US online convenience store Kozmo.com has postponed its flotation until market conditions improve. The New York company, which filed for the IPO in March, had hoped to take the company public by this month, sources told CNET. The company is now understood to be looking at a September IPO.

Kozmo has also run into trouble over a waiver it wants staff to sign, which would allow it to run background checks on staff. Some staff have refused to sign the document, which Kozmo claims is to safeguard staff, customers and the company's assets.

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Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Media Group is joining forces with US investment bank, Bear Stearns, to create a £95 million new media investment fund called Lynx New Media. Former DG of the BBC, John Birt, has been named as a non-executive chairman of the company.

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Durlacher, the e-investment outfit, is looking to expand its operations into Europe. It is understood to be talking to the German-based e-crowd, Value Management Research, and other Continental operations.

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Chris Gent, Vodafone Air-Touch boss, stands to receive a £10 million bonus in cash and shares for the successful takeover of rival phone company Mannesmann. The proposed payout has sparked an angry response from the investment community.

Two of Vodafone's top 20 shareholders told The Financial Times that they would prefer the size of the bonus to be linked to the long term success of the deal, rather than its completion. The £10 million is on top of his salary package of £1.36 million, and the £2 million he already holds in shares. It also follows a £320,000 lump sum paid out after the acquisition of Airtouch. ®