And now it's Amazon's time to have its stock plummet. Reports by analysts and pundits have caused investors to fear that Amazon.com is not showing profitability soon enough. As
DrKoop.com ran out of money and had to sell, Salon.com fired 19 of its staff, and Pet.com closed all together Amazon is going through its shakedown. Among others that will be out of businesssoon is Napster.com.
The DotComs that will stay alive are those that started with nothing and have resisted IPO and venture capitalist's money. When you are on the ground, you can't fall below that. And business analysts are saying that the sound business principles are needed in DotCom businesses as they are needed in other businesses--slow, steady progress. Not all things have changed after all.

Although women Web surfers in the U.S. have achieved better-than-parity with the men, it remains a man's world online in many nations around the globe, says a new audience report

A class action lawsuit filed June 30th in a federal court in New York accuses Netscape and its parent company America Online Inc. (NYSE:AOL) of electronically eavesdropping on communications between website operators and the visitors who download files from them

Blacks not only quadrupled the amount they spent for computer hardware in 1998 compared to a year earlier, the amount of money the group spent on PC hardware outpaced similar spending by whites

Remember our article on The Insurance Man Comes? Well, one of the nation's biggest life insurance companies has agreed to pay $10 million in restitution and other relief to 209,000 Louisiana policyholders who were overcharged. The agreement by Houston-based American General Life & Accident Co. covers industrial life insurance, which is used for burial expenses or smaller amounts of life coverage.

Essence Communications Inc. announced June 28 that it had entered into an agreement with Time Inc. Edward Lewis, chairman and CEO of ECI, said the company had formed a joint venture with Time, a subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. ECI is the publisher of Essence, a beauty and fashion magazine targeted towards African American women, and Latina, a bilingual magazine for Hispanic women.
Diverse News Network, Inc. announced the launch of NowFree.net the company’s free Internet access service providing FREE unlimited Internet access both dial-up and XDSLTM service (where available) to people throughout North America beginning on June 1, 2000. DNN, a company co-created by two-time EMMY Award winner Bill McCreary.

Willie Brown, Mayor of SF is only earning $147,650 a year. There are 24 positions in that City that earn more than his salary. Most of us feel his pain. We know that Willie Brown needs more desperately.

Minnesota Rep. James Oberstar apologized for calling the deal between US Airways, United and Robert Johnson's DC Air a 'plantation' last week. Oberstar said the comment was "inappropriate and unwarranted," but said he remained opposed to the deal. He called on the Justice Department and the Federal Aviation Association to require US Airways and United to break their ties with DC Air.

The SF Chronicle reported that nannies in the Silicon Valley are making more than many public school teachers. "In the past six months, nannies' salaries on the Peninsula have jumped as much as 25 percent, with some full-time nannies pulling in more than $60,000 a year. Salaries have gotten so good that many preschool teachers are walking away from the classroom and into nanny jobs where they can increase their take-home pay by more than 50 percent."
See the story

BET founder and CEO Robert L. Johnson has condemned what he terms a "racist remark" by Minnesota Congressman James Oberstar, D-Minn., during a Capitol Hill hearing. In a letter to Oberstar dated June 16, Johnson expressed "shock and outrage" with Oberstar's use of the word 'plantation' to characterize the relationship between Johnson's proposed airline DC Air and its parent company United. "Beyond being simply inaccurate, the use of the "plantation" metaphor is totally offensive, inflammatory and beneath contempt," Johnson wrote.

Domino's Pizza, the world's largest pizza delivery company, agreed this week to create corporate-wide standards after customer complaints of discrimination in their delivery services. A 1998 complaint against the company said Domino's delivery boundaries in some areas were biased against African Americans and other minorities. The U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into the pizza maker but did not file a lawsuit,
officials said.

Antitrust Lawsuit against two credit card companies--VISA and MasterCard. Here are some companies that need to be dealt with, unlike Microsoft. This new government battle is against the anti-competitive business practices of VISA and MasterCard. They are trying to show that these businesses violated antitrust laws. They control about 75% of the credit card market in the U.S., because the same group controls both Visa and MasterCard

Beulah Baptist Institutional Church was started in 1865 by freed slaves. Now the church is in trouble with their new pastor. How strange it is--the church is calling the pastor into question about some of his decisions and actions.
It's about time.

