The chairman of General Electric predicts that dot-coms will be left in the dust as big companies like GE convert to an e-business model.
“Dot-coms are out building warehouses … freezers … to ship little things around,” Jack Welch says in a 60 Mintues interview to be aired Sunday. “We got all that stuff.”
CBS News released a partial transcript of the interview Thursday.
Welch has built Fairfield, Connecticut-based GE into the world’s biggest company in terms of market capitalization. Since he took over in 1981, the company’s valuation has increased from $13 billion to $515 billion.
He turns 65 next month, and recently agreed to stay on at GE one more year, while the company integrates its proposed acquisition of Honeywell International.
The $42-billion stock deal was announced on Sunday. Welch, says the new digital technology is a way to rejuvenate his 108-year-old company. He told
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Ericsson looks to Bangladesh: Ericsson will help Bangladesh launch a mobile Internet service to make mobile access cheaper than regular computer connections, a senior company official said.
“We are going to get deals with local ISPs on launching the mobile Internet service,” said Asle Olaf Tuft, technical manager of Ericsson Radio System AB, Bangladesh, a subsidiary of Ericsson (ERICY), the Swedish mobile-phone maker.
Aside from saying that Ericsson would rely on WAP technology, Tuft provided no details. He did say, however, that he sees the service up and running by early 2001.
“We have got positive response from local ISPs and mobile operators,” he said.
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Orange picks 3G suppliers: British mobile phone operator Orange, now owned by France Telecom, said that Alcatel, Ericsson and Nokia would be its suppliers for third-generation mobile telecom networks.
In a separate statement, Alcatel said it would also be the 3G supplier to Wind, an Italian mobile phone group jointly owned by France Telecom and Italian utility group Enel.
Orange said that all of its European affiliates will be able to conclude contracts with one or more of the selected suppliers.
It said the common standards shared by the French, Swedish and Finnish telecoms equipment makers would help Orange expand its global Universal Mobile Telecommunications System services beyond Britain.
UMTS will replace the current GSM standard with a much faster, higher-capacity data transmission technology, allowing voice, video and Internet services to be sent by mobile phone.
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Amazon-san: The online retailing giant is set to open its virtual doors for business in Japan as early as Nov. 1.
Amazon (AMZN) has called a press conference for that day, suggesting that a launch is imminent. Amazon plans to start selling books in Japanese and English through a Japanese website, then distribute them locally.
The online retailer has already announced plans to open a customer service center in the northern city of Sapporo, and is recruiting engineers, designers, copy editors and various other staff to work in Japan.
Amazon officials declined to comment.
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Europe’s e-conomy surges: Europe’s Internet economy is set to break the $1 trillion barrier within four years, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 87 percent, the Gartner research agency said.
It said the European industry — hardware and telecoms infrastructure, software and services, e-commerce and intermediaries such as content providers — was worth $53 billion today, with Germany accounting for half of that.
Gartner predicted France would grow fastest, followed by Germany, Italy and Britain. E-commerce in particular is expected to grow fastest in the Dutch, Swedish and Swiss markets.
In eastern Europe, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia were the leaders, but the report said they were being held back by the lack of an effective regulatory regime.
In the Middle East, it said entrepreneurial spirit was driving awareness and dot-com activity in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and, perhaps most surprisingly, Syria.
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The ink flows red: USA Networks, the cable company that operates Home Shopping Network and Ticketmaster, said its third-quarter operating loss per share widened even as revenues rose.
On a per-share basis, its pro forma loss, excluding one-time charges and non-operating gains, widened to 10 cents a share compared to 8 cents a share a year earlier.
Cash flow as measured by total pro forma earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortization grew to $159.8 million from $136.3 million a yearearlier.
Wall Street analysts on average had expected the company, which said earlier this week it was considering merging Ticketmaster with its half-owned Ticketmaster Online-City Search, to post a loss of 18 cents a share.
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Name change: Andersen Consulting, the management and technology consultancy, said it will be known as Accenture beginning Jan. 1, 2001.
The change follows the resolution in August of its dispute with its sister accountancy and audit firm Arthur Andersen, which led to the formal break-up of the group after a battle lasting several years.
Under the terms of an arbitration process between the Andersen firms, the consulting wing was absolved of making any further payments to accountancy side and was also excused from making a large termination payment which the accountants had claimed.
Reuters contributed to this report
