Commerce One Rises on News of Korean Venture

Commerce One

(CMRC)

was making big gains, up $4.25 to $43.50 Monday in preopen trading on

Instinet

, after announcing a joint venture with

GTWeb Korea

to open a business-to-business e-marketplace.

GTWeb is a conglomerate comprised of

LG Electronics

,

Hyundai

,

Kumho

and

Samyang

. The site will offer real-time buying and selling capabilities, in an effort to help buyers gain access to a network of suppliers.

In a release, Commerce One said

Forrester Research

has forecast that global e-commerce will hit $6.8 trillion by 2004, with Korea's B2B e-commerce rising to $21 billion by 2004 on a base of $6 billion, a compound annual growth rate of 143%.

On Friday, business-to-business stocks rallied after

Internet Capital Group

(ICGE)

announced a shareholder rights plan that would be triggered when someone attempts to buy at least 15% of its shares. The company said shareholders would get a preferred stock purchase right for each common share outstanding at the close of business on Dec. 6. The other B2B stocks getting action were

Ariba

(ARBA)

,

PurchasePro

(PPRO)

and Commerce One.