The NY Post is reporting that Microsoft is weighing two big investment options: buying a 5 percent stake in Facebook (at rougly $500 million), which was widely reported yesterday, or buying some or all of Yahoo. But the options are probably mutually exclusive, given the earlier $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive.
The article Microsoft Is in Talks To Buy Facebook Stake from the Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft is in talks with Facebook to place a 5% stake in the company, putting the valuation of Facebook at $10 billion. The Wall Street Journal said that Google “also expressed strong interest in a possible Facebook investment,” […]
Just as U.S. Congressional hearings on the intended acquisition of DoubleClick are about to begin, a parallel process is potentiality starting in Europe. Reuters reports that Google filed on Friday with the European Commission for approval of its intended $3.1 billion deal.
Google has MySpace, Microsoft has Facebook and now Yahoo has become the exclusive display ad provider for popular social networking site Bebo. Bebo reportedly has 38 million users globally, with its most popular sites in the UK and Ireland, although the company is based in San Francisco. Bebo search has been “powered by Yahoo” since […]
This afternoon Yahoo announced that it was buying US-based ad network BlueLithium for $300 million in cash. Founded in 2004, the company has 10 offices globally and claims more unique US visitors than Google, MSN, AOL and eBay. It also claims to be the fifth largest US ad network and the second largest in the […]
Yahoo! buys Actionality from Mobile Entertainment reports Yahoo has purchased Actionality, a company that specializes in creating ad-funded mobile content. Actionality has technology that embeds games with ads at the point of download. Actionality is a Munich-based company with sales offices in Berlin and Hong Kong. There has been no official confirmation of the acquisition […]
Ballmer discusses Yahoo acquisition rumour from PC Advisor reports on a recent interview with Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer and PBS’s Charlie Rose. In that interview, Rose questions Ballmer of the Yahoo/Microsoft merger rumors from earlier this year. The new revived question is if Microsoft is still interested in a Yahoo acquisition.
alt=”Searcharazzi – A Column From Search Engine Land” align=”left” hspace=”5″ vspace=”3″ width=”100″ height=”100″> If there was a silver lining to the rainy morning it was that little note above Searcharazzi’s Gmail inbox, stating “You are almost out of space for your Gmail account. You can view our tips on reducing your email storage or purchase […]
Marchex announced this afternoon that it has acquired VoiceStar, which provides pay-per-phone-call (PPCall) and call tracking services to a range of companies online and their advertisers. The reported acquisition/investment price is $28 million. VoiceStar is expected to generate $1.5 million for the full year 2007 and double that in 2008. However Marchex sees a much […]
It was about to be one spicy Friday, as Searcharazzi received a call on Thursday from a recruiter looking to replace a top editor in the search space. The conversation went something like this: Recruiter: “Our client is looking to replace the top spot at [name of publication].” Searcharazzi: “I thought that role was filled […]
RH Donnelley, which acquired SEM firm LocalLaunch in 2006 and owns the local search/online yellow pages site DexKnows, has announced the acquisition of Business.com and its related properties for $350 million.
Answers Corp has reached an agreement to buy Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com and Reference.com from Lexico Publishing Group, LLC for $100 million. These properties attracted 11.5 million unique monthly users in the U.S. during the month of June 2007 according to comScore. They generated revenues of $7 million, EBITDA of $2.9 million and net income of $2.8 […]
Microsoft’s bid to acquire online marketing firm aQuantive for $6 billion has cleared an antitrust regulatory hurdle, the companies said today. The FTC-mandated waiting period to review anticompetitive fallout from large mergers has passed without additional inquiries from the FTC, clearing the companies to move forward with the deal. A shareholder meeting is scheduled for […]
Google confirmed that they have acquired GrandCentral, a company that lets you keep one telephone number as you move from home to home or job to job. Google said: We think GrandCentral’s technology fits well into Google’s efforts to provide services that enhance the collaborative exchange of information between our users. We’re really excited to […]
Techcrunch reported that Google has acquired GrandCentral, a company that lets you keep one telephone number as you move from home to home or job to job. Arrington said, “We have a high degree of confidence that the deal has actually been closed.”
