Word: number
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...grown from one online store to more than a dozen, and from 1,100 to more than 5,000 love-it-or-leave-it, multitasking nomads. Ask the average Amazon employee for his or her business card. He will stammer and pat his pockets, explaining that, well, his number changed; she has a new job title; their group just moved; the new cards aren...
...operate bricks-and-mortar stores. Online auctions "wring out the inefficiencies in the supply-chain process," says FairMarket CEO Scott Randall. They also benefit from Metcalfe's Law (named after Robert Metcalfe, the founder of 3Com Corp.): the value of a network increases by the square of the number of people on it. Every time a conventional online retailer adds a new user, it's just one more person who can buy its products. But every time eBay adds a new user, he can buy from or sell to any of the 7.7 million people already on the network...
...after. That Partridge Family lunch box that made you feel like the Man in third grade? The bidding starts at $5. That Art Deco clock you always wanted? There were recently 19 of them being auctioned on eBay. Sure there's kitsch (Elvis snow globes, anyone?), and a scary number of Beanie Babies. But there's also luxe (usually a few Rolls-Royces are going at any given moment). Poke around and you'll come across the impressively old (dinosaur teeth!), the bizarrely new (who really needs to bid on last month's TV Guide?) and the just plain weird...
...going to win in the new eBay economy. Hardest hit so far are antiques and collectibles shows, which aggregate items like eBay does, but less efficiently. Joe Spotts, president of L&S Management, owns two shows--one in Denver, the other in Kansas City, Mo.--and he says the number of vendors at both has slid 30% in the past 18 months. And eBay is the reason. "It has the potential of absolutely destroying the business," says Spotts. "I've seen several shows around the country that are near shutting down." Flea markets could be the next to suffer. When...
...more than a little ironic that he's one of the richest human beings on the planet. And clearly he's uncomfortable with his wealth. "What one person needs, and what one family needs and all of their future generations need is a tiny, tiny fraction of this total number," he says of his net worth. "That means we have an awesome responsibility to see that the wealth is put to good use." In addition to eBay's foundation, Omidyar and his wife are developing one of their own. He says he wants it to advance the same values...