Articles by Keith Regan

Here's a news story you will not be reading anytime soon: Executive X announced he was resigning his position at Technology Co. Y because the firm couldn't afford to pay him enough to stay. "It just wasn't worth it anymore," X said. "Laying off people is no fun, and this Enron thing has everyone worried we'll go bankrupt if our accountants don't us...

The vast majority of online job seekers visit just one of the top career sites on a regular basis, according to a new report from Jupiter Media Metrix. That finding may escalate an ongoing war between the two largest Web career companies. Jupiter said 76 percent of job seekers are loyal to a single career site, while another 15 percent use just tw...

Although e-commerce can breathe a bit easier now that a long-standing moratorium on blanket online taxes has been extended, most observers say there will be little more than a brief pause before the battle is joined again "It's inevitable," Forrester Research analyst Christopher Kelley told the E-Commerce Times. "Now it's just a matter of 'the devi...

Name-your-price travel company Pricelineturned a small profit in the first quarter as hotel and car rental deals helped offset continued weakness in airline ticket sales. The company said hotel room sales grew 110 percent over year-ago figures to 909,000, while car rental reservations were up 22 percent to 738,000.

Despite a lengthy shakeout that has considerably thinned the ranks of e-tailers, consumers still face a dizzying array of choices when deciding where they will shop online. But analysts say the once-cluttered market is already starting to become better defined, and the process will only accelerate over time. "It takes time for a company to break o...

EBay was kind enough to remind me this week that if I ever need to buy a boat, that's the place. Or a camper. Or an airplane. That's it, an airplane. I knew there was something missing from my driveway. Good thing eBay jogged my memory. I would have had a hard time trying to fly without one. Maybe it's just me, but if I need to buy something -- es...

A two-year trend of fewer early-stage companies receiving venture funding continued in the first quarter, with total private investment in startups dropping 24 percent, according to a study by the National Venture Capital Association, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Venture Economics. For the first three months of 2002, venture investment fell to US$6....

Tech business is getting interesting again. Now, though, the most fascinating developments do not happen in Silicon Valley R&D shops. Neither do they take place in the high-rise offices of venture capitalists. And they certainly are not confined to the deal-making rooms where IPOs are conceived and underwritten.

In an effort to vault into the top tier of the crowded online travel field, Cendant has announced it will invest US$40 million in a marketing blitz to promote its Trip.com Web site. Real estate and travel giant Cendant relaunched the Trip.com site in advance of the campaign, saying it more closely integrates its family of offerings. Those offering...

Internet-related companies fired 824 workers in April, marking just the second time in two years that the monthly job loss total has been below 1,000, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The number of job cuts fell 47 percent from March, when 1,549 cuts were announced, the Chicago-based firm found. It has been conducting t...

In a move that underscores the growing importance of paid search engine results, Yahoo! said it has extended its partnership with pay-for-performance search engine Overture for three more years "Search and paid listings are key growth areas for Yahoo," said Yahoo! CEO Terry Semel, adding that the first six months of the portal's deal with Overture ...

Two dozen members of Congress have called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to increase its scrutiny of the business practices of controversial travel company Orbitz, raising questions about whether exclusive airfares are provided to the airline-backed site. In a letter to the DOJ, 24 congressmen said Orbitz, which competitors have warned wo...

Expedia has served up the most solid proof to date that online travel has almost completely recovered from September 11th, beating expectations and registering a profit in the first quarter on revenue that doubled from a year ago. Bellevue, Washington-based Expedia earned US$5.7 million in the first three months of this year, compared with a loss ...

There is always the risk of jinxing something just by talking about it -- like acknowledging a no-hitter that is still in progress. Then again, why not state the obvious? The dot-com shakeout, once a runaway train hurtling downhill with no apparent salvation in sight, not only has squealed to a stop before crashing in flames, but may be chugging back up another hill.

Don't look now, but at least one e-commerce stock has quietly clawed its way back up the price ladder. Before long, it and others may be flirting with the US$100 level again The problem is that triple-digit stock prices already killed e-commerce once. Will it happen again?...

Amazon.com has announced the expansion of its year-old partnership with Borders Group, in which Amazon operates the Borders.com Web site. Now, customers who buy certain books, music and movies through the e-tailer will be able to pick up their purchases in Borders stores nationwide. The news came just hours before Amazon's scheduled first-quarter ...

Although Amazon.com.com has denied it will post back-to-back profitable quarters, analysts, investors and other e-tailers will be watching closely for signs of growth when the e-tailer reports first-quarter earnings Tuesday. Moreover, they will want to determine the impact of the company's free shipping offer on sales.

TMP Worldwide, the parent company of job site Monster.com, has paid US$800,000 for rights to acquire the Jobs.com domain name and trademark from a defunct competitor. TMP said the bankruptcy court purchase will give its family of job search sites an immediate traffic boost. The company cited Media Metrix statistics that show Jobs.com drew 400,000 ...

As the fourth quarter unfolds each year and the holidays approach, e-commerce is measured and evaluated so closely that it seems as if each purchase is reported as soon as it is made. But judging e-commerce's progress during the rest of the year is more challenging While quarterly reports from big-name e-tailers provide an e-commerce snapshot, they...

I don't know if Jeff Bezos ever sold used cars. But the Amazonfounder and CEO would probably have been darn good at it, as long as he got hold of a car he really believed in He's a master of spin, after all. All you have to do is listen when he talks about Amazon and its sale of used books to see that he seems to truly believe what he's saying. The...