Stories by Michael Learmonth

AOL Time Warner wins 3-year eBay ad contract

AOL Time Warner Inc. has tapped the ad budget of one of the last remaining dot-coms that actually has one.

Emap slashes online spend by 50 percent

London-based magazine publisher and radio group Emap PLC announced today that it is reducing its planned investment in online operations by 50 percent.

Economist in dash for fast streaming

The Economist magazine has taken a shortcut to high-speed Internet programming by signing a deal with a video streaming specialist with a private network to distribute its content across the existing narrowband Internet.

Deutsche Bank to update investors by SMS

Deutsche Bank is to begin sending SMS messages to communicate with investors in DWS, its European mutual fund management unit.

EMI, Warner Call the Whole Thing Off

After weeks of marathon negotiations with Europe's regulatory authorities, EMI and Time Warner say they are scrapping their $US20 billion merger plans.

MP3.com Europe, It Just Won't Be the Same

When MP3.com Inc. (MPPP) launches its European music sites, it will be without some of the technologies that got the company in legal hot water in the U.S.

EU Says Jury Still Out on Time Warner-EMI

The European Union today denied a report that it has already made a decision to block Time Warner Inc. and EMI Group PLC's US$20 billion joint music venture.

Indie Record Labels Fear Mega-Mergers

A Brussels-based organization representing 400 independent record labels warned the European Commission on Tuesday that the proposed merger of America Online Inc., Time Warner Inc. and EMI Group PLC, and Vivendi's takeover of Universal could "result in total control of the emerging digital-delivery market for music."

U.K. and U.S. Online Ad Brokers Team Up

U.S.-based Onemediaplace.com, a business-to-business advertising firm that has brokered deals between buyers and sellers for advertising on the Internet, in print magazines and in other outlets, announced Monday that it had taken a minority stake in a U.K.-based competitor, iMediapoint.com.

British Telecom Prepares for Prime Time

Britain's long wait for broadband Internet access is over, but British Telecom PLC's transition from telephone conglomerate to media company has just begun.

Europe's Four Little MP3s

In 1997, Michael Roberston purchased MP3.com Inc. from a gentleman with the initials MP, in what may go down in dot-com history as the greatest speculative domain buy of all time. But four businessmen are showing that the histories of European country domains -.de, .fr, .it. and .es - are still being written.

Lastminute's French Connection

In March, British late-deals travel site Lastminute.com PLC made one of the last blockbuster IPOs, just days before Europe's latest e-commerce malaise set in, raising £113 million (US$169.5 million).

Napster Leaps To Its Own Defense

Laying out a defense that sets the stage for a legal showdown at the end of the year, attorneys representing Napster Inc. responded Monday to the recording industry's request that the song-swap service be immediately shut down.

EMusic Changes Its Business Tune

EMusic.com Inc. (EMUS) , one of the first and largest Web companies trying to gain its fortune selling MP3 downloads, has laid off 20 percent of its workforce and is now repositioning part of its business from the relatively small consumer-download market to business-to-business.

Napster Takes the Defensive

Seven law firms representing 16 record labels, one publisher, a rap star and an aging metal band all want a piece of Napster Inc.'s hide.