NetMusicMakers.com Acquires MyVirtualBand.com; Will Merge, Relaunch As A Music Social Net - Collaborative music sites NetMusicMakers.com and MyVirtualBand.com (open source music and online collaboration) will be consolidated and relaunched as a social networking site for musicians and fans. Sacramento-based House of Hansen Productions, which owns NetMusicMakers.com, has acquired MyVirtualBand.com for an undisclosed sum.
Facebook Rejects $1.62 Billion Yahoo Offer - We know that Facebook has been pursued almost since the beginning of its existence. Leaked documents in our possession state that an early offer was $37.5 million for 5% of the company (a $750 million valuation) back in Q1 2006. This was rejected by Facebook. Things really heated up mid year. Yahoo proposed a $1 billion flat out acquisition price based on a model they created where they projected $608 million in Facebook revenue by 2009, growing to $969 million in 2010. Our sources say that Facebook flatly rejected the $1 billion offer, looking for far more. Yahoo was prepared to pay up to $1.62 billion, but negotiations broke off before the offer could be made.
It’s Official(ish): MySpace Is Biggest Site on Internet - The November Comscore numbers show the inevitable: Fox Interactive (mostly MySpace) now has more page views than the combined Yahoo sites, taking the no. 1 spot for the first time. This was less to do with MySpace growth than with a 9% dip in overall Yahoo traffic (total Internet traffic for all sites in November dipped just 3%; Google was up 5%). Story:
iCrossing Adds Execs, Branches Beyond Search - Seeking to further position itself as a full service digital agency, iCrossing has hired three industry veterans with close ties to Madison Avenue–TBWA Tequila vet Ian Baer, former Organic exec Christopher Marquardt, and ex-Agency.com exec Lance Williams.
RSS Delivers Web’s Best Deals - Sites like Offertrax, StyleFeeder and Mpire don’t sell anything at all. Rather, they improve purchasing intelligence by keeping an eye out for bargains and sending electronic alerts when it’s time to swoop in for the kill. Instead of wasting time browsing the virtual aisles at dozens of sites, just tell Offertrax what you’re shopping for. The site aggregates price-change notifications and special offers from various online shops and delivers them through an RSS feed.
Venture Capital Rising, Sparked By Web - According to Ernst & Young, the volume of money being invested by venture-capital firms is expected to top $32 billion this year, the highest total since the dotcom bubble. VCs in the U.S., Europe, China and Israel have already pumped $24.5 billion into the first three quarters of the year, and another $7 billion is expected to come in the fourth quarter. But this time, we shouldn’t worry about a bubble bursting, says Gil Forer, a global director of E&Y’s venture capital unit.
Yahoo Answers White Label - Yahoo is seeking to license/white-label its successful Yahoo Answers service to other brands. The white-label strategy is still in its early stages, but Yahoo! is considering licensing its social- search offering to internet service providers and mobile network operators that run call centres. Partnerships could see firms pay to feature Yahoo! Answers on their website or use the service as an alternative means of providing customer support.
ABC News Extends Deal With Yahoo - ABC News has extended its deal with Yahoo News in some significant ways. Under the new agreement, ABC News will double the amount of content it contributes to Yahoo News. Also, Yahoo News head Neil Budde described the new agreement as a deeper partnership in which Yahoo! will be in greater communication with ABC’s newsroom.
Local Insight Media Mergers With CBD Media - Local Insight Media LLC, a provider of print directories and Internet-based local search services in Alaska and the Caribbean, has agreed to merge with CBD Media LLC, a publisher of the Cincinnati Bell-branded yellow pages. The deal will result in Local Insight owner Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe owning a majority of the combined company, with CBD backer Spectrum Equity Investors retaining a “substantial minority stake.” No financial terms were disclosed, except that the combined company will have consolidated annual revenues of approximately $200 million.
Apple Denies Forrester iTunes Claim - Apple Computer yesterday denied claims by Forrester Research that revenue from its iTunes Music Store is slowing. The research firm did an analysis of more 2,700 U.S. iTunes debit and credit-card transactions between April 2004 and June 2006, saying U.S. revenue fell 65% during the first six months of 2006. “The conclusion that iTunes sales are slowing is simply incorrect,” an Apple representative said, adding that 1.5 billion songs have been purchased from iTunes, making it the fourth-largest music retailer in the U.S., with 6% of the country’s total music sales.
Gates: DRM Should Be Better - Ahead of the Mix Conference in Las Vegas, Microsoft, a new player in the market currently dominated by Apple, convened a group of bloggers. Gates was asked about the long-term viability of DRM. He said the rise of illegal or quasi-legal options like AllofMP3 and BitTorrent ensure that users have options when it comes to DRM. Gates didn’t say what he thinks could replace it, but he did seem to agree that closed music isn’t an attractive options for consumers who could just as easily steal music.
Monster Worldwide Restates 9 Years of Earnings - Monster Worldwide, owner of the most used online job-listing service, reduced past earnings by $271.9 million yesterday to correct stock-based compensation costs, and it disclosed more than $500,000 in improper payments to its founder, Andrew J. McKelvey. The restatements cut net income for 2005 by $9.24 million, for 2004 by $14.4 million, for 2003 by $27 million, for 2002 by $44.9 million, for 2001 by $65.6 million, and for the cumulative period of 1997 through 2000 by $110.8 million, the company said in a statement.
$40 Million Not Enough For Netflix’s Digital Download Spend: Analyst - Netflix’s shares went south today after Bank of America analysts Brian Pitz and Brian Fitzgerald came out with a research report with concerns over operating expenses in 2007 and 2008. “While we do not question the company’s progress at driving subscriber growth nor their long-term decision to be a player in digital downloads, we think that the $40 million earmarked for 2007 could prove insufficient.”
StumbleUpon Launches Video Referral Site, StumbleVideo - StumbleUpon’s social browsing application has been such a big hit that the company is launching a separate site for video referral called StumbleVideo. StumbleUpon is a browser toolbar that recommends Web sites based on viewing patterns of other people with similar user profiles. StumbleVideo will do the same type of recommending for video, only it is not a browser extension. It is a Web site that works within the browser.
Jaxtr Finally Launches, An Easy Way To Phone - he Palo Alto start-up is another one of those free phone services, which along with Skype, Jajah and Grand Central is enough to send you into brain overload. Which one to use? Each one has its own tweak on the free Internet call, contact list and central control dashboard. Jaxtr’s promise was enough to lure away Konstantin Guericke from LinkedIn, where he was co-founder. It begins in a closed testing phase, letting in people users on a case-by-case basis.
CBS To Launch Own Digital Music Label; Reviving CBS Records After 20 Years - From Variety, word that CBS is adding a digital music label called CBS Records. (Technically, no records appear to be involved.) The idea: use CBS shows, iTunes and broadband to pitch the up-and-coming artists―and use the artists for network music, thus keeping down licensing costs.
