Advertisers coming back to the Web

Reuters reports that online advertising spend is reaching record levels as advertisers return to the Internet. Research firm eMarketer expects US online ad sales of $8.4 billion this year, up more than 15% from last year, and above the 2000 peak of $8.1 billion.

Revenue from Web-search advertising more than doubled to $2.3 billion in 2003. Banner ads and other types of old-school Internet advertising, down slightly, totalled $4.9 billion.

However, the Internet still gets only a tiny percentage of overall advertising spend. This year eMarketer expects it to again take around 3% of the total, which is seen hitting $264 billion.

Mercury News says Oracle sliced its bid for PeopleSoft on Friday by almost 20% to $7.7 billion, following drops in stock prices for both companies since the start of this year.

In a statement, Oracle said it lowered its bid for PeopleSoft to $21 a share - down from the $26 a share it had offered earlier this year.

AP reports that Microsoft is turning its attention to the growing field of online search. The popularity and simple user interfaces of the best search sites threaten to reduce the control that Microsoft maintains over people`s computing experience.

About 42% of US Web users went to Google`s search engine in March, compared with 31% for Yahoo and 29% for MSN, according to Nielsen/Net Ratings.

Microsoft plans to unveil its own Internet search technology this year after seeing what MSN director Lisa Gurry termed the "amazing" consumer demand and the moneymaking potential.

"Microsoft is racing to play catch-up, a typical approach whenever it perceives a threat," says David Smith, Gartner VP of Internet strategy.

Microsoft efforts are so sweeping that painting its strategy as a simple matchup with Google is a "narrow, narrow way of looking at it," says Jim Desler, a Microsoft spokesman.