Top StoriesNews Corp. Mulls Google News Exit for WSJ, Other PapersAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 10:09am.
tags: Advertising | Google | Newspapers | News Corp. | Publishing | Rupert Murdoch | Google News | The Wall Street Journal |
WSJ: Comcast, GE Agree on $30 Billion NBCU ValuationAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 8:55am.
New York - Comcast (NASD: CMCSA), the nation's largest cable TV provider, has
agreed with General Electric (NYSE: GE) on a valuation of $30 billion for NBC Universal,
the film and television company it is seeking to acquire, The Wall Street
Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The sources told The
Journal that the two companies "are now ironing out the final details of
an agreement...which could come as early as the end of this week."
Electronic Arts Buys Social Games Firm Playfish for $400MAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 8:41am.
Google Acquires Mobile Ad Firm AdMob for $750 MillionAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 8:30am.
Mountain View,
Calif. - Google (NASD: GOOG) announced on
Monday that it has signed a deal to acquire mobile display advertising provider
AdMob, for $750 million in stock. Founded in 2006, San
Mateo, Calif.-based AdMob offers advertisers self-service tools to
target their mobile ads, and has developer mobile ad platforms for the iPhone
and more recently, Google's own Android operating system for mobile phones.
Report: Video Game Software Sales Down 6% in Q3Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 10:18am.
New York - Video game software
sales across the U.S.,
Europe and Japan
fell 6% during the third quarter of 2009, according to a report combining sales
data from NPD Group, GfK Chart-Track Limited and Enterbrain. While Japan actually
saw video game software unit sales increase by 15% in the third quarter --
compared with the 20% decline seen in the same period last year -- year-to-date
sales in the country are down 9%, according to Enterbrain.
Skype Litigation Settled; Sale by eBay to Investors to ProceedAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 8:35am.
San Jose,
Calif. - Skype parent company
eBay (NASD: EBAY) announced on Friday that litigation between an investor group looking to
acquire Skype and the creators of the Internet telephone service has been
settled, and that its sale of a majority stake in Skype will now proceed. As a
result of the settlement, the acquisition deal has been restructured, and Skype
creators Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis will now join the investor group, led
by Silver Lake, and make a "significant
capital investment" in exchange for a 14% stake in Skype.
tags: Deals | Law | Lawsuits | eBay | Acquisitions | Skype | Joost | Mike Volpi | Silver Lake Partners | Andreessen Horowitz | Janus Friis | Niklas Zennstrom |
E.U. to Allow "3-Strikes" Laws in New Telecoms RegulationAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 12:35pm.
Brussels - The European Union
has dropped language from proposed telecoms regulation that would have
established Internet access as a "fundamental right," providing new
leeway for countries like France
and Great Britain
that have enacted or are considering "three-strikes" laws that
suspend repeat copyright infringers' Internet connections, according to
published reports. The issue had been a sticking point holding up the telecoms
regulation, and the new version represents a compromise between copyright and
consumer interests.
tags: Video | Law | Policy | Music | Copyright | European Union | Three-Strikes | La Quad | Viviane Reding |
No Doubt Sues Activision Over Avatars in "Band Hero"Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 11:13am.
Los Angeles
- The rock band No Doubt has filed a lawsuit against "Band Hero"
video game publisher Activision (NASD: ATVI), alleging the company overstepped the
permission granted by the band to include their likenesses within the game, Reuters
reported. According to the lawsuit, the band did authorize its likenesses to be
used to create avatars to perform its own songs within the game, but did not
authorize the No Doubt avatars to perform songs by other bands.
Beatles to Release Re-mastered Catalog on $279 USB DriveAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 10:38am.
