America Online, Reston, Va., said it would partner with Wal-Mart, Bentonville, Ark., to offer a combined Internet access/shopping service in the United Kingdom and Germany. AOL said the service would be offered through CD-ROMs to be distributed at Wal-Mart's Asda supermarkets in the United Kingdom and in Wal-Mart locations in Germany starting later this year. The companies also said they have taken a 22.5% stake in ShopSmart, a London-based Internet shopping portal.
ion investment with Softbank Venture Capital in its on-line subsidiary BlueLight.com. Kmart said it will invest $55 million, and Softbank, a Japanese bank, is to contribute an additional $25 million to the shopping site, which was launched in December.
Safeway Plc, London, temporarily shut down its Web site after an attack by computer hackers, reports said. Hackers Aug. 12 reportedly pirated 3,000 e-mail addresses from Safeway and sent those customers prank messages saying that Safeway was raising its prices by 25% and inviting customers to shop elsewhere. Safeway, the United Kingdom's fourth-largest supermarket chain, sent out an e-mail informing customers of the breach.