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DMW Daily, June 22, 2007

Top Stories
o Private Equity Firm Blackstone Group Raises $4.13 Billion in IPO
o Report: iTunes Store Now Third-Largest U.S. Music Retailer Overall
o Take-Two Halts Release of Violent "Manhunt 2" Video Game
o Business.com Up for Sale; Could Draw $400 Million
o N.Y. State Legislators Agree on Video Game Law; Passage Expected in July
o AOL to Sell Tegic Communications Unit for $265 Million
o Liberty Media Offers to Buy Balance of Games Firm FUN Technologies
o Japan's Mitsui Invests $17.9 Million in Buongiorno Digital Marketing JV
o Report: 80% of U.S. Young Males Watch Online Videos Weekly
o News Aggregation Site DayLife Raises $8.3 Million
o Web Video Services Firm The FeedRoom Raises $5 Million in Debt
Opinion & Analysis
o The Film Business Is About to be Slammed
o More Information Than You Need About the iPhone
o Guy Kawasaki: Want to be inspired?
o How Stable is Apple's iRack?
Briefly Noted
o Will Ferrell, 2-Year-Old to Star in Web Follow-up to "The Landlord"
o Senate Approves Funding for Digital Archive of Public TV, Radio
o U.K.'s O2 Wireless Festival Live Concert Webcast Draws 55,000
o MPAA Puts Anti-Piracy Posters in Movie Theater Lobbies
o Mobile Entertainment Firm Mobile Ready Plans Stock Repurchase
o Video Games Live Concert Series Plans Live DVD, CD
 Top Stories
o Private Equity Firm Blackstone Group Raises $4.13 Billion in IPO 
New York - In one of Wall Street's most anticipated initial public offerings in months, New York-based private equity giant Blackstone Group raised more than $4.13 billion in its IPO late Thursday, pricing more than 133 million shares at $31 each, the top end of their expected range. [more..]
o Report: iTunes Store Now Third-Largest U.S. Music Retailer Overall 
New York - Apple's iTunes Store has become the third-largest overall retailer of music in the U.S., behind Wal-Mart and Best Buy, according to a report from market research firm NPD Group. [more..]
o Take-Two Halts Release of Violent "Manhunt 2" Video Game 
New York - Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive has temporarily suspended the release of "Manhunt 2," its violent game that has been preemptively banned in Britain and Ireland, and given an "Adults Only" rating in the U.S. that prompted Sony and Nintendo to prohibit the title's publication for its consoles, Next-Gen reported. [more..]
o Business.com Up for Sale; Could Draw $400 Million 
New York - Business.com, a business-to-business search engine, has been put up for sale by its owners and could fetch between $300 million and $400 million, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. [more..]
o N.Y. State Legislators Agree on Video Game Law; Passage Expected in July 
Albany, N.Y. - State legislators in New York have reached agreement on a bill that would ban the sale of violent video games to minors in the state, and are expected to formally pass the bill next month, GamePolitics.com reported. [more..]
o AOL to Sell Tegic Communications Unit for $265 Million 
Dulles, Va. - AOL said that it will sell its Seattle-based Tegic Communications unit, which develops embedded software for mobile devices, to Massachusetts-based Nuance Communications for $265 million in cash. [more..]
o Liberty Media Offers to Buy Balance of Games Firm FUN Technologies 
Englewood, Colo. - Media conglomerate Liberty Media announced on Friday that it has made an offer to acquire the 47% of casual fantasy and sports games publisher FUN Technologies it does not already own, for about $3.27 per share. [more..]
o Japan's Mitsui Invests $17.9 Million in Buongiorno Digital Marketing JV 
Milan - Buongiorno, an Italy-based provider of digital marketing, advertising, mobile entertainment and other services, announced on Friday that it has formed a joint venture with Japanese general trading company Mitsui & Co., to jointly manage and further develop Buongiorno's digital marketing services in various countries. [more..]
o Report: 80% of U.S. Young Males Watch Online Videos Weekly 
New York - A whopping 80% of U.S. males ages 18 to 24 now watch online videos at least once a week, with a majority of Americans (52%) aged 12 to 64 also going online weekly to view news, movie previews and user-generated videos, according to a report from market research firm Frank N. Magid Associates. [more..]
o News Aggregation Site DayLife Raises $8.3 Million 
New York - DayLife, a news aggregation site, has raised around $8.3 million in its second round of venture capital financing, PEHub.com reported. [more..]
o Web Video Services Firm The FeedRoom Raises $5 Million in Debt 
New York - The FeedRoom, a provider of Web video services to businesses, has raised $5 million in venture debt financing from BlueCrest Capital Finance, PEHub.com reported. [more..]
 Opinion & Analysis
o The Film Business Is About to be Slammed 
Ray Bolger blogs from Digital Media Wire and Potomac Tech Wire's 4th annual Digital Media Conference in Silver Spring, Maryland.
[more..]
o More Information Than You Need About the iPhone 
Jay Baage takes a look at a new video about the "JesusPhone" that Apple has up on on its site.
[more..]
o Guy Kawasaki: Want to be inspired? 
Check out this collection of videos about social entrepreneurs from around the world. [more..]
o How Stable is Apple's iRack? 
n/a
 Briefly Noted
o Will Ferrell, 2-Year-Old to Star in Web Follow-up to "The Landlord" 
Los Angeles - A follow-up to the popular viral video featuring comedian Will Ferrell getting upbraided by a 2-year-old landlord is slated to premiere on Monday on FunnyOrDie.com. [more..]
o Senate Approves Funding for Digital Archive of Public TV, Radio 
Washington - The Senate Appropriations Committee this week voted to endorse the American Archive, a project spearheaded by the Association of Public Television Stations (APTS) to digitally preserve public broadcasting's vast television and radio libraries and make them available to the public. [more..]
o U.K.'s O2 Wireless Festival Live Concert Webcast Draws 55,000 
London - The O2 Wireless Festival concerts staged in London last week by wireless carrier Tiscali and promoter Live Nation drew more than 55,000 viewers for its live webcast, a record for Tiscali, Billboard reported. [more..]
o MPAA Puts Anti-Piracy Posters in Movie Theater Lobbies 
Los Angeles - The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said this week that it teamed with the National Assn. of Theater Owners on a new anti-piracy campaign that will place posters inside movie theaters warning of the penalties for videotaping films. [more..]
o Mobile Entertainment Firm Mobile Ready Plans Stock Repurchase 
Atlanta - Mobile Ready Entertainment, a developer of wireless application software and entertainment based content for mobile devices, said on Friday that it plans to buy back and retire a "significant" portion of its stock. [more..]
o Video Games Live Concert Series Plans Live DVD, CD 
Los Angeles - The producers of Video Games Live, a touring symphonic concert series featuring video game music, said this week that they plan to release a live DVD and CD from performances recorded in Rio de Janeiro last year. [more..]