London
- The Beatles' record label, Apple Corps, and EMI Music have announced plans to
release a limited edition apple-shaped USB drive, containing the entire Beatles
re-mastered catalog in FLAC and MP3 format. The 30,000 USB apples will become
available on Dec. 7 in the U.K.
and Dec. 8 in North America, with a price tag
of $279.
tags: Law | Lawsuits | Music | Copyright | EMI | Apple Corps | The Beatles | BlueBeat | Hank Risan |
Report: Skype Creators, eBay, Investors Near SettlementAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 4, 2009 - 9:29am.
San Francisco - Litigation between the inventors and former
owners of Internet phone service Skype, current owner eBay (NASD: EBAY), and an investor
group looking to acquire Skype from eBay, could be nearing a settlement, The New
York Times reported, citing several people who have been briefed on the
situation. Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis -- the inventors of Skype and the
peer-to-peer technology behind file-sharing service Kazaa and video portal
Joost -- sued the investor group in a bid to block their acquisition of Skype
from eBay.
Report: Doug Morris to Step Down as Universal Music CEOAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 3, 2009 - 8:02am.
New York
- Universal Music Group chairman and chief executive Doug Morris intends to
step down from his CEO role next summer, BusinessWeek reports. The company is
reportedly grooming international CEO Lucian Grainge to replace Morris, 71, who
is expected to remain chairman of the world's largest record label.
Washington Times Fires Three Top Executives; Editor May ResignAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 9:49am.
Washington
- In an unexpected development, The Washington Times on Monday fired Thomas
McDevitt, its president and publisher, as well as CFO Keith Cooperrider and
Chairman Dong Moon Joo.
Google Book Settlement Parties Ask Court for ExtensionAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 9:47am.
New York
- Facing a deadline to submit a revised settlement agreement on Monday, attorneys
hammering out a new deal between Google (NASD: GOOG) and authors and publishers over
Google's massive book-scanning project have asked the judge for an extension
until Friday, The New York Times reports.
Report: Google Acquires VoIP Firm Gizmo5 for $30 MillionAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 9, 2009 - 8:17am.
San Diego
- Google (NASD: GOOG) has paid about $30 million in cash to acquire Gizmo5, a developer of
Internet telephony technology, TechCrunch reported, citing multiple sources
with knowledge of the deal.
Norwegian Court: ISP Telenor Need Not Block The Pirate BayAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 9:57am.
Oslo, Norway - International record label trade group IFPI
has lost its court case that sought to compel Norwegian ISP Telenor to block
its subscribers' access to file-sharing hub The Pirate Bay, TorrentFreak
reported.
Korean Social Network Cyworld to Shutter U.S. ServiceAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 9:42am.
Los Angeles - Cyworld, a
Korea-based online social network owned by SK Telecom, has decided to shutter
its U.S.
service three years after launch, having failed to attract a large audience.
Judge Orders Site Selling Beatles Tracks to CeaseAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 9:04am.
Los Angeles
- A federal judge has ordered BlueBeat, a company selling unauthorized Beatles
recordings online, to immediately cease the practice.
U.S. E-Commerce Spending Falls for Second Straight QuarterAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 6, 2009 - 8:46am.
Reston, Va.
- For the first time on record, U.S.
e-commerce spending has now seen negative growth for two straight quarters,
according to new figures from comScore.
Drop in MySpace Traffic to Cut $100M Off Google Ad DealAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 1:00pm.
New York
- News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace may lose out on at least $100 million of the $900
million it was contracted to receive from a search advertising agreement with
Google (NASD: GOOG), due to lackluster traffic to the website, the Financial Times reported.
Offerpal Names New CEO in Wake of "Scam" AllegationsAuthored by Mark Hefflinger on November 5, 2009 - 11:46am.
Fremont,
Calif. - Offerpal Media, a
provider of monetization services for online game and social application
developers, announced that it has replaced its CEO, after a controversy erupted
over the past week concerning whether some of its practices qualify as
"scams."
tags: Games | Marketing | Advertising | Social Networking | MySpace | Moves | Offerpal Media | Anu Shukla | George Garrick |
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