DMW Daily, May 7, 2008

 Top Stories
New York - Take-Two Interactive announced on Wednesday that its "Grand Theft Auto IV" broke all-time day one and week one sales records, posting 3.6 million global unit sales on April 29, with a retail value of $310 million, and 6 million in sales for its first week, with an estimated retail value of more than $500 million. [more..]
Reston, Va. - Following months of negotiations, Sprint Nextel said on Wednesday that it will combine its WiMax business with that of Clearwire. [more..]
Los Angeles - TorrentSpy, a BitTorrent tracker site that lost a copyright infringement suit filed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) last year, has been ordered by a federal judge to pay a massive $110 million in damages. [more..]
San Jose, Calif. - Qtrax, the developer of a free, ad-supported music download service, has reached a deal to license Universal Music Group's catalog, the company's first major label signing. [more..]
Los Angeles - Spot Runner, a Web-based advertising service that helps local businesses create ads and place them on TV and radio, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $51 million in new financing. [more..]
San Francisco - FORA.tv, a video site that specializes in political and cultural content, has raised $4 million in its first round of funding, from Adobe Ventures, William Randolph Hearst III and others, Beet.TV reported. [more..]
San Jose, Calif. - PlayPhone, a mobile entertainment content distributor, announced on Wednesday that it has merged with U.K.-based Pitch Entertainment Group. [more..]
Herzliya, Israel - Jinni, a developer of personalized content search and discovery technology, has raised a $1 million first round of financing from Start-Up Factory, Globes Online reported. [more..]
 Briefly Noted
New York - Digital music service eMusic has been forced to remove early Rolling Stones albums and other repertoire from ABKCO Records it has been offering since early April, due to legal issues, Hypebot reported. [more..]
New York - Former hedge fund operator turned music manager Steven Nowack has launched SOS Records, a record label that promises to offer all of its music as free MP3s at WeLoveFreeMusic.com. [more..]
McLean, Va. - Mixx, an online social news start-up that allows users to submit news stories, vote on their favorites and view the most popular on the site's front page, said on Wednesday that it has forged a key partnership with CNN. [more..]