UK & Europe

Earnings: Vivendi Q1 Profits Fall 5.6 Percent; Universal Music Digital Up 33 Percent - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Wed 14 May 2008 08:16 PM PST

Entertainment and telecom conglomerate Vivendi (EPA: VIV) said its Q1 EBITA dropped 5.6 percent to $1.86 billion (€1.203 billion) from $1.91 billion last year. Although not exactly an indication of…

Lycos Europe To US: Don’t Worry About The Numbers, Just Buy Us - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Wed 14 May 2008 04:11 AM PST

Lycos Europe, which last month put itself up for sale after failing to offer a compelling website for several years, is hoping a US company will make an offer. In…

Earnings: UK’s Johnston Takes Big Investment To Off-Set Ad Declines, Debt - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Wed 14 May 2008 01:49 AM PST

Debt-ridden UK regional news publisher Johnston Press is buying (or rather, selling) itself a financial lifeline in the struggling regional classifieds market by taking a £212.3 ($414 million) investment from…

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TNS To WPP: What Part Of No Don’t You Understand? - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Tue 13 May 2008 03:26 PM PST

Despite increasing its bid to $1.938 billion (£996 million) from $1.844 billion (£948 million), WPP Group has been rejected a second time by audience measurement firm Taylor Nelson Sofres, The…

Blinkx Rises And Falls On Mystical Google-News Corp Acquisition Chatter - 1 Comment
Posted By Robert Andrews - Fri 09 May 2008 06:41 AM PST

Market speculation from an Investec analyst (via Bloomberg) that Google (NSDQ: GOOG) or News Corp (NYSE: NWS) may buy voice recognition-based video search index Blinkx did wonders for the company…

WSJ Plans Closer Ties With London Times; May Offer Business Tools - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Wed 07 May 2008 05:04 AM PST

News Corp (NYSE: NWS) is planning closer integration between its new Wall Street Journal website and its existing News International publications in the UK. Times Online EIC Anne Spackman told…

Despite Being Rebuffed By TNS, WPP Continues To Hold On; Higher Offer Expected - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Tue 06 May 2008 08:27 AM PST

Although WPP Group’s $1.9 billion offer to acquire audience researcher Taylor Nelson Sofres was rejected over the the weekend, the UK ad holding firm is still pressing the TNS’ board…

Audience Measurement Firm TNS Rejects WPP’s $1.9 Billion Offer - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Mon 05 May 2008 06:07 AM PST

Audience measurement firm Taylor Nelson Sofres has rejected WPP Group’s $1.9 billion (£1 billion) offer as “opportunistic” and undervaluing the company, telegraph.co.uk reported. TNS has been trying to merge with…

UK Stories Bubbling Up: Times Online; Friends Reunited; LinkedIn Europe; Coldplay vs Radiohead - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Thu 01 May 2008 09:50 AM PST

Some interesting UK stories in the last 24 hours: -- Times Online Looks To Leverage US Audience With WSJ Cross-Selling Ad Opps -- Friends Reunited Drops Subs For Ad-Funded Model;…

Majority Sharehholder Infogrames Buys Rest of Atari For $11 Million - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Wed 30 Apr 2008 08:33 PM PST

Not that this is a surprise: Atari’s biggest shareholder Infogrames, the French video games company, has bought the struggling company after its non-binding offer earlier in March. The cost for…

Lycos Europe Puts Itself Up For Sale; Revenues Continue Decreasing - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Tue 29 Apr 2008 06:05 AM PST

Not that anyone cares about it, but Lycos Europe, the independent Euroepan portal, has put itself up for sale, and has appointed Dresdner Kleinwort as its advisor. Its reasoning and…

UBM Quits UK For Ireland Via Jersey To Escape High Taxes - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Mon 28 Apr 2008 02:27 PM PST

B2B publisher and event organiser United Business Media (LSE: UBM) (UBM), parent of CMP, is quitting the UK for Ireland in a move designed to reduce its tax burden. As…

