwork and other administrative costs and keep an updated supply-catalog on hand, Internet experts say.
''People sit at home at night buying books from Amazon.com, so it's not a big stretch for them to come into work the next morning and buy things over the Internet for their businesses,'' said Len Jessup, an information systems professor at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.
Indeed, for all the publicity given online sellers of consumer products -- not to mention their sometimes spectacular stock rises -- business-to-business commerce on the Net dwarfs that of the retail sites.
Plane Parts and Gas
Businesses bought $43 billion in goods and services online last year, more than five times the $8 billion bought by consumers, according to Forrester Research Inc. analyst Michael Putnam. Business-to-business online sales are expected to more than double this year to $109 billion and reach $1.3 trillion in 2003, he said.
Computer companies such as Dell Computer Corp. dominate electronic commerce, but a growing number of other industries are logging on. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co., for example, sells about $2 billion of spare parts over the Internet each year, Putnam said, and businesses are using the Web to price and buy everything from natural gas, electric service, auto parts and package delivery.
Steel is among the latest business products to join the cyberspace bazaar. MetalSite (www.metalsite.net) has been offering products made by its majority owner, Weirton, West Virginia-based Weirton Steel Co., since December.
100,000 Tons
The Pittsburgh-based limited partnership plans to add steel made by its other financial backers, LTV Corp. and Steel Dynamics Inc., within weeks. The site provides detailed information about the size, quality and metallic makeup of each parcel of steel available.
For now, it offers only secondary or excess steel, which has burnt edges or other blemishes, aimed mainly at steel processors such as Wolverine. These companies buy the steel, cut off the edges and process the metal until it looks like new. Then they resell it to auto-parts makers and other manufacturers.
MetalSite has about 100,000 tons of steel for sale each month. It expects to double that number before the end of the year, which would add up to an annual sales rate of more than $500 million.
MetalSite eventually plans to offer first-quality steel products made by a wider variety of mills. That would broaden its potential market to automakers and other steel consumers.
The nation's steel processors and distributors constitute a potentially huge market, though. There are 5,000 processors in the U.S., ranging from family businesses with less than $2 million in annual sales to publicly held companies with sales of more than $1 billion. Collectively, they're the steel industry's largest customer.
Coming Soon
And at least 80 percent of them have Internet access. That's enough to support another online steel marketplace, says a group of New York investors who founded e-Steel LLC. Their site is being tested and they expect to begin selling next month.
E-Steel's advisory board includes Rubin Perin Jr., a former executive vice president of the largest domestic steelmaker, USX- U.S. Steel Group Inc., and Steven Kaplan, a finance professor at the University of Chicago School of Business.
''E-Steel and MetalSite wouldn't be doing this if there weren't any advantages to buyers and sellers doing businesses this way,'' Kaplan said.
MetalSite says it has spent more than $5 million to develop and begin its site. It has registered more than 3,500 potential buyers, and more than a dozen have made purchases so far, spokeswoman Maggie Bray said.
Arnie's Coils
The first customer was Burr Ridge-based Arrowhead Steel Co. which bought a truckload of coils on the site. Owner Arnie Koldenhoven said he's bought from Weirton and LTV in the past and thought the Internet would be a time-saver.
He said it took a few minutes to plug in his specifications and another couple of minutes to scroll down the list of available products and submit bids. Within 24 hours, he received an e-mail telling him which bids were accepted. He has since made additional purchases on the site.
''The screens are easy to use and they provide a lot of information about the material,'' he said. ''When we need to buy coils off the shelf, we will probably look to this service.''
As a steel marketplace, the Internet has some significant hurdles to overcome, though. For one thing, it can't provide the personal relationships that drive the steel business. Processors need to be able to trust that deliveries will be correct and on time, and that they're offered fair prices. In times past, that trust was developed over steak dinners and rounds of golf.
''You used to shake their hand, go back to your office and write up the order,'' said Wolverine's Meyers, who buys 50,000 to 75,000 tons of steel a year.
Ball Scores Too
Some of that tradition has been erased by fax machines. Still, trust had to be established face-to-face before suppliers would fax their price lists to buyers, who then would fax back orders.
MetalSite, e-Steel and other business-to-business startups can make electronic commerce more personal than a fax machine by keeping tabs on their customers' needs and buying habits, Indiana University's Jessup said.
''If you use Internet technology well, you can really tailor it to your customer,'' he said.
Both e-Steel and MetalSite portray themselves as more than third-party brokers. Their Web pages offer help-desk hot-lines as well as industry news. On e-Steel, registered users can also keep tabs on stock prices and sports scores.
Meyers says he and his colleagues are intrigued by the whole idea.
