Sunnyvale, Calif. - Yahoo plans to cut "several hundred" employees in its first round of layoffs since Carol Bartz replaced Jerry Yang as CEO in January, The New York Times reported, citing several people with knowledge of the situation. [more..]

New York - AT&T is in negotiations with Apple to extend its exclusive deal to carry the iPhone in the U.S. from 2010 until 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. [more..]

Los Angeles - Passalong Networks, the operator of a range of digital music services, is shutting down, with top executives including founder and CEO Dave Jaworski and senior vice president of corporate development Skip Franklin already departing the company, Digital Music News reported, citing sources close to the situation. [more..]

Paris - French president Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling UMP party will be reintroduce a controversial "three-strikes" anti-piracy bill after the legislation suffered an unexpected defeat in Parliament last week, Variety reports. [more..]

Port Washington, N.Y. - Most Americans plans to spend the same amount or more on entertainment in 2009 as they did in 2008, according to a survey conducted by market research firm NPD Group. [more..]

Santa Clara, Calif. - Macrovision, a provider of copy-protection technology and media databases, said on Wednesday that it will pay $16.5 million in cash to acquire New York-based Muze, a developer of tools designed to help consumers find and preview digital entertainment content that matches their personal preferences. [more..]

London - Facebook now ranks as the top social networking site in a majority of European countries, having seen a 314% increase to nearly 100 million unique monthly visitors, according to a report from comScore. [more..]

Santa Monica, Calif. - Video game publisher Activision and developer 7 Studios have been sued for intentional interference with contract, breach of contract, and conversion and misappropriation of trade secrets related to the development of a hip-hop music-themed game called "Scratch: The Ultimate DJ." [more..]

Washington - LivingSocial, the developer of a social networking tool that lets users rank and share lists of their favorite things, said that it has acquired New York-based BuyYourFriendADrink.com (BYFAD), the developer of a their drink gifting and redemption platform for the beer, wine and spirits industry. [more..]

Berlin - SoundCloud, the developer of an Internet audio platform for musical collaboration, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $3.3 million in first round financing, from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures. [more..]

Seattle - Several journalists laid off recently when Hearst's Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper went online-only have banded together to launch a non-profit news website called SeattlePostGlobe.org, the Seattle Times reported. [more..]

Los Angeles - Musicslu has launched a new fan-financed recordings service, where artists can solicit the money they need to record an album from fans, and then release the resulting album for free under a Creative Commons license, TechDirt reported. [more..]

San Francisco - INgrooves, a provider of digital distribution for independent music, said on Wednesday that it has signed new deals to distribute the music of artists on independent labels Shanachie Records, Fat Possum Records and SideOneDummy Records. [more..]