Friday, February 04, 2000

Bits & Bytes -and- Shakers & Stirrers 2/4/00


SHAKERS & STIRRERS
Send your announcements to: shakers@TheCyberScene.com
Check out the site for the latest in who's movin' and who's shakin'!
http://www.thecyberscene.com

MainXchange.com Appoints Peter Derow to Board of Directors

Leading teen site MainXchange.com, which enables teens to engage in fun activities that build "real life" skills, has announced the appointment of Peter A. Derow to its Board of Directors. Most recently, Derow worked at Taps, the rapidly growing E.M. Warburg Pincus majority owned Internet company that serves the global online information technology professional market. Derow has held many senior executive positions, providing leadership for major publishing initiatives at Newsweek, CBS and Reed Publishing. Derow also served as president and CEO of the magazine, newsletter, conference and database company Institutional Investor, Inc. Derow also sits on the boards of Publishers Clearing House, Global Decisions Group, LLC, and 101 Communications, LLC.

Fronefield Joins Internet.com
Internet.com has signed on Luke Fronefield as new analyst. He had previously worked with Henry Blodget at Merrill Lynch, where he mostly worked with Infrastructure (Inktomi, Exodus...) and B2B (Internet Capital Group). Fronefield helped put out Merrill's Internet Quarterly handbook and contributed to a number of initial and follow-up research reports. He has also consulted and invested in a number of start-ups, including CopyLeft.net and Lax.com.

Gist Communications Names Thomas J. Worley Production Manager
Gist Communications, the Internet's leading independent provider of TV listings and related editorial content, has appointed Thomas J. Worley to the newly created position of production manager. In this post, Mr. Worley will be responsible for all aspects of gist.com and Gist content on partner sites. He will also work in developing special feature projects. Mr. Worley was most recently the editorial production director at Wenner Media, Inc. where he oversaw production for Rolling Stone, Men's Journal, and US magazines. Prior to that, he was a consultant to creative and production departments of various publishing companies, design firms and music companies, advising the transition from conventional to desktop publishing. Mr. Worley holds a BS in marketing and in economics from St. Peter's College in New Jersey.

Tanya Edwards Joins gURL.com as Events Producer
After a stint as acting Senior Editor of Spin.com, Tanya L. Edwards is joining the gURL.com team as Events Producer. She'll be conceptualizing and producing interactive live events for gURL's mammoth audience of teenage girls. She's looking forward to working on exciting, creative projects with a great team.

Razorfish CEO Dachis Named to Crain's 40 Under 40
Razorfish, Inc. (NASADQ: RAZF), the digital solutions provider, today announced that Crain's New York Business has named its chief executive officer and president, Jeff Dachis, to its “40 under 40” list. The list is made up of individuals from the business world under the age of forty who have greatly distinguished themselves in a specific industry sector. The Crain's New York Business article, notes that Mr. Dachis has built a highly profitable firm that "ranks as a global enterprise valued at nearly $4 billion." Mr. Dachis founded Razorfish in 1995 with Craig Kanarick, chief scientist at Razorfish.

Macdara MacColl Leaves iVillage
Macdara MacColl has announced that she is leaving iVillage.com for CraftShop.com, where she'll be executive producer.

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Silicon Alley Executive Conference, 2/23-24/00 @ New York Information Technology Center // Keynotes by: William Shrader, CEO, PSINet; Martin Nisenholtz, CEO,Times Company Digital; Alan Meckler, CEO Internet.com
Sponsors include New York Times AT&T, SkyCache, Rudin Mgt.
Register at http://www.safest-nyc.com/nm
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BITS & BYTES

Boutique Y3K Receives $15 million Investment
Boutique Y3K, Inc. (www.boutiquey3k.com), an e-Commerce solutions provider and e-tailing consultant for the fashion and retail industry, has announced that it has completed a privately placed investment of stock valued at $15 million. The lead financial investor was VantagePoint Venture Partners (www.vpvp.com) from Silicon Valley and New York. The funds will be used to expand Boutique Y3K's offerings such as e-commerce consulting, branding, design, marketing, data mining and digital photography.

Yack Selects Butler, Shine Stern
In its first major advertising effort since launching in 1996, Yack, (www.yack.com) the web’s most comprehensive internet programming guide, today announced that it has hired Sausalito-based Butler, Shine & Stern as its first advertising agency of record. Butler, Shine & Stern will work with Yack on development of a branding strategy, and will handle all aspects of on and offline consumer and trade advertising. Butler, Shine & Stern will also be instrumental in helping to integrate the branding into the site which is currently undergoing significant enhancements.

Webstakes Changes Name
Webstakes announced that they are changing their name to PROMOTIONS.COM to reflect the full service promotions tools they offer and business-to-business growth. They're also introducing a new line of services called Promotions DIRECT that leverages email to help marketers reach consumers in a meaningful way. The company sees tremendous opportunity to continue to aggressively grow and capture market share with the high demand from businesses that need support for their online presence. Promotions.com will support its new name and services with a multi-million dollar marketing campaign.

