Britney Spears, the 18-year-old pop star, has agreed to be paid in shares for becoming the face of teen Web site YOUtopia.com. Spears, who is already worth a cool £10 million, will be an online hostess for the site, which is due to be launched this month. Canadian venture YOUtopia.com will offer online cafes, virtual parties and music and fashion shopping.

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Anywhereyougo.com, the wireless application development company, has netted a $4 million investment deal. The cash came from Brience and Internet.com Venture Partners III, and will be used to develop online resources for wireless developers. The company also aims to expand its London and Dallas offices, as well as open new offices in Stockholm and Tokyo by the end of the year.

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The Bank of Scotland has come out as the frontrunner to partner EasyJet founder, Stelios Haji-Ionnou, in his bid to create an e-financial services company, EasyMoney.com. The Scottish bank is reported to be providing financial backing for the venture.

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Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley Witter have joined forces to create BondBook, an online system for trading bonds, according to the FT.

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Pets.com has bought rival online pet supplier Petstore.com. The company has wasted no time setting up a redirect from the vanquished Petstore.com to its own site.
Shareholders in Petstore.com will receive common and preferred stock in Pets.com in return for a $3 million cash injection. News of the deal had no discernible effect on the company's share price.

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Kingfisher, the retail group that encompasses Woolworths and B&Q, has announced its plans to go online. The company predicts the business will be
profitable within three years. As well as an initial health and beauty portal to be run in conjunction with Freeserve, the group has registered several domain names for future use, including DIY.com, DIY.co.uk and trade.co.uk. Shares rose 3.5p on the back of the news. Analyst Nick Bubb told The Independent: "How much impact it makes on profits remains to be seen, but it was a coherent approach and the best we have seen of its type so far."®