March 30, 2005

IN THE NEWS
Verizon Communications has reached an agreement with MCI to amend the terms of acquisition, according to Verizon. The MCI board of directors is recommending approval of the amended agreement to its shareholders. As part of the deal Verizon would acquire MCI for $23.10 per MCI common share, not including the $.40 per share cash dividend recently paid by MCI to its shareholders. The approximate value of the acquisition is $7.6 billion.

Google has agreed to acquire Urchin Software, a Web-analytics company. Web owners and marketers use Urchin to better understand their users' experience, optimize content, and track marketing performance. Goggle plans to make these tools available to Web owners and marketers to better enable them to increase their advertising ROI, according to the company. The company expects the acquisition to close before the end of April.

Foote Cone and Belding and NeoMedia Technologies, a provider of mobile marketing services that automatically link to Internet-based information, announced a comarketing agreement centered on NeoMedia's PaperClick technology platform. The agreement calls for Foote Cone and Belding to work with NeoMedia to develop opportunities and marketing campaigns using PaperClick, and introduce the NeoMedia and PaperClick in the mobile telecommunications industry.

GOT has acquired Messagia, a digital-marketing and consulting company. The acquisition enables GOT to broaden its Partner Program with a focus on agency channels, according to the company. GOT is a marketing automation provider that will combine its technology with Messagia's experience in marketing programs to deliver solutions to the specialized market.

ON THE MOVE
HP has named Mark Hurd CEO and president. Since March 2003, Hurd served in those roles at NCR. He will take up his new duties on April 1. He succeeds Robert Wayman.

Become.com, a search engine that helps people find product reviews and relevant buying information, has appointed search engine expert Jon Glick senior director of product search and comparison shopping. Glick will bring more than 14 years' experience in technical management, marketing, and search technologies. He will head the development of Become.com's comparison shopping service.

NEW PRODUCTS
Siebel Systems has released Siebel CRM OnDemand version 7.0. According to the company the release will extend the capabilities of Siebel OnDemand by providing for a hosted contact center solution available as a prebuilt option within hosted CRM.

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