Directweb Teams with IBM to Revolutionize the Way People Get Online
DirectWeb, Inc. (www.directweb.com), a next-generation Internet solutions provider, announced today that it is teaming with IBM to provide customers with high-quality PCs, technical support and Internet access for as little as $29.95 a month-- or about the same cost as Internet access alone. DirectWeb now provides subscribers with the DirectWeb Internet Guide, a 450MHz IBM Aptiva personal computer with 3-year extended IBM On Call Service for hardware, 3 years of unlimited Internet access,24/7 technical support and premium software titles for as little as $29.95 a month. In order to provide consumers with the easiest and most affordable way to finance the purchase over 36 months, DirectWeb has partnered with MBNA Corporation (NYSE: KRB) to provide flexible financing to support the purchase. For more information about ordering, please visit http://www.directweb.com or call 1-888-WAY-2-WEB.

Guide Launches for the Hip
HipGuide recently opened it's virtual doors at hipguide.com. Billed as one-stop planning for a trendy life, it's geared towards travel but a local guide and planner as well. Targeting the chic 25-35 year old Prada-clad, jet-set wannabe audience, the site would like to give you chic info, has plans to allow you to make reservations, keep a calendar, buy plane tickets to a life behind the velvet ropes. The beta has Anchor Cities up with "it" places to eat, drink, dance, sleep and shop.

RealNetworks, Inc. Acquires Netzip, Inc.
RealNetworks®, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK), the recognized leader in media delivery on the Internet, today announced it has acquired privately-held Netzip, Inc., a leading developer and provider of Internet download management and utility software. Netzip has been a pioneer and leader in developing consumer-friendly technology to improve the reliability of downloading media and software files over the Internet. RealNetworks intends to widely distribute Netzip products to its existing base of more than 95 million unique registered RealPlayer® users and more than 22 million unique registered RealJukebox™ users as well as the more than 500,000 unique users who visit the Real.com® Web sites each day.

Advanstar and PurchasePro.com Hire Icon Nicholson
Icon Nicholson today announced it has been chosen to assist in the development of as many as 20 vertical industry communities for a project teaming media giant, Advanstar with PurchasePro.com, a leading provider of electronic marketplaces for businesses of all sizes -- its first new business win since Icon Medialab acquired Nicholson NY last month. Icon Nicholson has been hired as a strategic Internet partner to assist in implementing

Metro Business; Rising Tower Adds Tenant in Times Sq.
Bain & Company, a management consulting firm, has leased 50,000 square feet of space in the Reuters Building, the 30-story office tower under construction in Times Square. The firm will move into two floors in the 855,000-square-foot tower early next year. Nearly three-quarters of the $360 million Reuters Building, at Broadway and 42nd Street, which is also known as 3 Times Square, will serve as the North American headquarters for Reuters, the financial information services company, and its 1,800 employees. Three floors of retail stores and some additional office space are also planned.

Leading Online Wedding Resource Continues Aggressive Online and Offline Brand Expansion
The Knot, the leading online wedding resource, announced today that it has entered into a merger agreement with Weddingpages, Inc., the largest publisher of regional wedding magazines in the nation, for $8.5 million in cash. With this merger, The Knot (www.theknot.com; AOL keyword: weddings) will extend its brand into the local markets and gain additional advertising revenue. While The Knot will continue to publish quarterly regional magazines in over 50 markets, it will leverage its vast audience against a robust online directory of local wedding professionals and an experienced local sales force to aggressively grow online local advertising revenue.

Emusic.com Puts "Twang" into Downloadable Music
EMusic.com Inc., the Internet’s leading seller of downloadable music, announced two new digital distribution agreements with Houston-based Justice Records and Los Angeles-based Miles of Music Distribution .Justice Records will offer its Country music catalog for sale in the MP3 format on EMusic.com -
Emusic.com Signs Up Over 3,000 Afilliate Sites
EMusic.com Inc., the Internet’s leading seller of downloadable music, announced a new affiliate marketing program that allows any music-related Web site to earn money by linking to and selling downloadable music from EMusic.com’s catalog of over 50,000 MP3 songs..

Internet Wire Attracts Venture Funding
Internet Wire is pleased to announce the close of our first preferred round of venture capital, a total of $17.5 million, led by Sequoia Capital and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Additional information is attached and to follow. Internet Wire distributes direct company news, including press releases, financial announcements, graphics, audio and video files, and other time-critical business communications materials, to a worldwide audience of media, analysts and consumers.

Razorfish Wins On-Air Identity Package Contract for ARTE, the French/German Premiere Arts & Cultural Network
Razorfish, Inc., the digital solutions provider and entertainment brand specialist, today announced that it has been awarded an extensive on-air identity package for the premiere European cultural network, ARTE. The wide-ranging on-air identity package is made up of 105 sequences, including 20 for each of the 4 seasons and 25 for special events. The sequences will begin airing in December 2000.

Independent Media Voices Find Home at Mediachannel.org
Responding to a "media crisis" in an age of mega-mergers and unprecedented corporate concentration, an award-winning independent media company staffed by network veterans and new media innovators has partnered with over 300 media issues groups worldwide to launch a new "supersite" today dedicated to holding the media accountable. Revered CBS news veteran Walter Cronkite has endorsed and agreed to advise the new venture, which is aligned with England's successful OneWorld Online (http://www.oneworld.net), a multi-lingual global portal offering content on a wide range of international issues.