VC+M&A

Ask.com Completes Lexico Acquisition, Bags Dictionary.com Et Al - 3 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Fri 04 Jul 2008 07:56 AM PST

Losing its independence on Independence Day, Lexico is now part of the Ask.com family, as IAC’s (NSDQ: IACI) portal completes its purported $100 million cash acquisition of the Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com…

Gannett Buying Out Rest Of ShopLocal From Tribune and McClatchy - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Thu 03 Jul 2008 05:32 PM PST

Gannett (NYSE: GCI), which has a big budget to do digital M&As, is buying out the rest of local sales info site ShopLocal, from the other partners Tribune and McClatchy…

Weather Channel Sale Could Be Announced Soon - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Thu 03 Jul 2008 10:50 AM PST

The Weather Channel sale announcement could come in the next couple of days, as the consortium of NBC Universal (NYSE: GE), Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital close the deal…

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Gaming Site GameDuell Scores $17.45 Million For Expansion - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Thu 03 Jul 2008 06:59 AM PST

Berlin- and San Francisco-based online casual gaming platform GameDuell has received an €11 million ($17.45 million) second-round investment from Wellington Partners with the cash due to be used for international…

Hearst Business Media And IDG Buy Chinese Tech Site EE365 - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Wed 02 Jul 2008 04:29 PM PST

Hearst Business Media, the B2B media arm of Hearst, has jointly bought out a Chinese electronics infomation site EE365.cn, along with its local publishing partner Publishing House of Electronic Industry…

Indian Online Ad Network Ozone Media Gets $4 Million Funding - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Wed 02 Jul 2008 05:55 AM PST

Bangalore, India-based online advertising network Ozone Media Solutions Pvt Ltd has received its first round of funding from IDG Ventures India. Kiran Gopinath, founder and CEO of Ozone Media confirmed…

Cisco Forms $60 Million Russian Tech Investment Fund - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Wed 02 Jul 2008 12:55 AM PST

With Russia’s internet scene really starting to hot up, and the former Soviet republics also showing a good degree of web promise, Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO) has teamed with Russia’s Almaz…

Microsoft-Yahoo: No Real End In Sight—To The Scheming, That Is; Latest Has MSFT Seeking Help - 0 Comments
Posted By Staci D. Kramer - Tue 01 Jul 2008 09:21 PM PST

The latest variation on the Microsoft-Yahoo theme comes courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, which is reporting that Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) is looking for lab partners in some kind of…

Informa Confirms Tentative Bid From 3 PE Players; Values Company At $6.8 Billion - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Tue 01 Jul 2008 06:55 PM PST

Informa, the UK-based B2B giant which recently broke merger talked with United Business Media (LSE: UBM), has confirmed that it received a tentative big approach from a private equity consortium…

Blockbuster Abandons Its Circuit City Quest - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Tue 01 Jul 2008 05:09 PM PST

In this year of non-deals and terminated deals, this is not a surprise, considering how foolish the bid was in the first place: Blockbuster (NYSE: BBI) has abandoned its offer…

Ottaway Papers Say News Corp Has Taken Chain Off The Market - 0 Comments
Posted By Staci D. Kramer - Tue 01 Jul 2008 04:41 PM PST

News Corp is no longer trying to sell Ottaway Newspapers ... E&P reports that Marianne Stanton, editor and publisher of Ottaway’s Nantucket newspapers, told her staff Tuesday afternoon that “we’re…

Giant Interactive Invests $51 Million in Chinese Social Networking Site 51.com - 0 Comments
Posted By Pearl Research - Tue 01 Jul 2008 04:39 PM PST

Chinese online games publisher Giant Interactive (NYSE: GA) is acquiring about 25 percent stake in Five One Network Development (51.com), a Chinese online social networking service provider, for approximately $51…

Microsoft Confirms Powerset Acquisition - 0 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Tue 01 Jul 2008 11:43 AM PST

