Retailing giant Toys 'R' Us (TOY) launched its Web site on Friday. This could come in quite handy for parents who want their Beanie Babies pronto. The site offers 1,500 toys and other products, and the company says they will offer top sellers and hard-to-find toys from among the store's 10,000 items within the next few months. The site will compete with the likes of FAO Schwartz Online and etoy.
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GeoCities files for IPO: GeoCities, a homepage hosting service that offers one of the fastest-growing communities of personal Web sites on the Internet, filed Friday for an IPO of $72 million of common stock.
The company did not disclose the IPO price per share or the total valuation of the company.
The Santa Monica, California-based company said it will use net proceeds for investments in the GeoCities community site -- including enhancements to its server and networking infrastructure -- and for general corporate purposes, including working capital. GeoCities has about 1.7 million "homesteaders," and was ranked by RelevantKnowledge as the seventh most-visited site for May with 14 million individuals.
But GeoCities has other things to worry about too. The company has been investigated by the Federal Trade Commission over its use of customers' "personal identifying information" since last September, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company has gone into negotiations with the FTC and on Thursday drew up a consent order -- subject to final FTC approval and a period of public comment -- that could avoid any legal action on the part of the federal body.
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Compaq slices 2,000: Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) said it is cutting 2,000 jobs from its workforce. The announcements -- made to financial analysts on Thursday -- came just hours after the top PC-maker closed its US$8.4 billion acquisition of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC).
Compaq also said that it expects to shoulder through a "transitional" third quarter before its now completed merger starts adding to earnings in the final quarter of 1998. In a statement, CFO Earl Mason said Compaq expected to take acquisition-related charges for an undisclosed amount in the second quarter tied to its merger with Digital. Excluding the charges, Compaq expects to report break-even profits.
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NetGravity IPO: Online ad software provider NetGravity Inc.'s IPO on Friday was not received as well as some Internet stocks, but it was up 7 percent in late afternoon trading to US$9.63 a share. The company sold 3 million common shares for $27 million, or $9 each.
