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FedEx's Virtual Rise - While FDX, the parent company of Federal Express, has clearly benefited from the rise of e-commerce, analysts are questioning whether a giant leap in the company's stock price in the past year is justified, the Los Angeles Times reported. Investors expect FedEx to be the premier deliverer of CDs, books, and clothing ordered over the Internet, but FedEx is the first to say that it doesn't benefit much from e-commerce, because UPS and the US Postal Service deliver much more than it does. Regardless, FDX is enjoying surging profits because of low jet-fuel prices, is seeing business pick up again in Asia, and doesn't face the threat of a pilot strike anymore. [Wired News]
Halting Volatile Stock Trading - On Thursday, the National Association of Securities Dealers will debate whether to halt trading of fast-moving stocks in volatile markets, in order to protect small investors from extreme losses, the Los Angeles Times reported. This, and another measure that would require day-trading brokerages to screen new customers for their ability to service risky markets, have stirred criticism that the rules may interfere with the market's freedom. Day-trading firms are opposed to the idea of having to screen customers since they fear the measure wouldn't be applied to online brokerages. [Wired News]
Hunting for European Capitalists - A growing number of international companies are building their own venture-capital networks in Europe to give a boost to indigenous high-tech talent, The Wall Street Journal reported. Europe's capitalists tend to bet only on safe investments while ignoring volatile technology startups, driving talent elsewhere. The new venture-capital efforts are using competitions, forums, and company tours to bring investors and startups together. (The Wall Street Journal Interactive requires a subscription.) [Wired News]
IBM Pension Plan - IBM is considering switching from its traditional pension plan to a cash-balance plan, which could hurt its older employees, The Wall Street Journal reported. Under the new plan, employees would accrue their pension benefits gradually throughout their career instead of receiving up to half of their pension benefits in the last five years. While older employees who are more than five years from retirement could see pension benefits reduced by up to 50 percent, IBM would save about US$200 million a year from reduced payments into the plan and reduced administrative costs. IBM is still several months away from a final decision. (The Wall Street Journal Interactive requires a subscription.) [Wired News]
India Loosens Telecom Policy - From Wired News: Indian broadcasting could get a boost from private and foreign investment as the government hold is broken on telephone and satellite competition. New legislation goes into effect 1 January 2000. [Wired News]
Indie Game Developers Debut - Videogame developers, hoping to tap the same creative spirit of the independent film industry, will unveil an indie community of their own this week at the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, California, the San Jose Mercury News reported. As the development budget for games grows in to the millions of dollars, big videogame companies don't want to risk venturing into new game genres or formats. So the game developers will use the Independent Games Festival, the Sundance of their industry, to give publicity to groundbreaking developers. Indie offerings could boost the gaming industry, which is expected to plateau this year as consumers await new game machines from Sony and Sega. [Wired News]
Investing in Net Infrastructure - Internet infrastructure firms are becoming so popular among investors that they are beginning to outpace the gains made by e-commerce firms, The Wall Street Journal reported. Companies like RealNetworks and Verisign are getting better at explaining what their products do. Meanwhile, the infrastructure companies have shown less volatility than their consumer-oriented peers, partly because some of their stocks are held by a larger percentage of institutional investors, and partly because savvy investors perceive them as having a better shot at finding a permanent position in the Internet market. (The Wall Street Journal Interactive requires a subscription.) [Wired News]
Iridium: Pie in the Sky? - From Wired News: Iridium beat the competition by launching the first satellite phone system to receive calls anywhere on the planet. But its financial results are seriously lagging. [Wired News]
Jobs Hints at New Portables - From Wired News: At the upbeat Apple shareholders meeting, iCEO Steve Jobs speculates about new portables and quashes rumors about PDAs. [Wired News]
Know Your (Customer) Rights - From Wired News: The defeat of far-reaching bank monitoring regulations won't protect individual accounts from surveillance. Privacy advocates of all political stripes mount protests online. [Wired News]
Kodak Sells Office-Imaging Unit - Eastman Kodak is selling its office-imaging unit to German firm Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG, the largest maker of printing presses, and NexPress, a joint venture company that makes digital printing products, according to the Associated Press. While NexPress will receive Kodak's black-and-white electrophotographic business, Heidelberger will acquire Kodak's digital printer, copier, and roller-assembly operations, AP said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed but it is expected to be completed by April. [Wired News]
Latin American Net Could Be Big - Last year, 4.8 million Latin American Internet surfers spent only US$170 million online, but if companies solve a few problems there could be 19 million surfers spending $8 billion by the year 2003, The San Jose Mercury reported. Some of the problems are cumbersome custom procedures, finding secure methods of payment, pricey access fees, and a dearth of local companies and products. Most Latin American Internet spending has gone to US companies, but these companies don't cater to local tastes. [Wired News]
Lawmaker Hints Net Taxes Coming - A key lawmaker said Friday that Congress "is going to respect the right of state and local governments to tax e-commerce," sending the strongest signal yet that arguments against a freeze on Internet taxes are taking hold in the US Congress, The Wall Street Journal reported. Representative Billy Tauzin told an investor conference that e-commerce operations should expect to pay taxes to local jurisdictions just like brick-and-mortar shops; the trick is finding a "rational way" to figure out the taxation. Currently, the US government is urging local and state officials to respect a temporary ban on taxing the Internet, so that the medium can develop, but local officials are concerned about a big drop in sales tax if retailers rely on the Web to pitch their wares. [Wired News]
MS Cuts Deal with Argentina - From Wired News: Microsoft cuts a deal with Argentine President Carlos Saúl Menem. The company will promote the software economy in the South American country if the Argentines agree to crack down on software piracy. [Wired News]
MS, Government Back at Table - From Wired News: Microsoft and the Justice Department sit down for settlement talks. Will the discussion end the trial, or hit the same walls as a year ago, before the whole mess began? [Wired News]
Melissa Spawned by Spam - From Wired News: A Frankenvirus is accidentally created when a spam emailer is crossed with a new computer virus. But that's not the scariest part. [Wired News]
Microsoft Offer 'Inadequate' - From Wired News: State officials shoot down Redmond's proposed settlement, aimed at ending the thorny antitrust trial. A federal official says it may be no more than a public relations ploy. [Wired News]
Microsoft Shuffles the Org Chart - From Wired News: Microsoft will align itself around five new business groups and add a hardware division. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer say the new plan isn't a road map for a post-trial breakup. [Wired News]
Microsoft's Music Agenda - The software maker will disclose its plans for distributing audio and video files over the Net next month. What a coincidence that the announcement will be made on the music industry's home turf. [Wired News]
Net Video Coming of Age? - A San Francisco company has staked its claim in the Net video market with a groundbreaking new system for delivering DVD-quality content. [Wired News]
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