Microsoft, Dell, Lycos, Excite@Home Join Forces Against eBay

Computergram International, Sept 20, 1999

Microsoft Corp, Dell Computer Corp, Lycos Inc and Excite@Home Corp have joined forces to form a new auction network, aimed squarely at undermining eBay Inc's dominance in the internet auction market. The Wall Street Journal's Jon Auerbach calls the pooling of resources: "an admission of how difficult it is to challenge giant eBay, which has built up formidable critical mass." The new alliance is being driven by FairMarket Inc, a Woburn, Massachuetts-based start-up.

FairMarket already operates auction sites for Lycos, Dell and CompUSA. On Monday September 17 1999, the company plans to add Microsoft, Excite and Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Inc. "The only way to survive in the auction business is to be networked and to start something much bigger," FairMarket founder and CEO Scott Randall told the Journal. The networked sites should work like a single virtual warehouse, to be called the FairMarketPlace. Randall's company will take a flat monthly fee and a cut of every sale.