Articles of the Day
Jana Partners Wins CNet Case - Jana Partners yesterday won its case against CNet Networks in Delaware Chancery Court, which means that it can nominate a slate of seven directors at CNEt’s upcoming shareholder meeting. Jana unveiled a plan in January to seize control of the CNet board, in partnership with Spark Capital, Velocity Interactive Capital, Sandell Asset Management Corp and Paul Gardi of Alex Interactive Media.
Break Media Debuts High-Res Video Ad - Break Media unveils a new video ad unit today that expands across the screen and lets users view a high-resolution version of the clip. If that sounds like watching a movie trailer online, it comes as little surprise that the initial high-res ad on Break.com is a preview for the forthcoming Universal Studios sci-fi thriller “Doomsday.”Entertainment companies such as movie studios, TV networks and video-game makers seem the most likely takers, and are a natural fit with Break’s target audience of 18- to-34-year-old men. The video-sharing site recently rebranded as Break Media, comprised of Break.com and three new properties–Cage Potato, Chickipedia and Holy Taco. It also includes the Break Men’s Ad Network.
Google Tests Free Ad-Management Platform For Pubs - Fresh on the heels of the DoubleClick acquisition closing, Google announced the beta launch of Google Ad Manager, a free ad-serving and management platform for publishers. It’s geared toward small and mid-sized publishers that don’t need a complex solution like DoubleClick’s DART, but want more control over their inventory sales process. The hosted ad-management suite helps publishers to sell, deliver and track premium and network-based inventory, in addition to providing reports like inventory forecasts. The forecasts, which let sales teams know how many impressions are and will be available, will be effective only after a publisher has used the platform long enough for it to have collected data on average site traffic and impressions.
China Video Site Youku Ties Up With MySpace China - Video-sharing Web site Youku.com, which is trying to position itself as China’s next YouTube, has tied up with News Corp-invested social networking site MySpace China to target the local market. The partnership is aimed at driving Internet traffic to both Web sites and sharing online products, Youku Chief Executive Victor Koo said in a statement on Friday. Social networks such as MySpace and Facebook let users share images, music, videos and blogs. By November last year, Youku had completed three rounds of venture financing totaling $40 million, including from Brookside Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Farallon Capital and Chengwei Ventures.
Revenues From Touch Screen Technology to Double - Global revenues from touch screen technologies will nearly double in the 2006-2012 interval, driven by the diffusion of the iPhone, says research firm iSuppli. Touch screen technology revenues are expected to surpass the USD3bn threshold this year - from 2.4bn in 2006 - and hit USD4.4bn by 2012. “Catalyzed by Apple’s iPhone, sales of touch screens using projected-capacitive technology are growing dramatically,” said iSuppli senior analyst, Jennifer Colegrove. “This technology is more durable and has better transmittance than the more commonly used resistive technology.”
Report: Facebook IM Service will Debut Soon - Facebook plans to launch an instant-messaging application for members to embed on their profiles as early as next week, TechCrunch reported Friday. Details are sketchy, but it appears that this will be a Web-based IM service that would allow Facebook users to chat with other people on their friends lists without needing to go through a third-party program. Additionally, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington detailed, the service would likely be based on the Jabber open-source platform, which would mean that third-party “universal IM” clients like Pidgin, Trillian, and Adium would be able to implement it.
Google Unveiled Google Sky - Google unveiled a browser version of its Google Sky application on Thursday for people who don’t want to download the Google Earth software. The browser version allows you to zoom in and out and pan around the celestial bodies, search for planets and galaxies and view the sky through infrared, x-ray, ultraviolet, and microwave views.There are also galleries of some of the best shots from the Hubble telescope and others. You can also listen to podcasts and look at historical maps of the sky.The backstory on the app is that it was done by staff engineers and Diego Gavinowich, from Buenos Aires, who was a finalist in Google’s Latin America Code Jam and spent the past three months in an internship at the company, according to the official Google Blog.
AOL Acquired Bebo for $850 Million Cash - AOL announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Bebo (http://www.bebo.com), a leading global social media network. Together with its AIM and ICQ personal communications network, the acquisition will give AOL a premier position in the fast growing world of social media with a network of approximately 80 million unique users. The deal comes just one week after AOL’s launch of Open AIM 2.0, an initiative that allows the developer community greater freedom to access the AIM network and integrate AIM into its sites and applications, and the announcement by Apple of a downloadable AIM application for the iPhone. Under the terms of the agreement, AOL will acquire Bebo for $850 million in cash. “Bebo is the perfect complement to AOL’s personal communications network and puts us in a leading position in social media,” said Randy Falco, Chairman and CEO, AOL. “What drew us to Bebo was its substantial and fast-growing worldwide user-base, its vision of a truly social web, and the monetization opportunities that leverage Platform-A across our combined global audience. This positions us to offer advertisers even greater reach and marketers significant insights into the desires and needs of consumers.”