Harvard will award the Paul Revere Frothingham prize to a graduating senior this year despite its selection criteria of "manliness.
Harvard?,

The SF Bay Guardian Newspaper did an article on the dotcom hopeful millionaires, calling the get-rich-fast promise and hope a ponzi scheme/scam.That's pretty harsh talk when their chips are a bit down. But for some, of course, it has been true. But if it is true for many, what happens to all of those students who are majoring in IT and other get-rich-and-retire-as-fast-as-I-can majors? Some are suggesting that because many are eager to get into this field from a good name school, cheating has increased dramatically at Berkeley

A Federal Grand jury indicted several people for fraud in the City's minority contractor program. The indictments indicated that the Scott-Norman Mechanical Inc., was awarded $55 million as a Black owned company, but it was actually owned and controlled by whites. The Black owner was allowing himself to be used by whites so that the company could rip off money and contracts that should have gone to minority contractors. Gibbs reported on this last year; then the City Attorney filed suit against the rip-off firms.Not only are Blacks being ripped off by whites, but now other Blacks are aiding whites in harming Blacks--anything for a dollar!

Salon.com is a daily web newspaper based in SF. It was started by a former editor of the Examiner. That said, it was no wonder that they would print a supposedly intellectual article by a Blackwriter in NY decrying the land take-backs in Zimbabwe. Of course, he castigated those Blacks and labeled them brutal and used all the buzzwords whites understand. Some of his statements made Black sense, but most were for white ego consumption; still it's remarkable that there are Blacks around who would buy into this old-line acculturation--anything for a dollar!.

This week, the Clint Reilly lawsuit against the Hearst Corporation for their strange purchase of the SF Chronicle and even stranger transfer of the SF Examiner to the Fang Family. Reilly is alleging strange facts indeed, concerning the transfer of the SF Examiner to the Fangs: The family will be paid to take the paper, the CEO of Fang Family of newspapers will be paid 1/2 million dollars yearly. If these facts are true, that is a strange selling arrangement by anyone's standards

In the lead off witness, in the SF Chronicle Trial, the publisher of the San Francisco Examiner, Timothy O. White, testified that he conveyed to Willie Brown his willingness to ``horse trade'' favorable treatment in the Examiner's editorial pages in exchange for the mayor's support of the purchase of The Chronicle. At the end of the day, White issued a press release: "I was tired and confused by the question. The implication of my answer that the pages of the Examiner can be influenced, under any circumstances, is absurd." Of course it is! Part of Gibbs's first major article on the SF Chronicle's foray into the East Bay stated that the papers are slanted in their coverage and their attitudes. And, in spite of Mr. White's disclaimer that they are not, his statement to Willie Brown is clear. The SF Chronicle and the SF Examiner have been extremely brutal to African Americans and other minorities in the East Bay. They cover crime in our communities instantly. But the positive aspects we have a difficult time getting their reporters out, even the Blacks ones whom they poster throughout our community--see The Newspaper Wars

As the nation's largest black-owned broadcasting company, Radio One may quickly become one of largest radio station operators in the country. It  now operates 48 radio stations, 47 of which are located in 14 of the top 20 African American markets. But last month, they announced three separate acquisitions  worth nearly $1.4 billion.
See the BE Story

The Amtrak & Black College Reunion Lawsuits
After uncovering more cases of alleged discrimination and victims willing to talk, lawyers for a group of former and current Amtrak employees have now taken their case nationally. "Amtrak's treatment of its African American employees clearly reflects a lack of understanding of our nation's civil rights laws, and a blatant disregard for the rights of African Americans under those laws...."
See Article

  Adam's Mark Hotel & Resorts has agreed to pay $8 million and to improve employee diversity training to settle a joint class action racial discrimination lawsuit. Five Blacks sued, claiming that they were unfairly treated during a stay at the chain's Daytona Beach, Florida location. The five were attending the annual Black College Reunion weekend last April.
(Blacks are going to law in record numbers nowadays, showing that discrimination is alive in America still.)

Aetna Inc. has produced a retrospective of its year 2000 African American history calendar.
Aetna has been issuing black history calendars for nearly 20 years. This year's calendar partnered with Black Enterprise to recognize 12 black "Leaders of the Century." The 12 are: Booker T. Washington; Sarah "Madam C.J." Walker; "Duke" Ellington; Howard Thurman; Langston Hughes; Dr. Charles Drew; Thurgood Marshall; Jacob Lawrence; Jackie Robinson;
Malcolm X ;
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.;
Oprah Winfrey.
(Do you have a calendar yet?)

Don't buy that next car until you have checked out the Car Edition of Consumers' Report.

The Power of Oprah
The debut issue of Oprah's "O" magazine, is on the horizon. The venture, which partners Winfrey with Hearst magazine, will hit newsstands on April 19th and will carry 166 pages of advertisements and those are not just one-time deals. Advertisers had to make an upfront multiple page commitment to the magazine for six issues.