IN BRIEF

SAN FRANCISCO

Internet magazine returning online

An icon of the dot-com era is making a comeback of sorts.

The Industry Standard launched today in a new online-only format, with news and analysis on the Internet economy and a social networking twist.

The resurrection comes 10 years after the weekly's initial print launch in 1998.

The magazine folded just three years later in the wake of massive layoffs in the dot-com sector and a precipitous fall in ad revenues.

At its height in 2000, the self-proclaimed "newsmagazine of the Internet economy" garnered revenues of $140 million and boasted more advertising pages than any other consumer magazine.

A year later, as the dot-com bubble burst around it, yearly revenue had dropped to $40 million.

Despite a reputation of journalistic excellence and credibility, it closed its doors in August 2001.

At the time, the magazine's payroll still included 180 employees. It goes live today at www.thestandard.com with a staff of four, along with about 50 outside contributors and bloggers, some of whom worked for the original Standard, according to general manager Derek Butcher.

TORONTO

Google says Yahoo! bid raises 'questions'

Google Inc., owner of the world's most popular Internet search engine, said the proposed takeover of rival Yahoo! Inc. by Microsoft Corp. "raises troubling questions."

"This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another," Mountain View, California- based Google said today in a blog posting on the Web. "It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation."

Microsoft made a $44.6 billion bid for the search engine company on Friday.