As was first tipped last week, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has confirmed the acquisition of semantic search engine Powerset. The announcement was made this afternoon in posts on Microsoft’s Live Search…

Investment Firm Ru-Net Takes Majority Stake In Russian Advertiser IConText - 0 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Tue 01 Jul 2008 09:51 AM PST

Ru-Net, the Russian internet investment firm, has acquired a 51 percent stake in IConText, a Russian contextual ad firm, reports Vedomosti (via Quintura). The deal may be valued around $7…

Grou.ps Raises $1.1 Million First Round For Social Networking Tools - 0 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Tue 01 Jul 2008 09:36 AM PST

More money for white-labelish social networking.... Grou.ps has raised a $1.1 million first round from Golden Horn Ventures, according to VentureBeat and others. The SF-based start-up offers tools for users…

Product Review Site TopTenREVIEWS Gets $6 Million First Round - 0 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Tue 01 Jul 2008 09:36 AM PST

TopTenREVIEWS, a technology review site, has raised a $6 million first round from Highway 12 Ventures and Village Ventures. The Ogdan, Utah-based company will use the money to add employees…

Media/Marketing M&A Activity For First Half Cloudy; Online As Bright Spot - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Tue 01 Jul 2008 08:23 AM PST

The M&A activity for the media/marketing/information sector was cloudy for the first half of this year, but online and interactive services remain a bright spot, according to data compiled by…

TripAdvisor Acquires VirtualTourist And Online Booker OneTime - 0 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Tue 01 Jul 2008 07:32 AM PST

TripAdvisor, the travel review site owned by Expedia, has made two acquisitions: VirtualTourist, a user-gen travel site, and OneTime, a travel comparison site. Both were founded by J.R. Johnson and…

Yoono Gets $4 Million For Social Browser Plugin - 0 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Mon 30 Jun 2008 12:38 PM PST

Yoono, a startup offering a social browser plugin, has raised a $4 million first round led by AGR Private Equity. The SF-based company is one of a number of firms…

Interview: Leslie Moonves, CEO, CBS: Choice Between CNET, Weather Channel Wasn’t ‘That Blatant’ - 0 Comments
Posted By Staci D. Kramer - Mon 30 Jun 2008 12:26 PM PST

While others deal with the integration of CNET (NSDQ: CNET) Networks into CBS Interactive (NYSE: CBS), CBS CEO Leslie Moonves has to keep selling the strategy and the acquisition to…

Social Network hi5 Buys Live Chat Firm PixVerse; Gets Sued By EMI - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Mon 30 Jun 2008 11:38 AM PST

hi5 Networks, not-big-in-U.S.-but-big-elsewhere social network, has made a small acquisition: it has bought out PixVerse, a social chat tool used by users of hi5 and other social networks. Founded in…

Interview: CEO Quincy Smith, President Neil Ashe, CBS Interactive; Filling In Gaps, Cross Promotion - 0 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Mon 30 Jun 2008 10:38 AM PST

Now that the merger is complete, it’s time for CBS Interactive (NYSE: CBS) to get onto the business of “changing the world,” in the words of newly named division President…

Mashery Raises $2 Million More For Web APIs - 0 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Mon 30 Jun 2008 10:05 AM PST

Mashery, a provider of tools to help companies build APIs and open up their content, has raised $2 million from .406 Ventures, Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.com, and past backers…

Chinese Video Site Youku Raises $40 Million Fourth Round - 0 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Mon 30 Jun 2008 08:53 AM PST

Concerns over online video limitations in China aren’t stopping the flow of money into the sector… Youku says it has raised a $40 million fourth round from past backers Brookside…

White Label Social Net Lithium Gets $12 Million Second Round - 1 Comment
Posted By Rafat Ali - Mon 30 Jun 2008 07:33 AM PST

Lithium Technologies, an Emeryville, CA-based provider of white-label social networking tools, has raised $12 million in its second round funding, led by Benchmark Capital. Benchmark joins Emergence Capital and Shasta…