Gamer SCI Raises $119 Million From Warner Bros., Property Investor Tchenguiz - 0 Comments
Posted By Joseph Weisenthal - Fri 25 Apr 2008 09:06 AM PST

Turns out that earlier reports of London-traded game developer SCi selling a major chunk to NBCU were false: Instead, the company has announced a $119 million (£60 million) raise from…

Earnings: UK’s C4 New Media Losses Grow; “Privatize C4” - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Wed 23 Apr 2008 10:49 AM PST

From paidContent:UK: In UK, the alternative public broadcaster Channel 4’s new media losses grew from £6 million to £15.4 million in 2007, as the broadcaster swung to its first ever…

Sony BMG Joins Nokia’s Comes With Music Program - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Tue 22 Apr 2008 04:19 AM PST

Sony (NYSE: SNE) BMG is the second record label to join Nokia’s (NYSE: NOK) Comes With Music pre-bundled music initiative. At a London joint press conference, the pair said Nokia…

French Supermarket Giant Carrefour Plans Movie Download Store - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Mon 21 Apr 2008 12:08 PM PST

Latest to launch a movie download store - and the latest amongst the supermarkets to try their hand - is France’s Carrefour. The world’s second largest retail group after Wal-Mart…

UK Music Biz Got $11 Million PRS Royalties From Digital In Q1 - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Mon 21 Apr 2008 12:06 PM PST

From our sister site paidContent:UK: Musicians got only five percent of their performance royalties from online and mobile in the first three months of the year in UK. The Performing…

Nokia Denies Paying Universal Music Group High Fees For Comes With Music - 0 Comments
Posted By Staci D. Kramer - Fri 18 Apr 2008 11:02 AM PST

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) is denying reports—including ours—of a deal to pay Universal Music Group $33-35 per handset for access to its music on the handset maker’s upcoming Comes With Music.…

Orange Trials Mobile E-Newspaper Reader With Le Monde Et Al - 2 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Fri 18 Apr 2008 05:41 AM PST

Orange in France is testing a concept mobile digital newspaper and ebook reader. Like an Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) Kindle minus the keyboard, Read&Go uses touchscreen to navigate a custom UI…

NBCU May Become Major Shareholder of Lara Croft Publisher: Report - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Thu 17 Apr 2008 09:16 PM PST

SCi Entertainment, the LSE-traded games publisher that owns the popular Lara Croft Tomb Raider franchise, is close to finalizing a $100 million issue, and NBC Universal (NYSE: GE) could become…

Updated: Thomson Reuters Day One: Combined Company, New Logo - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Wed 16 Apr 2008 05:47 PM PST

The biggest business media company in the world is being born today (April 17th, which it is in Asia now), as Thomson Reuters. The new company, with headquarters in New…

Vivendi Games-Activision Merger Approved By EC; Claims Of ‘Unfair’ Music Competition Brushed Aside - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Wed 16 Apr 2008 08:33 AM PST

The European Commission has cleared the $18.9 billion merger of Activision (NSDQ: ATVI) and Vivendi’s (EPA: VIV) games unit on several anti-trust grounds. The EC began a routine investigation in…

Highfield’s Successor: Who’s In The Frame For BBC’s Top Digital Job? - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Tue 15 Apr 2008 10:24 AM PST

The king is gone, long live… whom exactly? BBC future media and technology director Ashley Highfield’s move to Project Kangaroo opens up perhaps the most powerful position in UK digital…

UK Music Biz Would Rather Tax iPods Than Legitimize Format Shifting - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Tue 15 Apr 2008 08:26 AM PST

The British record industry has challenged a UK government proposal that would legalize “format shifting” from CD to gadgets like iPods - and instead demanded portable music device makers pay…

UK Supermarket Giant Tesco Ramping Up Music, Movie Downloads - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Tue 15 Apr 2008 01:47 AM PST

British supermarket giant Tesco will next month relaunch its music download store to go MP3 and add movies, games and TV shows. The supermarket already operates TescoDownloads.com but the limited…