Amazon Inks Deal With Microsoft
Microsoft announced an agreement Tuesday with Amazon.com, making the diversifying online book-seller the top music, video and book vendor on Microsoft's MSN portal and other sites.
Amazon.com's (AMZN) stock was off 5 to 213 Tuesday morning, trimming some of its stunning gains from Monday, when it rose 37 7/8 or 21 percent. Microsoft (MSFT) rose 3 9/16 to 122 3/4.
This year, Amazon.com started selling videos and music CDs. The Microsoft link will give Amazon.com a much wider customer reach. Stock of Amazon.com's main online music-retailer competition, CDNow (CDNW), rose 1/2 to 14.Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. Microsoft said in a prepared release that Amazon.com "will have promotional offerings across the MSN network of Internet services, consisting of advertising banners, text placements and graphical links."
Shares of Amazon.com climbed on Nov. 18 after the company said it was adding video sales. At the time, the online bookseller said it had opened a video store and a holiday gift store whose offerings include personal electronics, toys, games and other gadgets.
Written By Emily Church