BUSINESS NOTES E-CEPTIONIST KICKS OFF SERVICE ON NET.E-Ceptionist Inc. has begun implementing its real-time Internet scheduling service across California as part of a deal the firm signed with Blue Cross of California, the company announced Wednesday. The service is being used to support Blue Cross of California's statewide telemedicine program. E-Ceptionist allows Blue Cross general practitioners to schedule telemedicine appointments with specialists over the Internet in real time. Merrick Alpert, E-Ceptionist's chairman, said his company looks forward to working with Blue Cross in using the Internet to provide the most advanced form of scheduling to their doctors and patients. Based in Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. , Blue Cross serves 5.4 million members, and is the California subsidiary of WellPoint Health Networks Inc. - Daily News ValCom new name for merged firms VALENCIA - Production facility Valencia Entertainment International said Wednesday that it has closed the deal under which it was acquired for $35 million by Deleware-based SBI SBI Special Background Investigation SBI Subsidiary Body for Implementation SBI State Bank of India SBI Secure Border Initiative SBI Small Business Institute SBI Stockholm Brain Institute SBI Serious Bacterial Infection SBI Society of Breast Imaging Communications Inc. The combined company, headed by Valencia Entertainment founder Vince Vellardita, will be called ValCom International. Valencia Entertainment and SBI Communications will continue to exist as subsidiaries. Vellardita said an 18-acre site outside Atlanta owned by SBI Communications will be converted to sound stages for interactive programming, giving the new company its first facility on the East Coast. - Daily News Amazon's Tokyo venture a gamble TOKYO - Amazon.com Inc. extended its online empire Wednesday to Japan, one of the world's most book-loving nations, but razor-thin margins and an already glutted market make the venture a risky one, analysts say. Amazon faces stiff competition from online book vendors like Internet giant Softbank Corp. and major retailer Kinokuniya, which announced Wednesday that it is working with Microsoft Corp. to begin selling electronic books. And one of Amazon's biggest strengths - competitive prices - will be hard to offer Japanese consumers because of legal restrictions that prohibit large discounts and any bypassing of the sales tax sales tax, levy on the sale of goods or services, generally calculated as a percentage of the selling price, and sometimes called a purchase tax. It is usually collected in the form of an extra charge by the retailer, who remits the tax to the government. . Japanese books are already cheap, with the average paperback selling for about $4.50. - Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Countrywide tops in minority loans CALABASAS - Countrywide Home Loans Inc. said Wednesday that it has increased its lending to low-income Americans and is the top lender to African-Americans and largest provider of home loans in lower-income communities nationwide. And for the fourth straight year, the Calabasas-based company is the No. 1 mortgage lender to Latinos, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. newly released Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data for 1999. - City News Service Convad executive quits amid woes SANTA CLARA Santa Clara, city, Cuba Santa Clara (sän`tä klä`rä), city (1994 est. pop. 217,000), capital of Villa Clara prov., central Cuba. - Covad Communications chief executive Robert E. Knowling Jr. has resigned from the high-speed Internet See broadband. access provider, under apparent pressure after disappointing quarterly results caused the company's stock to plummet. The company said in a statement Wednesday that the board of directors determined that new leadership was in Covad's ``best interest.'' Knowling, 45, also served as president and chairman of the board. - Associated Press Gap Inc. clearance will trim earnings NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of - Gap Inc. said Wednesday that same-store sales Same-store sales is a business term which refers to the revenue generated by one of a retail chain's specific outlets during a certain period of time (often a fiscal quarter or a particular shopping season), compared to an identical period in the past, usually in the previous year. were down 2 percent in October and warned that third-quarter earnings would miss Wall Street estimates. Retail analysts said the company's declining sales were not as bad as expected and Gap shares rose $1.37 to $26.37 in after-hours trading after-hours trading The trading of securities after the exchanges are closed. After-hours trading often refers to trading a listed security in the over-the-counter market after the exchanges have been closed for the day. on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. . In regular trading, Gap shares were down 81 cents to $25. The company's announcement was released after markets closed. - Associated Press |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion