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WatchMouse: Facebook is Worst-Performing Social Networking Site - Facebook scored a 6629 on the WatchMouse Site Performance Index (SPI)–earning it the title of worst-performing social networking site in terms of user perception of speed and availability. MySpace scored a 923 and “loaded well and recorded few errors,” but Twitter and Windows Live Spaces fared worse–with SPIs of 1476 and 1386, respectively.                                                    

MySpace Launches Celebrity Hub - In an effort to better exploit today’s moment-to-moment celebrity gossip craze, MySpace has launched an online hub for fans to stalk and connect with their favorite stars. At a time when blogs like AOL’s TMZ.com and the independent PerezHilton.com are dominating celebrity gossip, MySpace is hoping its new hub will cement its unique position with users and advertisers. MySpace’s uniqueness is the fact that it is one of the few communities where celebrities are willing participants.

Online Video Sites Benefit From Hollywood Strike - Online video sites have more than doubled their traffic since the Hollywood writers strike began at the end of October, according to Nielson Online. With so many popular TV programs off the air, U.S. consumers have sought out alternatives like YouTube, whose traffic has spiked 18 percent in the last two months. Newer video sites have also found success. Startup Crackle said its audience doubled from 1.2 million at the end of October to 2.4 million in November and December. “That is greater growth than you would normally see in such a short period, and the strike could be a possible factor,” said Nielsen analyst Alex Burmaster.              

Downsizing Of Music Industry - 2007 was a bad year for Big Music; 2008 could be even worse. Physical album sales across the world fell between 10 and 20 percent in most countries (19 in the U.S.), and while digital download sales grew tremendously, they did not begin to make up for the loss of revenue from CDs. Worse, the growth of digital downloads appears to be slowing. Where do the major record labels turn to now? So-called “comes with music” packages might be the answer. Social network Imeem is a good example. The ad-supported site offers free streaming music and is backed by all four major record labels, which take a cut of ad revenue.

Yahoo Better Match For EBay - Blogger Scot Wingo from eBay Strategies reports that Yahoo is bidding against Microsoft for online auctioneer eBay. Yahoo, apparently, is the favorite to win with a bid of $40-$41 per share. eBay shareholders would end up owning most of a combined Yahoo-eBay (eBay has a bigger market cap than Yahoo). Moreover, Yahoo’s misfiring management team might not do any better running eBay than eBay’s own management team.                 

Travel Search: Yahoo Unveils FareChase, Challenger to Kayak-SideStep - Yahoo has finally brought its FareChase price search engine out of stealth mode, making it one of the default options on the Yahoo Travel homepage. Users can search for flights, hotels and vacation packages and compare prices right within the main window. It’s a calculated move that was likely spurred by the industry buzz that surrounded Kayak’s recent acquisition of rival travel search engine SideStep, as Yahoo has had the FareChase technology since 2004.            

IAC Close To Buying Movie Recommendation Site Flixster: Report - The Flixster deal talks have been going on for a while, and IAC (NSDQ: IACI) has been in and out of discussions with the movie recommendations site/application. Now WSJ’s Deal Journal is reporting that the deal is close to being done, but the price would be less than the $150 million the San Francisco-based company has been asking suitors.                      

Monster Worldwide Acquires Affinity Labs - After roughly nine months on the job, Monster Worldwide Inc. chairman and CEO Sal Iannuzzi continues his effort to revive the online employment company. Monster on Friday, Jan. 4, said it would acquire Affinity Labs Inc., operator of a portfolio of professional and vocational Web sites for people in specific occupations, for $61 million in cash. The company is led by Christopher Michel, founder of Military.com, a portal for military personnel and their families that was acquired by Monster in 2004 for $38 million. Among Affinity’s Web sites are NursingLink.com, FireLink.com and TheApple.com and ArtBistro.com, which cater to education and art professionals, respectively. Affinity had financial backing from venture capital firms the MayField Fund and Trinity Ventures, both of Menlo Park, Calif., which combined invested less than $10 million in the company in 2006.

Liberty Media Acquires Controlling Stake in Bodybuilding.com For $100 Million - Liberty Media has acquired a controlling stake in online retailer and fitness website Bodybuilding.com for $100 Million. Bodybuilding.com sells a broad range of fitness supplements, clothing and supplies as well as offering general fitness articles and a social networking service where over 100,000 users swap exercise goals or post pictures. According to comScore, Bodybuilding.com had around 2 million unique visitors in November, and according to Liberty sales are expected to top $100 million in 2008.                        

Investors Said to Seek a Takeover of CNet - CNet Networks, one of the original online media companies, would typically write about all the gossip and speculation at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas. Now, however, the company is likely to be the one talked about. A consortium of prominent investment funds has amassed a 21 percent stake in CNet and is seeking to oust the company’s directors and take over a majority of its board, according to people briefed on the proposal. The consortium sent a letter about its plan to the CNet board two weeks ago, these people said, which the company has yet to disclose.

Isobar Races To Finnish Line, Acquires White Sheep And Suddenly Re-Brands It - Aegis Group’s Isobar unit this morning announced yet another acquisition expanding its dominance as the world’s largest interactive advertising services network. Aegis said it has acquired White Sheep, a five-year-old, full-service digital marketing and design shop in Finland that services clients such as Valio, Bayer and Fazer.

Digital M&A Market Gets Off To FAST Start, Microsoft Acquires Enterprise Search Firm - Coming off a record year in terms of mergers and acquisitions of digital marketing services, 2008 already looks like it could excel that pace. With Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick still pending for later this year, Microsoft this morning announced a deal to acquire Oslo, Norway-based Fast Search & Transfer (FAST), a leading provider of enterprise search solutions, in a deal valued at $1.23 billion. The acquisition will give Microsoft a customizable online search business whose clients already includes giants such as Deutsche Telekom and the United Parcel Service Inc., and gives it another wedge against chief search rival Google.

London Bay Capital has acquired Selling Source LLC - London Bay Capital LLC (”LBC” or “London Bay”) announced today that a newly-formed affiliate of LBC has acquired Selling Source, LLC (”Selling Source” or the “Company”), the leading Internet marketing business focused on the specialty finance sector. The transaction valued Selling Source in excess of $130 million. Selling Source provides online customer acquisition services, real-time identity verification and fraud prevention services, consumer communication and financial software processing applications. Its customers include most of the leading online specialty financial services businesses in the US. Revenues in 2007 exceeded $125 million with pre-tax income of approximately $21 million, representing an organic growth rate of more than 50% compared to 2006.

Shutterfly Buys Group Sharing Site Nexo For Less Than $15 Million - Shutterfly, the online photo printing and sharing service, has bought online groups and personal publishing service Nexo Systems, for less than $15 million in cash and stock. Nexo, based in Palo Alto, CA, launched last year at Demo. Its service combines personal website creation, integrated e-mail communications, social networking and group collaboration features, something many other services do as well in various bits and parts.

Seevast Sells Domain Management Unit Moniker To Oversee.net; Will Focus On Ad Networks - Seevast Corp., an operator of online ad networks, has sold its Moniker domain management unit to internet marketer Oversee.net. New York-based Seevast said it unloaded Moniker, acquired in 2006, to concentrate more on running ad networks Pulse 360 and Kanoodle. Financial terms were not disclosed.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 12:32 am and is filed under Internet, Digital Media & Software, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.