Briefly

Overstock.com Inc., an online seller of excess inventory, canceled a $16.8-million sale of its common stock Wednesday, one day after getting a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The buyer accepted the plan to call off the sale of 700,000 shares at $24 a share, the Salt Lake City-based company said in a statement. Spokesman Scott Blevins declined to name the buyer or comment beyond what was in the statement.

Overstock.com said Tuesday it received an SEC subpoena for information about its accounting policies and its claims against Gradient Analytics Inc., an Arizona research company that it sued in August, saying it wrote false reports about it. Gradient has denied wrongdoing.