By Polly Raymond, 17 November 1998 17:58
NEWS bol.com - the online division of Barnes and Noble - has signed exclusive bookseller deals with AOL, Compuserve and Lycos in an attempt to dominate the emerging European online book market. bol.com is Amazon.com's arch rival in the US, and the deal looks set to extend the competition into Europe. German media giant Bertelsmann bought a 50 per cent stake in bol.com last month. A spokeswoman for bol.com said: "Yes, we will be competing directly with Amazon and other market players when the service is launched." She could not give an exact launch date, but confirmed it will be before the end of 1998. Officials at Amazon.co.uk refused to comment on the partnership. However a spokesman for the company pointed out that Amazon has similar link-ups with Yahoo, Excite and LineOne which are also strong Internet brands in Europe. The bol.com deal is worth $13m, and AOL has described it as the largest in Internet advertising history. The tie up with Lycos will cost bol.com another $10m. The agreement will provide access for bol.com, through adverts and links, to users of AOL's and Compuserve's portal sites.
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