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Yahoo!, Kmart in Net pact?
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December 14, 1999: 8:29 a.m. ET
Firms may team to offer co-branded Internet access to Kmart shoppers
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Attention shoppers -- Kmart and Yahoo! are expected to announce an Internet alliance that will include providing Web access services to Kmart customers.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the companies will offer free Internet access to customers of Kmart’s (KM) Bluelight.com e-commerce site, with offline marketing efforts aimed at shoppers at Kmart’s Troy, Mich., store.
Yahoo! (YHOO) currently doesn’t offer Internet access to its users, and this alliance may bring it an expanded customer base without the hassles of creating a complex infrastructure.
The proposed pairing comes on the heels of a reported pact between the number one ISP, America Online (AOL), and Wal-Mart (WMT). The possibility of a joint Internet venture between the two industry leaders sent their stocks higher in the past few days.
The latest wave of top-tier Web concerns aligning with well-known, off-line retailers that don’t yet have a strong Internet presence may pack a one-two punch to leading e-commerce site Amazon.com (AMZN). Amazon recently has unveiled a spate of alliances, acquisitions and new product offerings during the high-traffic online holiday shopping season.
In November, Microsoft (MSFT) beat out AOL when it struck an agreement to create a Microsoft ‘store’ within Tandy’s (TAN) Radioshack stores. As part of the deal, Microsoft also took a $100 million equity stake in RadioShack.com’s e-commerce site.
In trading Monday, Yahoo! closed down 2- 7/16 to 351-1/16. Last week, its stock rocketed prior its inclusion in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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