08:13:19 01/25/1999<<
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REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The following articles appeared this week exclusively at the MSN(TM) MoneyCentral(TM) personal finance online service ( moneycentral.msn.com ):
Web of Deceit: What Every Investor Should Know moneycentral.msn.com Fraud is as old as greed itself, but the Internet has given con artists a vast, new territory.
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Jubak: If the Stock's Hot, Who Needs Money? moneycentral.msn.com In today's communications revolution, creating a strong stock "currency" is more important than producing earnings. Just ask Vodafone Group PLC (NYSE: VOD) and At Home Corp. (Nasdaq: ATHM).
Strategy Lab investor.msn.com The Tech Stalker stays at the front of the pack on the recent strength of SportsLine USA Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLN) and Qwest Communications International Inc. (Nasdaq: QWST), while the Options Tactician takes a position in S3 Inc. (Nasdaq: SIII).
Elan Powers Up Its Drug Pipeline moneycentral.msn.com Will the Irish pharmaceuticals maker be the next Merck or Pfizer? Elan Corp. PLC (NYSE: ELN) says that two years from now its sales could quadruple to $1 billion.
Track the Institutions to Map Your Stock Moves moneycentral.msn.com When the really big investors move huge blocks of stock, prices can fluctuate wildly. Spotting their moves in progress will help you time your own trades accordingly. We look at recent activity in Imax Corp. (Nasdaq: IMAXF) and Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN).
Get Ready for More Growth: Dow to 9,800? moneycentral.msn.com Tony Dwyer, chief market strategist at Ladenburg Thalman, sees all the signs for another year of strong returns in stocks. His picks include The Metzler Group Inc. (Nasdaq: METZ), Speedway Motorsports Inc. (NYSE: TRK) and TMP Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq: TMPW).
Enjoy the Foreign Flavor of European Mutual Funds moneycentral.msn.com Rising business confidence and the euro's debut are boosting equities in Europe. Solid funds from Bartlett, Scudder and Invesco open the doors to Americans.
Jubak: Blame It on Rio, and Stick With U.S. Stocks moneycentral.msn.com Brazil's troubles could be a boon for U.S. investors. Jubak will be watching the tech stocks in the short term, and consumer and financial stocks over the long haul.
Three Ski Resort Companies Get Lift From New Businesses moneycentral.msn.com Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN), Intrawest Corp. (NYSE: IDR) and American Skiing Co. (NYSE: SKI) test all-weather strategies to stop downhill stock slides. Analysts say investors should enjoy a good run.
MSN MoneyCentral, rated the top online investment service by Barron's, is a complete online personal finance resource for consumers, delivering easy-to-use tools, recommendations from dedicated financial professionals, financial data from more than 15 leading content providers, and seamless integration with the award-winning network of MSN services.
MSN MoneyCentral features the award-winning MSN Investor at investor.msn.com, which helps users track their investments, get new investing ideas, research their next investment, and find thoughtful and informative editorial content written by leading financial experts who can keep them up to date on the market. The editorial goal of MoneyCentral is to provide a forum for investment ideas. Investor's articles and columns of MSN MoneyCentral should not be construed as investment advice, nor does their appearance imply an endorsement by Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) of any specific security or trading strategy. An investor's best course of action must be based on individual circumstances.
NOTE: Microsoft, MSN and MoneyCentral are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE Microsoft Corp.
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BURBANK, Calif., Jan 25 (Reuters) - Theatrical production supplier Matthews Studio Equipment Group on Monday unveiled an online commerce pact with Amazon.Com Inc. <AMZN.O> that gives Matthews' Internet customers access to Amazon's products and provides Matthews with referral fees based on sales.
Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Matthews, which supplies theatrical equipment and supplies to entertainment producers, said its ShowbizMart.com site has been accepted in Amazon's associates program.
ShowbizMart.com, which is expected to be fully operational, by the spring of this year, will recommend books, CDs and other items to its visitors and refer them to Amazon.com's Web site.
In return, Matthews will collect referral fees on the sales generated from orders processed by Amazon.com.
Amazon.com will handle the secure online ordering, customer service and shipping.
Shares of Matthews traded up 1 to 5-5/8 on Monday morning, after climbing earlier to a new 52-week high of 7-1/8.
12:18 01-25-99 <<
>>NASDAQ
Amazon.com, down 7 at 116.
Electronic commerce companies may be facing a price war, The Wall Street Journal reports. The current issue of Barron's also has some critical remarks to make about the group.
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Internet stocks were mixed after their recent pullback. Shares of Amazon.com <AMZN.O> shed 10-5/8 to 112-3/8, while Yahoo Inc. <YHOO.O> gained 26 to 312 on news that it had entered a marketing campaign with News Corp <NCP.AX>.
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That's it folk's! |
