Daily News from New York, New York • 42

ft mm The Ticker DOW JONES 10,213.48 NASDAQ 2,730.27 Durst, Speyer talk Times Square deal ow tn's fr 311 unusual alliance: Super-developers Douglas Durst and Jerry Speyer are considering joining together to build a 48-story office fl skyscraper at 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue. LJ The pairing of these two highly independent developers would be unprecedented, since both Durst and Speyer are used to playing the lead role in any high-profile project. 1 1 MARY ALTAFFER Durst -and Speyer declined to comment. But sources said an alliance makes sense on several levels. By joining together, the two would be able to share the financial risk on the $750 million development.

More importantly, both Durst and Speyer have what th nthpr LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com chief, outlines new eSHOPS venture yesterday in Manhattan. Amazon.com stock a buy on sell news needs. Durst 1 controls most of the site, while Speyer has good relations with two of the largest office tenants looking for space: and Deutsche Bank. But even if they agree on terms, the development would still face a big obstacle. Durst still doesn't v.

SCHRAGER CLOSE ON ST. MORITZ Studio 54 operator-turned-hotel king Ian Schrager is on the verge of financing his planned $100 million overhaul of the St. Moritz Hotel on Central Park South. Schrager has been scrambling for months to meet a money deadline set by investment banking giant Credit Suisse First Boston, which financed his purchase of the property last year. First Boston had warned that if he did not come up with a construction loan by today, he risked losing the property.

Schrager has not yet closed on a deal, but First Boston execs said he's so close they have little doubt he'll be able to pull it off. "They have a number of offers," said First DOUGLAS DURST Signed, sealed delivered on Internet in New York Contracts sealed on the Internet are now equally as binding as those made face-to-face. Under a bill Gov. Pataki signed yesterday, companies and individuals no longer need to rely on handwritten signatures to seal a deal. It's now okay to authorize a contract on a computer linked to the Internet.

"Computer technology moves fast. So we have to be certain the law stays ahead of the technological curve." Pataki said yesterday. The legislation is expected to pave the way for New Yorkers to file tax forms completely electronically without ever mailing in a signed form. Pataki also said he hopes it soon will allow drivers to renew licenses by computer instead of waiting in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Profit warning sinks Avon Shares of Avon Products plunged 9 78 yesterday to $25.81 after the door-to-door cosmetics seller said earnings would match Wall Street estimates for the current quarter but fall shy in the fourth quarter of '99 due to softness in overseas markets and slow holiday gift sales.

The stock was one of the biggest percentage losers on the New York exchange, with more than 16 million shares changing hands, more than 16 times its average daily volume. CIA is really In-Q-lt The CIA is teaming up with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to invest in companies developing computer technologies that could assist in intelligence gathering. Forgoing its usual clandestine ways, the agency has set up its own venture capital firm with money appropriated by Congress with offices in Washington and Palo Alto, Calif. It will invest in promising new start-up hi-tech companies. The CIA's name for the new company is In-Q-lt.

The "In" stands for intelligence. The "It" stands for information technology. And the is the code name of the James Bond character who comes up with all the gadgets that the fictional British spy uses. Nabisco buys candy co. Snack food company Nabisco said it will buy troubled candy company Favorite Brands International for $475 million.

Favorite Brands, the fourth largest U.S. nonchocolate candy maker, filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in March. Their candies include Jet-Puffed Marshmallows and Trolli Gummies. The two companies have combined sales of $1.25 billion. Nabisco Holding shares fell 916 to $34.43.

Global responsibilities News Corp. named James Murdoch, the youngest son of the media conglomerate's founder and chairman Rupert Murdoch, executive vice president and expanded his responsibility for Internet operations globally. Murdoch, 26, previously served as president of News America Digital Publishing, where he ran the digital media operations in North America. Also, the unit's name was changed to News Digital Media. Coming into focus A picture in yesterday's edition that a wire service wrongly identified as Chase Manhattan vice chairman James B.

Lee was of Dan Case, chairman and CEO of Hambrecht QuisL Boston managing director Bill Adamskl. "We're working with them to come up with the best alternative." Schrager, who has built a global empire of trendy hotels like the By RACHEL BECK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Amazon.com will start looking like an online flea market today as the Internet powerhouse begins letting almost anyone sell products through its Web site. News of the vast expansion, which will add more than 500,000 items to Amazon.com's product mix, sent the company's stock soaring more than 20 yesterday. It rose 14 78 to close at $80.75. Amazon has built itself into an Internet shopping hub in just four years.

While once exclusively an online bookseller, it now offers music, videos, toys, consumer electronics and auctions. It has more than 12 million customers, up from 10.7 million just three months ago. Amazon.com also has been pouring millions of dollars into outside ventures such as online pharmacy drugstore.com and Internet pet shop Pets.com. The new service, zSHOPS, lets almost anyone sell online, regardless of product size or location. For now, Amazon.com is prohibiting just the sale of guns and live animals, but will monitor all wares on display.

Shoppers can link to zSHOPS from Amazon.com's home page. They can search for a specific item or an entire product category, like clothing, books or toys. If shoppers like a particular zSHOPS merchant, they can click on the merchant's name to find a list of all the products that the seller is offering. Sellers pay $9.99 a month for space on Amazon.com's Web site, with premiums charged for retailers who want their goods prominently displayed on the home page of zSHOPS. To protect consumers from unscrupulous merchants, Amazon will guarantee refunds of up to $250 for any item that is broken or not as the buyer expected.

Those shoppers who use 1 -Click payments are guaranteed up to $1,000. Royalton and Paramount, bought the dowdy St. Moritz with an eye toward turning it into a chic urban hotel that would own two of the parcels on the development site and both of those owners have been reluctant to sell. Durst has been trying to get the state to condemn the property to get rid of the holdouts. But the recalcitrant owners promise to fight that effort in court for years.

ZABAR'S GOURMET SPREAD Eli Zabar, the scion of one of New York's most prominent food families, is continuing to gobble up property on E. 91st Street. Zabar has paid $3.75 million for a three-story loft building directly across from the Vinegar Factory restaurant and gourmet grocery he opened in 1994. The building is the fourth property on 91st Street owned by Eli Zabar, who had a falling out with the rest of his family in the 1970s over the role he would play in their famous West Side cornucopia food store. Since then, he has built his own line of ritzy grocery stores.

Zabar, who could not be reached, has not revealed what he hopes to do with his latest acquisition. But real estate experts believe he must have big plans for the site given the high price he paid. "Eli brings value to every thing he buys," said Sidney Rosenthal, the Grubb Ellis New York broker who did the deal "It may look very cheap three years from now." SHELTER TO SHELTER Ritzy condominium developer Dennis Herman is paying the city $10 million for a 110-year-old public school most recently used as a shelter for homeless women. Herman is planning to demolish everything but the historic facade of 931 First at E. 51st Street, and build a 19-story condominium with 65 units.

Best known for the condo he developed at 60 E. 88th Herman plans to begin construction later this fall and finish about 18 months later. Concluding the deal required lots of patience: the city took more than four years to sell the property. "These things take that long," he noted. charge about $275 a night, compared with 5 the $148 average current rate.

But Schrager's plans were delayed by the upheaval in the real estate financing market last fall. CD CD W4v 1 I 1, Dli CO Q. CO CO 1 RICHARD COOKERY DAILY NEWS.