Qualcomm Acquired Xiam Technologies Ltd. - Xiam is an Ireland-based provider of wireless content targeting solutions. The deal is valued at $32 million. Xiam has raised over $9 million in VC funding since 1999, from firms like Delta Partners, Vertex Management, Add Partners and Enterprise Ireland. Xiam’s MPOS technology enables mobile operators and brands to make personalized recommendations to individual consumers that are tailored to their unique tastes and preferences using advanced profiling techniques. Consumers can receive personalized offers of new and relevant content over wireless and Web channels, both before and after purchase.
3BILL buys Australian social network Faces.com - 3BILL, a UK mobile billing company, is buying Australian social network Faces.com, as part of its rapid expansion into social networking. Only two weeks ago, 3BILL took over UK online community ProfileHeaven. The company plans to integrate the two social networks and re-launch this year, probably under the faces.com brand, says tech blog Mashable. News that Faces.com was shutting down appeared on the web in the last few weeks. A message on the site’s homepage now says that 3BILL is now working “to resume all previous services” and warns users about probable disruptions. This is not the first Faces.com re-launch. The social network initially revamped in 2006 to include multimedia-sharing and widgets.
Specific Media Acquires Adviva - Specific Media, the largest independent online advertising network, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire all the assets of Adviva, a leading display advertising network in the United Kingdom. The combination of Specific Media and Adviva in the UK gives brand advertisers an opportunity to combine massive reach with every method of targeting to produce the results they are looking to achieve. The Adviva acquisition marks Specific Media’s entry into the European market, giving the company a strong start on global expansion. The deal closed this week for an undisclosed amount. With $5 billion in online advertising revenues in 2007 according to eMarketer, the UK is the largest European advertising market. Adviva’s broad network of brand-friendly content driven websites reaches more than 21.3 million unique UK internet users. Post-acquisition the combined companies will become the fourth largest ad network in the UK reaching 25.9 million unique UK users (Jefferies advised Adviva on the transaction).
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Acquires 2waytraffic - Thursday, March 13, uncovered an agreed £114.3 million ($232.7 million) offer for Dutch television and mobile content producer 2waytraffic NV, the owner of the rights to “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” Culver City, Calif.-based Sony Pictures said it would acquire a 54% stake in 2waytraffic from its founders and offer 108 pence per share for the outstanding stock. That’s level with the stock’s Wednesday close and a 47% bonus to its March 7 close, the day before the company admitted it was in talks about an offer (Jefferies advised on the deal).
Microsoft Buys Ad Inventory Management Firm Rapt - Microsoft has bought San Francisco-based ad a company Rapt. Terms were not disclosed. The company, which provides ad inventory management systems, will be integrated with the Atlas Publisher Suite, under Microsoft’s Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group. Atlas became part of Microsoft when it bought aQuantive for $6 billion last year. The acquisition represents the company’s latest attempt to counter Google (NSDQ: GOOG), which saw its long-awaited purchase of DoubleClick close this week. So today’s announcement is probably not very coincidental. Rapt currently employees about 85 staffers. It was founded in 1998 and has received funding in the past from Accel Partners and Levinsohn Venture Partners.
Jupitermedia Acquires eStockMusic; Second Royalty-Free Music Buy - Jupitermedia, which mainly focuses on stock photos, continues to expand in the music space… the company has acquired the assets of eStockMusic, a royalty-free music site, for an undisclosed sum. This follows the December purchase of Flying Hands Music, which also has its own library of royalty-free tracks. In addition to the retail side of eStockMusic—it sells individual tracks for $1.00—the site is also a a platform for composers to upload and sell their works. Jupiter’s main music properties are RoyaltyFreeMusic, StudioCutz.com and BlueFuse Music.
Digital Media Tech Firm Entriq Acquires DayPort; Reportedly Around $45 Million - Digital media services and DRM firm Entriq has bought online video services firm DayPort, the companies said. Carlsbad, CA.-based Entriq hopes that DayPort can bring in additional tools for managing digital video across mobile and online platforms. Nine-year-old DayPort, based in Mankota, MN, works with media companies such as Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, Martha Stewart Omnimedia, BskyB and CBS. Terms of the purchase were not disclosed.
