London - U.S. consumer electronics and media retail chain Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) announced on Thursday that it paid $2.1 billion to acquire 50% of the Carphone Warehouse, a mobile phone retailer that counts over 2,400 stores in nine European countries.

Dubai - KIT digital (formerly ROO Group), a provider of video distribution and interactive marketing services, announced on Thursday that it has raised $15 million through a private placement of equity.

New York - Video rental giant Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) is in negotiations toward taking a stake in the new pay-TV movie channel joint venture announced by Viacom (NYSE: VIA) and several movie studios last week, people familiar with the situation told The Wall Street Journal. Under the prospective deal, Blockbuster -- which used to be owned by Viacom -- would invest in the joint venture and in return get digital rights to the new channel's programming.

London - U.K.-based video game publisher SCi, which owns Eidos and the "Tomb Raider" franchise, has received a $119 million investment from Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Warner Bros. and real estate investor Robert Tchenguiz through a private share placement.

Framingham, Mass. - TheStreet.com, a financial media company, announced on Thursday that it has made a strategic investment in Geezeo, a privately held provider of Web-based personal finance content and tools.

Shanghai, China - The9, an online game operator in China, announced on Wednesday that it has made an equity investment of $38 million in Korean game developer G10 Entertainment.

San Francisco - GoFish, an online youth entertainment and media network, said on Monday that it has raised $1.5 million through a private placement.

Arlington, Va. - Venture capitalists invested $7.1 billion in 922 deals during the first quarter, according to a report released on Monday by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).

Los Angeles - Channel M, a provider of out-of-home video advertising services, announced on Monday that it has raised an undisclosed sum in its third round of funding, led by Intel Capital.

San Francisco - The confidence of Silicon Valley venture capitalists sunk to a new four-year low during the first quarter, according to a new survey of 32 Bay Area investors by Mark Cannice, a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Business and Management.

Los Angeles - Confirming earlier reports, Universal Music Group announced on Thursday that it has made an equity investment in Buzznet, the music-focused social media site, and will share revenue with and be directly involved in developing editorial programming for the site. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Palo Alto, Calif. - Specialty finance firm Hercules Technology Growth Capital said on Wednesday that it has provided $20 million in debt financing to Glam Media, which operates a network of lifestyle websites, blogs and magazines aimed at women. The financing was part of Glam's recent $84.6 million funding round.

Los Angeles - Babelgum, an online TV network that uses peer-to-peer distribution technology, has announced that the first film to receive funds from its $15 million digital studio initiative to produce original content will be "Oil Sands," a feature-length environmental documentary, Variety reports. The amount provided to the producers is said to be a mid six-figure sum. The film will be distributed on the site in 15-20 minute clips.

New York - U.S. private equity firms raised $58.5 billion during the first quarter -- up nearly 32% over the $44.3 billion raised during the first quarter of 2007 -- according to industry newsletter Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst.

Los Angeles - Universal Music Group announced on Tuesday that it has made a strategic investment in digital music distributor INgrooves, and will partner with the company to distribute music. San Francisco-based INgrooves recently served as the exclusive digital distributor for Dolly Parton's "Backwoods Barbie" album, and also provides distribution and marketing services for partners including ESL Music, VP Records and Stones Throw Records.

Hong Kong - Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong billionaire and chairman of Hutchison Whampoa who invested $60 million in the Facebook social network back in November, has raised his investment to more than $100 million, and may sink even more of his fortune into the company, MarketWatch reported.

San Francisco - On the heels of receiving a $3 million donation from the Sloan Foundation, the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, announced on Thursday that it has received another $500,000 donation from philanthropists Vinod and Neeru Khosla.

Shanghai - Nineyou International, a developer and publisher of online games in China, has raised $100 million in private equity funding from Singapore's Temasek Holdings, PEHub.com reported.

Clifton, Va. - Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), a large ad agency based in Colorado and Miami, said on Monday that it has acquired a "significant" stake in AmericaFree.TV, a five-year-old provider of Internet TV services offering 20 channels of free content.