Confirms

WSJ: Google Confirms Testing New Online Auction Service

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 25, 2005 - 7:07am.

Mountain View, Calif. - Fueling speculation that it plans to go head to head with online auction giant eBay, Google on Tuesday confirmed that it is testing a new service that will allow users to list their items for sale online, The Wall Street Journal's online edition reported. In a statement, the company described the service, to be known as Google Base, as "an early-stage test of a product that enables content owners to easily send their content to Google," but declined to go into further detail. Screenshots of the service, however, appeared on several blogs, including one shot of a form for listing information such as the price of the item, as well as a place to insert photos. Google earlier this year said that it plans to launch an online payments service, as well.

tags: Google | WSJ | Online Auction | Confirms |

U.K. Game Developer SCi Confirms Takeover Rumors

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 24, 2005 - 7:31am.

London - Shares in SCi Entertainment, the U.K.-based game developer behind the popular "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" series, soared by as much as 28% in late afternoon trading in London after the company confirmed that it has received takeover approaches from several companies. "The board of SCi notes today's press comment and confirms that it has received approaches from various parties which may or may not lead to an offer for the company," SCi said, adding that it would comment further on the matter "as and when appropriate". A number of news reports have linked U.S.-based game makers Midway and Electronic Arts with the bids, while Apax Partners, a U.K.-based venture capital firm, is also rumored to have thrown its hat into the ring.