The Asian Internet sector will see the emergence of dominant market leaders in each business segment this year, according to United States investment bank Lehman Brothers. This would be a 'year of execution' as thousands of start-up companies put their business plans into practice, Lehman head of Internet and new media research Juliette Chow Lip-ming said. Consolidation was expected as 'category killers' took on those that failed to deliver. 'Only a few from each segment will succeed, like in the United States market,' Ms Chow said. Start-ups such as Tom.com, whose share prices were underpinned by the scarcity of Internet firms and strength of their shareholders, would also need to demonstrate their business models were sustainable. 'For these companies, listing is only the beginning. They still need to deliver the milestones,' she said. Lehman Brothers projects 50 to 100 Internet start-ups in the region will launch initial public offerings this year. Ms Chow expected a shift in the Internet sector's focus from content last year to commerce this year. More mergers and acquisitions among on-line and traditional companies were expected, following the mergers of American Online with Time Warner, and Pacific Century CyberWorks with Cable & Wireless HKT. It would take time for these companies to work out how they could better use their resources and combine their products, she said. TECHNOLOGY
