Webmethods Inc

WebMethods Inc., a maker of software for business-to-business electronic commerce, said it will buy Active Software Inc. in a stock swap worth $1.3 billion based on Friday's closing prices. The acquisition would put WebMethods at the forefront of providers of software that allow a company's internal systems to mesh together and to work efficiently with the systems used by their customers and suppliers, analysts said. The deal values Santa Clara, Calif.

WebMethods Inc., a maker of software for business-to-business electronic commerce, said it will buy Active Software Inc. in a stock swap worth $1.3 billion based on Friday's closing prices. The acquisition would put WebMethods at the forefront of providers of software that allow a company's internal systems to mesh together and to work efficiently with the systems used by their customers and suppliers, analysts said. The deal values Santa Clara, Calif.

The IPO market continued its selective euphoria Friday, with WebMethods Inc. soaring sixfold and Pets.com Inc. lying down and playing dead. Fairfax, Va.-based WebMethods (ticker symbol: WEBM), whose Internet software links computer systems so companies can interact with customers, staged the biggest first-day gain this year, rising $177.63, or 508%, to $212.63 from an initial public offering price of $35. It was the fourth-best debut ever. Reston, Va.-based Via Net.Works Inc.

The IPO market continued its selective euphoria Friday, with WebMethods Inc. soaring sixfold and Pets.com Inc. lying down and playing dead. Fairfax, Va.-based WebMethods (ticker symbol: WEBM), whose Internet software links computer systems so companies can interact with customers, staged the biggest first-day gain this year, rising $177.63, or 508%, to $212.63 from an initial public offering price of $35. It was the fourth-best debut ever. Reston, Va.-based Via Net.Works Inc.

* WebMethods Inc., whose software links different computer systems, plans to fire 160 employees, or about 15% of its staff, to cope with a sales slump that it said will cause a wider-than-expected loss for its fiscal first quarter. * * USA.net plans to begin charging for Internet e-mail service because advertising revenue isn't covering operational costs.

InfoSpace Inc. reported a first-quarter operating loss of $5.47 million, or 2 cents a share, better than the 4-cent loss analysts expected, on a 20% rise in revenue to $46.56 million. The company had earned $14.86 million, or 4 cents, a year ago. . . . PeopleSoft Inc.'s first-quarter profit more than tripled to $36 million, or 11 cents a share, as revenue rose 34% to $503 million. The results beat expectations by 2 cents. . . . WebMethods Inc.

Three of Wall Street's largest investment banks agreed Tuesday to settle investigations into whether they improperly allocated shares in lucrative initial public offerings to customers that paid oversized trading commissions. The agreement by Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Bear, Stearns & Co. to pay more than $15 million shows how Wall Street continues to pay for past IPO transgressions, even as the market for new-stock offerings is finally recovering from a three-year slump.

Philip Morris Cos., the world's largest tobacco company, said fourth-quarter earnings rose 7.5%, helped by price increases on its cigarettes and income growth in its Kraft unit. Profit from operations at last year's top performer in the Dow Jones industrial average rose to $1.95 billion, or 87 cents a share, from $1.81 billion, or 77 cents, a year ago. Revenue edged up 1.6% to $19.39 billion.

While most of the frenzy over e-commerce has focused on Internet shops selling books and toys to consumers, a small group of largely unheralded companies has begun rushing for the real gold mine of the future--business-to-business e-commerce. In recent months, once-obscure companies such as Mountain View-based Ariba Inc. and WebMethods Inc. of Fairfax, Va.

Like Silicon Valley and many other high-tech centers across the country, northern Virginia--home to America Online Inc., MicroStrategy Inc., Nextel Communications Inc. and 3,000 other tech firms--is undergoing a shakeout. But while Silicon Valley is taking a beating, northern Virginia so far has escaped the worst. When the nationwide high-tech slump knocked Veronica Berry out of her job as an administrative assistant with local wireless telecommunications provider Teligent Inc.

Since Sept. 11, the FBI has budgeted tens of millions of dollars to turn its massive collection of computerized case files, memos, tips and phone intercepts from an investigative black hole into a mother lode of predictive intelligence. If the effort succeeds, by Sept.