International News Briefs
May 22 2000
NOT AGAIN: Hardly a week goes by without more bad news in Europe about Dutch Internet service provider World Online. The company faces the threat of civil and criminal lawsuits in Amsterdam over how it handled its IPO, and is under investigation by British telephony oversight body Oftel - which is looking into complaints by customers of World Online's Screaming.net service in Britain, an ISP it purchased earlier this year. Customers are complaining that World Online has mishandled the acquisition by forcing unwanted services on them and raising fees.
FREESERVE FOR SALE: Britain's Net success story Freeserve is up for sale. Owned by consumer electronics retailer Dixons, Freeserve is valued at more than $6 billion. Dixons confirmed that it is considering selling an 80 percent stake, and likely suitors include some of Europe's largest ISPs. Freeserve roared onto the scene in 1998 with a revolutionary business model that offered free Internet access. It has since faced challengers, but its 1.9 million registered users are still nearly a third of all Internet surfers in Britain.
GOING DUTCH: KPN, the former telephone monopoly in the Netherlands, sold a 15 percent stake to NTT DoCoMo for $4.5 billion in cash. The deal gives the Dutch telco access to cutting-edge wireless technology from DoCoMo, a unit of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone in Japan. DoCoMo President Keiji Tachikawa denied speculation the two firms soon will bid for Orange, a U.K. wireless carrier.
PICKING UP THE TAB: Japan's NTT is planning to pay $5.5 billion for up to 90 percent of Verio , a U.S.-based Web-hosting company in which it already has a small stake. The move is NTT's largest cash investment in an Internet services company and the first complete takeover for the Japanese giant.
LATIN FOCUS: German Net consulting firm Pixelpark is shifting focus from Northern Europe to Latin America. "There is even more growth in the Internet in Latin America than in Central Europe," says CEO Paulus Neef. Pixelpark and Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, a dominant player in Latin America, plan to form ventures in Latin America, Spain and Portugal.
QUELLE SURPRISE: A French court threw another roadblock in the way of e-commerce when it forbade French consumers from making purchases in online auctions, unless they are conducted by a French auctioneer. Auction sites such as eBay and British competitor QXL.com are working to introduce the French market to online auctions, but have faced serious legal obstacles. European courts may overturn the most recent decision later this year.
WHERE'S MINE? Tired of watching others get all the IPO money, the newly merged London and Frankfurt Stock Exchange announced it would list itself on the bourse. Soon-to-be chief executive Wener Seifert says the merged exchange might list next year. Dubbed iX, it is hoping to attract technology companies.
NASDAQ JAPAN: Nine firms have applied to list on Nasdaq Japan, a section of the Osaka Securities Exchange that will begin operating June 19. Softbank and the National Association of Securities Dealers , the Nasdaq's U.S.-based parent, are creating the board as another source of capital in Japan. Applicants include discount store operator Don Quijote, Internet service provider Masternet, game software wholesaler DigiCube, and Honda Verno Tokai, a regional Honda automobile dealer.
NOTED: Korea Telecom says its first-quarter net earnings surged about 70 percent to an all-time high of $361 million due to increased sales of Internet and mobile telephone services. ... Venture capital is nearly unheard of in China but the coastal province of Jiangsu is putting $12 million into its first fund to invest in early stage high-tech projects.