Commerce One Stumbles Out of the Gate, Shoots for the Finish Line

It's official. In the second quarter, Commerce One(CMRC Quote) lost the battle with Ariba(ARBA Quote) for the heart and soul of business-to-business e-commerce. But that's only because it's trying to win the war.

Commerce One handed in revenue Tuesday of $62.7 million for the quarter, which was as much as $15 million more than what some analysts were projecting. Unfortunately, in a world of gargantuan numbers -- the world that is B2B e-commerce -- $15 million simply wasn't big enough, especially given Ariba's stunning performance last week. (TSC wrote about Commerce One's earnings earlier Tuesday.)

Commerce One shares fell off a cliff in after-hours trading, plunging 6 9/16, or 10%, to hover at 60. The stock had been up 3.4% in regular trading Tuesday to close at 66 9/16. ...