UK & Europe

WSJ To Sever Ties With Breakingviews; Selling Its Minority Stake? - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Fri 06 Jun 2008 08:26 PM PST

The Wall Street Journal, now part of News Corp (NYSE: NWS). is going to stop carrying the long running Breakingviews daily opinion columns in its paper, reports Guardian. WSJ Europe…

Interview: Brendan Condon, International Head, AOL’s Platform-A: Open To More Acquisitions - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Fri 06 Jun 2008 10:07 AM PST

AOL (NYSE: TWX) aims to complete the global integration of its Platform-A ad network components by end of 2009, following today’s announcement it is taking the consortium to Europe. And…

AOL’s Platform-A Lands In Europe - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Fri 06 Jun 2008 05:17 AM PST

Having recently completed its purchase of UK social net Bebo, AOL (NYSE: TWX) is finally ready to bring Platform-A, its collection of ad units, to Europe. Time Warner vet Brendan…

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Inspired By Glam Media, ProSiebenSat.1 Buys Women’s Portal Feeem Media - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Thu 05 Jun 2008 01:54 PM PST

Looking to women’s fashion lifestyle network Glam Media in the U.S., German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 has acquired Munich-based Feeem Media, which is working on forming a women’s portal at Fem.com. The…

Desperate Times: Reed Elsevier May Offer Loan To RBI Buyer; One-Piece Sale Preferred Again - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Mon 02 Jun 2008 08:54 PM PST

Reed Elsevier (NYSE: RUK) is so desperate to get rid of of its Reed Business Information unit that it is organizing a consortium of banks to lend more about $1.5…

Ad Industry Roundup: Facebook; Google; IDC; European Interactive Advertising Association - 0 Comments
Posted By David Kaplan - Mon 02 Jun 2008 11:21 AM PST

-- Ad net exec on how to attain ROI on Facebook: Seth Goldstein, co-founder and CEO of ad net firm SocialMedia Networks, offered ad execs some advice on how to…

Virgin Radio Sold To Times of India Publisher For $106 Million - 1 Comment
Posted By Rafat Ali - Sun 01 Jun 2008 12:14 AM PST

Indian media company Bennett, Coleman & Co, owner of Times of India newspaper, has made its biggest international buy: it has bought out UK’s Virgin Radio for about $106 million.…

Industry Moves: More AOL Talent Bleed: Gambino Leaving Bebo After AOL Buy - 1 Comment
Posted By Rafat Ali - Fri 30 May 2008 04:47 PM PST

Angel Gambino, the UK-based head of music for social network Bebo, now owned by AOL (NYSE: TWX), is leaving the company, reports News.com, and she confirmed to me in an…

Online Video Service Provider Narrowstep Selling To OnStream - 2 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Fri 30 May 2008 05:41 AM PST

Narrowstep, the online video service provider backed and operated by RCN founder David McCourt, has been sold to another video provider Onstream Media, in an all stock-transaction. Under the deal,…

BBC.co.uk Overspent By $71 Million, ‘Ineffective’ Bosses Must Change, Investment Frozen - 1 Comment
Posted By Robert Andrews - Thu 29 May 2008 03:45 AM PST

BBC.co.uk overspent by 48 percent in 2007/08 because management is “not sufficiently strong” and “financial oversight has not been sufficiently effective”, according to the BBC Trust’s review in to the…

Belgian Newspapers To Google: Pay Us $77M For Indexing Our News - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Tue 27 May 2008 07:41 PM PST

Put it that way, it does sound absurd, though of course a very small amount for Google: the Belgian newspapers’ association Copiepresse is asking Google (NSDQ: GOOG) to pay up…

Lycos Europe Courts AOL, Others; Asks For $315.2 Million: Report - 1 Comment
Posted By Robert Andrews - Tue 27 May 2008 01:26 AM PST

On-the-block Lycos Europe, touting itself for sale after failing to modernise the once-mighty portal, has approached AOL (NYSE: TWX), German web group United Internet and German online publisher Tomorrow Focus…

UK News Profits Hit By Digital; Murdoch Joins PA Board; Guardian.co.uk Overtaken - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Thu 22 May 2008 03:10 AM PST

The pattern continues in today’s earnings, as UK news operators plough money in to digital projects and take a hit on classifieds ads, our sister site paidContent:UK reports… -- PA…

Industry Moves: Friends Reunited Top Trio To Step Aside In Shake-Up At ITV - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Wed 21 May 2008 02:00 PM PST

From PCUK: UK’s ITV (LSE: ITV) is restructuring the original top tier of its Friends Reunited site, which relaunched last month with a new social network feel and dropped premium…

We Can Too: Russian Portal Mail.ru Also Plans IPO, in London - 0 Comments
Posted By Rafat Ali - Wed 21 May 2008 08:25 AM PST

If Yandex can mull a $2 billion IPO, so can Mail.ru: the Russian online portal Mail.ru is planning an IPO on London’s stock market which will value the business at…

Industry Moves: FT.com Helm Taken By Grimshaw - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Wed 21 May 2008 04:10 AM PST

FT.com is promoting online advertising director Rob Grimshaw to managing director, effectively replacing outgoing managing editor and publisher Ien Cheng. Grimshaw had been involved in developing the new, third-way access…

OleOle UGC Soccer Site Buys Arsenal Fan Blog, Plans To Woo Others - 0 Comments
Posted By Robert Andrews - Tue 20 May 2008 10:42 AM PST

From PCUK: Here’s a load of arse. Niche soccer social media site OleOle, based in Beverly Hills, CA, has bought an Arsenal FC fan blog called ArseBlog for an undisclosed,…

Thomson Reuters Cuts Confirmed: 140 Journalists Going; Web Video Additions Due - 1 Comment
Posted By Robert Andrews - Mon 19 May 2008 02:25 AM PST

Thomson Reuters (NASDAQ: TRIN) will “eliminate” around 140 journalist posts around the world by year’s end, we have confirmed. Around half the posts will go from Europe, where overlap is…

AOL-Bebo: $850M Deal Closes; AOL Combines Bebo, AIM, ICQ Into People Networks Headed By Shields - 2 Comments
Posted By Staci D. Kramer - Sun 18 May 2008 05:25 PM PST

It’s official—AOL (NYSE: TWX) now owns Bebo, closing the $850 million acquisition roughly two months after making it public. The social media network will not stand on its own; instead,…

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…

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…