Morning Edition: 12.09.00

NEWS Scoot, the online directory, believes there's somebody out to get it. According to the Guardian, the company is preparing a legal dossier containing allegations of a long-running smear campaign. Specifically, the company is alleging that a disgruntled former employee is responsible for a series of negative stories that have dogged it since the turn of the year... More bad news comes from The Times, with a report that Shai Schiller, the 38-year old CEO of Geo Interactive Media, stepped down yesterday after a major disagreement with fellow management. Schiller said after two stressful years with the software firm, he was looking forward to the break... The Financial Times leads with the latest battle between Europe's top two financial exchanges. The proposed merger between the Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bourse and the London Stock Exchange was in doubt last night following the former's failure to commit to the proposed iX project. Operators for the exchange said they were keeping "all strategic options open"... Also in the FT, news that IBM's fourth-quarter profits are likely to be hit by a weak euro. Shares in Big Blue had been on the rise despite declining revenues for the first three quarters of the year. However, a report by technology analysts, Goldman Sachs, saw shares down three cents to $1.50... Finally, Bill Gates could find himself back in front of the anti-trust regulators - but this time it has nothing to do with Microsoft. Gates is the founder of photographic agency, Corbis Corporation, which, like his other company, has been successfully buying up rival firms. But now, says the Daily Telegraph, the Justice Department wants to examine the possibility of a (you've guessed it) monopoly...