| Web traffic to eBay and Yahoo continues to grow
Web traffic to Yahoo has increased by 3 percent since last year and eBay has seen a 12 percent rise in the same time frame, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. Yahoo parent company increased three percent year over year, from a three-month average monthly unique audience of 104.7 million unique visitors in Q1 2006 to 107.5 million unique visitors in Q1 2007. In online advertising, estimated revenue from image-based impressions on Yahoo grew 54 percent from Q1 2006 to Q1 2007. Sponsored links on the Yahoo property grew 16 percent in the same time period. Web traffic to the eBay parent company increased 12 percent year over year, from a three-month average monthly unique audience of 60.9 million in Q1 2006 to 68.2 million in Q1 2007. EBay brands eBay, PayPal, Shopping.com Network, and Skype all ranked number one in subject categories in March 2007, including classifieds/Auctions, Financial Tools, Shopping Directories and Guides and Long Distance/Local Carriers.
More questions surface on bonds for Berbice bridge roads
The performance bonds issued by Dipcon Engineering Services Ltd, to the unregistered Caricom General Insurance Inc, were placed by two insurance brokers and enquiries so far reveal that none of the brokers registered by the insurance commissioner participated. Dipcon is the contractor for the Berbice River bridge approach roads. The Berbice River Bridge is a US$40 million project that is expected to be completed in the first half of next year. Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon said on Thursday that the Berbice Bridge Company Incorporat-ed (BBCI) should also write to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board, in relation to concerns over the issuance of the performance bonds by Dipcon. BBCI Chairperson Geeta Singh-Knight, in a letter to Public Works & Communica-tion Minister Robeson Benn last week had said: "As chairperson of the Berbice Bridge Company Incorporated I am writing on behalf of the Board, and thereby on behalf of the investors in the bridge, to express our concern about the issue of mobilization advance and performance bonds to Caricom Insurance by the contractor (Dipcon Engineering Services Ltd)…" Singh-Knight had pointed out that Caricom Insurance is not registered by the Insurance Commissioner, "Therefore we have no means of assuring ourselves as a Board responsible for the execution of the bridge project that the insurance company is adequately capitalized to support the financial commitment implicit in the roads contract, and the Commissioner has no oversight authority to ensure capital adequacy is present and maintained." .
FOCUS ABN Amro break-up looms on eve of bidding war; Barclays ...
AMSTERDAM (Thomson Financial) - The Royal Bank of Scotland Group consortium move on ABN Amro Holding NV has thrown open the possibility that the Netherlands'' leading bank could be split amid a looming bidding war, but Barclays has not been eliminated from the battle just yet, analysts said.
Fox-Pitt Kelton analyst Jon Peace said Barclays still stands a good chance as ABN Anmro management would prefer a deal with the British bank.
He said ABN Amro would want to avoid a break-up, cost cutting and job losses resulting from a takeover bid by a large consortium and could then decide such a deal is not in the interests of shareholders.
A bidding war, however, remains a strong possibility.
After the RBoS consortium invited ABN Amro to enter "exploratory talks" last week, analysts at Keefe Bruyette & Woods said they expect further joint bids for the Dutch bank.
Auctions offer a little bit of everything
When Larry Hendricks arrived at the auction on Howell Street in Cape Girardeau on Sunday, there was one item he was prepared to bid on. It was a shiny red Fender Stratocaster electric guitar that caught Hendricks' eye in the classified ads of the newspaper. The guitar was listed among other items that were auctioned off at the former residence of Maxine Crow, who passed away in February. Bill Crow of Dallas decided to auction off most of his mother's estate, which he had inherited, to "get it out and get it done in one stop." "Since I don't live here locally, I don't have the ability to market everything out piece by piece," he said. "Auctions are a very pleasant and easy way to dispose of a wide variety of property. Whatever it brings, it brings and it all goes away that day." Among the items at Sunday's auction were a large assortment of glassware, vintage radios and quilts, antique mirrors and a couple of unusual items like nautical star navigation tools.
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