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Washington, April 2 (Bloomberg) -- A legislator asked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to clarify whether companies that offer people free stock for visiting their Internet sites are violating securities rules.
U.S. Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on a House telecommunications and consumer protection subcommittee, asked the agency what it is doing to deal with these offerings.
''While those who are offered 'free stock' presumably lose nothing if . . . the stock turns out to be worthless, I am somewhat concerned about the distorting effect that such issuances could have on interstate commerce,'' Markey said in a letter this week to SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt.
The legislator said he sent the letter in reaction to unsolicited e-mail to his office describing an offer by Monsterbook.com -- a San Francisco-based directory for web sites and on-line businesses -- to give cash or shares to the first 1 million people who registered on its site.
>> Amazon.com Auctions Offers Millions of E-commerce Fans a Fun, Easy-to-Use,
And Trustworthy Place to Buy Artistic Items
POINT RICHMOND, Calif., April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- TotalArt.com(R), the definitive portal for art enthusiasts, is among the first to offer items for bidding at Amazon.com Auctions. This auction site is the new shopping service from Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), the No. 1 online video, music, and book retailer.
With almost 8 million customers, Amazon.com is the premier destination for TotalArt.com to reach qualified and experienced online shoppers and have auctions featured across millions of Amazon.com's pages.
"Everyone loves art! And this auction site affords another venue for art enthusiasts to shop for what they love," declares Lesley Kushner, co-founder of TotalArt.com. "As an active player in Amazon.com Auctions, we will be able to offer our extensive array of unique artistic gifts and materials to the global market and expand the online arts community."
Amazon.com Auctions is a customer-friendly destination for shoppers. TotalArt.com will benefit from special advertising opportunities on the Amazon.com Auctions home and category pages and from a variety of management tools, making it easy to register and sell high volumes of items. Because of Amazon.com's familiar design and easy-to-use features, sellers and buyers will enjoy the very best online auction experience.
"TotalArt.com played a key role in the development of our online auction marketplace," said Jeff Blackburn, director of merchant services at Amazon.com. "With the help of TotalArt.com and other merchants, we are driving to reach our goal of allowing customers to find, discover, and buy any products they want at Amazon.com."
As the definitive portal site for art enthusiasts, TotalArt.com actively promotes a safe and easy-to-use online community where art supplies and art-related gifts can be purchased with peace of mind. Shoppers will find an easily navigable, information-rich site focused on the growing needs of its customers.
Amazon.com Auctions is the premier destination for people to search for and discover great deals on their favorite collectibles, hard-to-find items, and other goods, such as art materials and art-related gifts for amateur and professional artists, children, and hobbyists. The Auctions site will offer items in a safe and secure environment, with the buyers' experience backed by the Amazon.com Auctions Guarantee. The guarantee program sets a new online auction safety and security standard, by providing buyers up to $250 against misrepresentation or non-receipt of goods. Some restrictions apply; guarantee details are available by visiting the Amazon.com Auctions site.
Amazon.com is offering $10 gift certificates for all first-time winning bidders as an incentive to discover and purchase items at Amazon.com Auctions, including the Limited Edition Frank Lloyd Wright Pen. At the same time, TotalArt.com will benefit from having Amazon.com Auctions automatically promoted on millions of Amazon.com's book, music, and video product pages.
About TotalArt.com.
Founded and owned by artists in 1998, TotalArt.com is the largest online art and art-related portal and e-commerce store -- offering over 15,000 artistic items for sale. TotalArt.com is re-defining the online art world.
For more information, contact info@totalart.com.
About Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc., the Internet's No. 1 video, music, and book retailer, opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995. Today, the Amazon.com store has expanded to offer more than 4.7 million book, music-CD, video, DVD, computer-game, and other titles, plus online auctions, secure credit-card payment, personalized recommendations, and streamlined ordering through 1-Click(SM) technology.
Amazon.com operates two international Web sites: www.amazon.co.uk in the United Kingdom and www.amazon.de in Germany. Amazon.com also operates PlanetAll (www.planetall.com), a Web-based address book, calendar, and reminder service. It also operates the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 150,000 movies and entertainment programs and 500,000 cast and crew members dating from the birth of film in 1892 to the present.
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, Amazon.com's limited operating history, anticipated losses, unpredictability of future revenues, potential fluctuations in quarterly operating results, seasonality, intense competition, risks associated with system interruption, management of potential growth, high leverage and risks of new business areas, international expansion, business combinations, and strategic alliances.
More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1998. Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Internet Movie Database, PlanetAll, Earth's Biggest Bookstore, and 1-Click are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
SOURCE TotalArt.com
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New York, April 4 (Bloomberg) -- Technology-company executives who have rocketed up the wealth ranks by way of cashing in stock options may be too focused on short-term stock performance at the expense of long-term business success, the New York Times reported, citing experts, consultants and companies. Companies that use stock options to lure employees may be sacrificing long-term loyalty by encouraging new hires to come in with a get-rich-quick attitude. If a company's stock drops, many employees and executives could leave quickly, said Barry Obrand, who heads Silicon Area activities for Russell Reynolds Associates, an executive search firm, the paper said.
Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Timothy Koogle's options- enhanced pay last year put him almost in the same salary league as General Electric Co. Chairman and Chief Executive John F. Welch Jr., the Times said.
(NYT 4/4 3-1 www.nytimes.com)
11:41:29 04/04/1999 |
