In August 2008 Google filed a report with the SEC that their $900 million investment in MySpace “may be impaired.” MySpace made the Google search engine the default for the search engine. Last week, MySpace executives Rupert Murdoch, Chase Carey, and Dave Devoe reported that MySpace fell short of traffic targets.
This means that MySpace will not be paid the full amount by Google. It is likely that MySpace will lose $100 million of the deal, making it an $800 million deal. The loss might be even greater than $100 million. It could even be $300 million according to one of the executives.
MySpace isn’t the only deal to go slightly sour by Google in recent times. Google sold back 5% of their ownership in AOL back to Time Warner. Google bought the 5% of equity for $1 billion and sold it back for $283 million.
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written by Duy Phong
\\ tags: Google, OS
Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) may increase their early termination fee to $350. As you know Verizon recently started selling the Droid, a high-end Android powered Motorola phone. This may be the reason why Verizon is jacking up the prices. The rumor of the increased early termination fee was started by a leaked document on BGR. The early termination fee will decrease $10 per month. Once you’re in Verizon, you’re not leaving without burning a hole in your wallet.
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written by Duy Phong
\\ tags: Android
Samsung has been selling their S5230 mobile phone like hot cakes. The phone recently beat 10 million in unit sales. This is the fastest selling Samsung mobile device thus far. Samsung moved 10 million units within 6 months which is four months faster than the Samsung E250 to sell 10 million units. The Star S5230 has a 3″ WQVGA touchscreen, TouchWiz user interface, Bluetooth 2.1, microSD, 3.2 megapixel camera, and DNSe.
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written by Duy Phong
\\ tags: Bluetooth, OS
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is buying one of the biggest mobile phone advertising companies for $750 million in stock. AdMob started in December 2006 and is based in San Mateo, California. AdMob powers a lot of the advertising that shows up in iPhone and Android applications.
“Mobile advertising has enormous potential as a marketing medium and while this industry is still in the early stages of development, AdMob has already made exceptional progress in a very short time,” stated Google VP of Product Management Susan Wojcicki. “AdMob is the quintessential Silicon Valley startup – generating impressive year on year revenue growth – and we’re excited to welcome this talented team to Google.”
“I think people underestimate how important ads have been to funding the development of innovative content on the Internet. Our goal all along at AdMob has been to make it possible for developers and publishers to bring their products and ideas to mobile with the same business model,” stated AdMob founder Omar Hamoui.
The acquisition is subject to closing conditions, but both parties have agreed to the transaction.
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written by Duy Phong
\\ tags: Android, App, Application, Google, Iphone, OS
Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) has closed an acquisition deal with Playfish. Playfish is a company that designs games for social networks such as Facebook. EA is spending $400 million to buy out Playfish. Of the $400 million, $300 million will be given upfront and the additional $100 million will be paid as an earn-out. Rumor has it that EA was considering buying out Playfish competitor Zynga Inc. too.
This past September about 250 million people played games on Facebook. One of Playfish’s most popular games called Pet Society has over 20 million active users. Playfish was started by Kristian Segerstrale and Sebastien de Halleux. Playfish raised venture capital from Accel Partners and Index Ventures.
Popularity: unranked [?]
written by Duy Phong
\\ tags: Game, OS
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