Business.com Could Hit Jackpot on Auction Block from the Wall Street Journal reports that Business.com is “on the auction block.” The popular business-to-business directory is expected to make between $300 to $400 million on the sale. Who would be interested in buying Business.com? The Wall Street Journal believes that Dow Jones and New York Times […]
News Corp explores swap of MySpace site for Yahoo! stake from the Times Of London reports that News Corp is interested in handing over MySpace to Yahoo in exchange for 25% of Yahoo’s stock. Such a deal would value MySpace, the very popular social networking and video site, at about $12 billion. But at the […]
FTC Examines Web-Ad Deals Involving Microsoft, Yahoo from the Wall Street Journal reports both Microsoft and Yahoo will be undergoing antitrust reviews. The Federal Trade Commission will be reviewing the $6 billion bid by Microsoft to buy aQuantive and the $680 million bid by Yahoo to buy Right Media. Google is already under antitrust review […]
alt=”Searcharazzi – A Column From Search Engine Land” align=”left” hspace=”5″ vspace=”3″ width=”100″ height=”100″> My, we were a feisty bunch last week. Now that it is all out of our system, let’s look to a bit more benign gossip from the rumor mill For the football fans out there, here’s some water cooler conversation for the […]
YP Corp., operator of directory site YP.com, has acquired classifieds destination site LiveDeal in a stock transaction worth roughly $12 million. The two sites will, in the near term, maintain separate destinations but trade and combine content. Over time, the destinations will likely tighten or merge. Classifieds is the third largest Internet ad category, capturing […]
Google shivs server crowd with PeakStream buy from The Register reports Google has purchased PeakStream, a start-up that sells tools for programming chips with multiple processing units. The financial terms of the buyout were not disclosed, but rumors are that Google bought them on the cheap. Reportedly, PeakStream was not doing well financially and Google […]
Googlified reports that Google has acquired GreenBorder Technologies, an online security company, on May 11, 2007. Ionut adds that GreenBorder protects against virus, spyware, and trojan threats by watching the Internet session from the rest of the PC and earlier Internet sessions. If GreenBorder protects an application, the application would be highlighted in green. It […]
Google Deal Said to Bring U.S. Scrutiny from the New York Times reports the Federal Trade Commission will be reviewing the proposed Google and DoubleClick acquisition. The preliminary antitrust investigation is to be conducted by the FTC and not the Justice Department, which is what privacy advocates wanted. The FTC will decide if they should […]
The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) ran an article quoting Microsoft’s Yusuf Mehdi, who made the following statements at a Goldman Sachs Internet conference: “Yahoo has a great business. Kudos to them, but we’re bigger globally. We have half a billion people . . . I still don’t think it’s the end of inning one. […]
$100 Million Payday For Feedburner – This Deal Is Confirmed from TechCrunch has Michael Arrington saying last week’s rumors of a Google purchase of FeedBurner are true: Feedburner is in the closing stages of being acquired by Google for around $100 million. The deal is all cash and mostly upfront, according to our source, although […]
The Daily Telegraph reports Yahoo is after Bebo, a social networking site, while TechCrunch reports hearing a rumor that Google may launch its own phone service in the UK.
UK based global advertising firm WPP has acquired the publicly traded 24/7 Real Media for a whopping $649 million. The company was previously being looked at by Microsoft (for $1 billion) according to rumor. It follows on the heels of several high-profile acquisitions, including Yahoo’s intended purchase of Right Media and Google’s planned acquisition of […]
Seemingly in parallel with the land grab going on online, mobile M&A is heating up. Earlier this month, Microsoft acquired EU ad firm ScreenTonic and prior to that voice services and directory provider Tellme. Today, mobile ad network Third Screen Media went to AOL and will become a subsidiary of Advertising.com. Microsoft had been seen […]
Microsoft buys stake in CareerBuilder from News.com reports that Microsoft has purchased a minority equity stake in CareerBuilder.com, a job search site. In addition, CareerBuilder and MSN Careers have continued their partnership deal where CareerBuilder will be the exclusive job search engine for MSN Careers. Earlier this week, Google In Talks To Acquire SimplyHired from […]
EBay Seeks to Add StumbleUpon to Portfolio from the Wall Street Journal brings back the rumors that eBay will be purchasing StumbleUpon. The Wall Street Journal reports that the potential asking price is $75 million. However, when Chris Sherman interviewed Garrett Camp, one of the founders of StumbleUpon, he said these were “just rumors.” An […]
Valleywag broke the news that MySpace would be acquiring Photobucket for about $300 million.
Both the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that sources say Microsoft and Yahoo are talking again about how they might merge or cooperate.
How about this? Any time some major media company may be on the block, let’s make it a requirement that all media stories automatically insert a comment from some made up financial analyst suggesting that Google is thinking of buying the company too. Maybe I’ve just had it. I mean, last week I read Google […]
Yahoo has announced it will acquire Right Media, which operates an auction-based display ad exchange called Remix Media. The move is widely seen as Yahoo fighting back against Google’s recent plans to acquire DoubleClick, which itself is seen as Google jumping more firmly into the display ad network game. Both moves to me underscore how […]
Let’s just get it out there: it appears that Zunch Communications, a Dallas-based SEM, has filed for bankruptcy. While some might call this an isolated incident, some speculative minds suggest that a correction is on the horizon for SEM agencies. Indeed, Searcharazzi is dumbfounded by the hundreds of firms that have grown and multiplied during […]
Experian has acquired Hitwise for about $240 million. Experian posted and Hitwise posted their respective press releases on the announcement.
The blogosphere is abuzz with rumors that eBay is acquiring StumbleUpon, but they’re “just rumors,” Garrett Camp, one of StumbleUpon’s founders just told me on the phone. “There have been rumors before and that’s what they are now,” Camp said. Of course, if the company is in play, Camp would likely be bound by non-disclosure […]
Google Buys DoubleClick for $3.1 Billion from the New York Times has news that Google has reached an agreement to buy DoubleClick for the sum of $3.1 billion. There was speculation in the past that Google and DoubleClick were in talks, so now that has been confirmed. With this purchase, Google now has access to […]
Google Takes Partial Ownership Of Maxthon Browser from TechCrunch covers rumors that Google has purchased a minority stake in the Maxthon Browser and that a much larger deal between the two companies is in the works. See related discussion on this via Techmeme.
The New York Times is reporting that DoubleClick is setting up an auction-based ad exchange, a “mix of eBay and Sabre, the airline reservations system that travel agents use.” “The service will let advertisers see information about what competitors bid for particular ads, in the same way that eBay shows visitors past bids. And it […]