AOL TW floats $100 mil package down Amazon
Cyberbiz Brief
The megadeal, announced Monday, is expected to join Amazon.com's retail services -- which include everything from books, movies, toys and power tools -- with AOL's shopping channels and technology. Seattle-based Amazon will promote AOL as its exclusive Internet service provider, allowing customers to download the service from Amazon's sites and push the brand across its 25,000 offline retailers. It will also provide AOL customers with many of the services it provides on its own site, including personalization features and product comparisons.
AOL's Internet service America Online now boasts more than 30 million subscribers who may or may not already be regular customers of Amazon.com. AOL members spent $7.8 billion shopping online in the three months ended June 2001.
The two companies said they will also work together on future e-commerce initiatives and extend the alliance internationally.
Financial terms of the marketing deal, first signed in 1997, were not disclosed, but it is also expected to be worth millions.
As part of the equity investment, AOL bought $100 million of Amazon's stock at $15.28 a share. The purchase comes as Amazon posted a net loss of $168 million on Monday, compared with a loss of $317 million, a year earlier.
