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Barry Diller's IAC Buys Search Engine Ask Jeeves for $1.85 Billion

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 21, 2005 - 10:02am.
New York -- IAC/InterActiveCorp, the company headed by Barry Diller that owns Expedia, Ticketmaster, Citysearch, Match.com and the Home Shopping Network, announced on Monday that it has agreed to acquire Internet search engine Ask Jeeves, the ninth-largest global Web property, for $1.85 billion in cash. IAC said it plans to integrate its brands into Ask Jeeves' search service, which was launched in 1996 and allows users to enter questions in plain-English as search queries. "We believe that in the future [Ask Jeeves] has the potential to become one of the great brands on the Internet and beyond, and by beyond we mean in wireless, in the search for anything on any device," said IAC chairman and CEO Barry Diller. Oakland, Calif.-based Ask Jeeves reported $261.3 million in revenue for 2004, largely resulting from its share of revenues from a paid search ad service provided by Google.
tags: Deals | Internet | IAC | Ask Jeeves | Barry Diller |

Time Warner Pays $300 Million to Settle SEC Charges

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 21, 2005 - 10:00am.
Dulles, Va. -- Media giant Time Warner has agreed to pay $300 million to settle charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company's America Online unit fraudulently inflated its subscription and revenue figures from 2000-2002. The SEC said that the company will reduce its reported online advertising revenues by about $500 million for the time period, in addition to the $190 million that it has already restated. Three Time Warner executives -- CFO Wayne Pace, Controller James Barge and Depute Controller Pascal Desroches -- also settled SEC charges that they were responsible for the reporting violations and consented to cease-and-desist orders from the SEC. This is the second major settlement for Time Warner in recent months. In December, the company agreed to pay $210 million to settle securities fraud charges with the Justice Department.
tags: Deals | Time Warner | SEC Charges |

AFP Sues Google over Use of Photos, Headlines and Stories

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 21, 2005 - 9:57am.
Paris -- According to a report by Reuters, French news publisher Agence France Presse (AFP) has filed a $17 million lawsuit against U.S.-based Internet search giant Google Inc. for listing AFP photographs, headlines and news stories on its Google News website without permission. AFP also claimed that Google has ignored several requests to stop using the unauthorized content, Reuters said. The popular Google News website is known for gathering headlines and part of the first paragraph of news stories, occasionally linking pictures with headlines. The France-based news service, which does not provide its content for free, is asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent Google News from displaying any AFP material in future. Google said it was still reviewing the lawsuit.
tags: Google | Photos | AFP | Headlines | Stories |

Avid Technology Acquires Pinnacle Systems for $462 Million

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 21, 2005 - 9:55am.
Tewksbury, Mass. -- Avid Technology, a manufacturer of professional video editing equipment used by movie and television producers, announced on Monday that it will acquire Pinnacle Systems, a provider of both professional and consumer video editing software, for $462 million in cash and stock. Mountain View, Calif.-based Pinnacle Systems reported sales of $334.8 million in 2004, and currently counts over 800 employees. Massachusetts-based Avid said it will benefit from the addition of Pinnacle's MediaStream and Deko systems to its broadcast production products, and will create a new consumer video division based around Pinnacle's consumer video editing software. "We see this acquisition as the next logical step in our long-term strategy. Just as our acquisition of M-Audio in 2004 brought us into the consumer audio business, by acquiring Pinnacle's consumer video business, Avid will be able to tap into the next generation of video editors while they are still learning their craft," said Avid president and CEO David Krall.
tags: Deals | Avid Technology | Pinnacle Systems |

Hollywood Studios to Sue U.K. BitTorrent File-Sharing Site Operators

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 21, 2005 - 9:53am.
London -- Two U.K. residents are facing lawsuits from the Hollywood movie studios, which accuse them of operating websites that enabled copyright infringement of their films on the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file-sharing network. Last week, U.K. news site The Register reported that Alexander Hanff, owner of the site DVDR-core, received notice of a U.S. copyright infringement lawsuit filed against him by four studios. Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Universal and Warner Bros. have now also threatened to sue Kevin Reid, who operates the site bds-palace.co.uk, which the studios allege enables copyright infringement. The studios have reportedly offered settlements to both men, which they have both rejected in turn. UKITLaw.com attorney David Harris, who is representing both Hanff and Reid, maintains that neither operated a site that hosted any illegal content, and promptly removed any links on their sites to unlawful downloads on BitTorrent when made aware of them. "[The studios] can't bankrupt me. I don't own a house, so they can't take it. I own a few guitars that they can have and an old inkjet printer. It's a waste of their time and of my time." Hanff told The Register.
tags: U.K | Hollywood Studios | File-Sharing Site Operators |

Yahoo Acquires Canadian Online Photo Sharing Service Flickr

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 21, 2005 - 9:50am.
Sunnyvale, Calif. -- Yahoo announced that it has agreed to acquire Ludicorp Research, parent company of the Flickr online photo sharing site. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Vancouver, B.C.-based Flickr lets users upload their digital photos to an online storage site, where they can organize them into digital photo albums and post to photo blogs. Flickr features will be integrated into the Yahoo Photos service, but the services will remain separate for the foreseeable future, according to a note on Flickr's site. http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050321/yahoo_photo_sharing_50.html 
tags: Deals | Internet | Yahoo | Canadian | Flickr | Online Photo Sharing Service |