Biz buzz
News of corporate launches, mergers, acquisitions, closures and other important company news within the Internet marketing and media sectors.
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To narrow down your selection of articles, click on the "AND" or "NOT" next to any of the categories below. Say you’re currently browsing entries in category "A", you can then drill down into entries that belong both to category A and another category, or belong to category A but not another category. For instance, you could list entries about demographics in the automotive sector, or entries about email marketing that are not about spam. Numbers in the columns below indicate how many entries the selected operation will narrow your query to. You can combine multiple intersection and exclusion criteria to further limit the number of entries.
| Your current selection | AND | NOT |
|---|---|---|
| » ad buying & planning | 1557 | 2476 |
| » ad pricing | 110 | 3923 |
| » ad selling | 955 | 3078 |
| » ad targeting | 729 | 3304 |
| » ad technologies & vendors | 827 | 3206 |
| » advertainment | 204 | 3829 |
| » Advertising | 5 | 4028 |
| » affiliate marketing | 70 | 3963 |
| » agencies & ad departments | 619 | 3414 |
| » alternative marketing | 486 | 3547 |
| » Asia/Pacific | 147 | 3886 |
| » automotive | 64 | 3969 |
| » b2b | 149 | 3884 |
| » best practices | 212 | 3821 |
| » Big Picture | 1 | 4032 |
| » branding | 377 | 3656 |
| » broadband | 505 | 3528 |
| » campaigns & creatives of note | 193 | 3840 |
| » case studies | 18 | 4015 |
| » co-op marketing & partnerships | 489 | 3544 |
| » computers & tech | 370 | 3663 |
| » consumer packaged goods | 95 | 3938 |
| » CRM | 8 | 4025 |
| » cross media | 313 | 3720 |
| » deep coverage | 2 | 4031 |
| » demographics | 287 | 3746 |
| » direct marketing | 259 | 3774 |
| » domain names | 279 | 3754 |
| » don't believe the hype | 80 | 3953 |
| » e-commerce | 619 | 3414 |
| » e-mail marketing | 109 | 3924 |
| » entertainment | 945 | 3088 |
| » Europe | 318 | 3715 |
| » events | 45 | 3988 |
| » finance | 214 | 3819 |
| » gen Y | 123 | 3910 |
| » global | 99 | 3934 |
| » healthcare | 26 | 4007 |
| » I-PR & business communications | 39 | 3994 |
| » Insider News | 1 | 4032 |
| » instant messaging marketing | 41 | 3992 |
| » interviews | 8 | 4025 |
| » intrusive formats | 51 | 3982 |
| » Latin America | 19 | 4014 |
| » legal, government & regulation | 303 | 3730 |
| » loyalty & retention | 142 | 3891 |
| » major account moves | 173 | 3860 |
| » major brands | 813 | 3220 |
| » major players news | 2407 | 1626 |
| » MarketingWonk news | 1 | 4032 |
| » measurement & analytics | 218 | 3815 |
| » media convergence | 504 | 3529 |
| » minorities | 22 | 4011 |
| » multi-channel marketing | 116 | 3917 |
| » new and improved | 404 | 3629 |
| » nonsense & parodies | 34 | 3999 |
| » online ad market | 848 | 3185 |
| » pearls of wisdom | 32 | 4001 |
| » people | 398 | 3635 |
| » personalization | 70 | 3963 |
| » political parties & organizations | 34 | 3999 |
| » privacy | 66 | 3967 |
| » promotions | 71 | 3962 |
| » publishing | 1109 | 2924 |
| » real estate | 19 | 4014 |
| » research & stats | 331 | 3702 |
| » rich media | 384 | 3649 |
| » search engine marketing | 726 | 3307 |
| » Segmentation & Markets | 1 | 4032 |
| » sex sells | 14 | 4019 |
| » signs of doom | 142 | 3891 |
| » signs of recovery | 105 | 3928 |
| » signs of what's to come | 1210 | 2823 |
| » small business | 87 | 3946 |
| » spam & anti-spam | 23 | 4010 |
| » Spanish-speaking | 19 | 4014 |
| » syndication & RSS | 110 | 3923 |
| » technical innovation | 155 | 3878 |
| » telecom | 116 | 3917 |
| » text ads | 239 | 3794 |
| » tools & software | 604 | 3429 |
| » top stories | 614 | 3419 |
| » travel | 45 | 3988 |
| » user experience | 523 | 3510 |
| » Verticals & Sector | 1 | 4032 |
| » viral marketing & buzz | 135 | 3898 |
| » weblog marketing | 140 | 3893 |
| » wireless marketing | 278 | 3755 |
| » women | 101 | 3932 |
| » worst practices | 165 | 3868 |
YHOO Stakeholder Appeals to MSFT on Bended Knee
Yesterday a Yahoo investor proposed that the company sell to Microsoft for $22 per share, a 74 percent premium on its stock price, which sat parked at $12.65 as of market close yesterday.
The attempt to slick Microsoft's appetite is a stroke of irony, given the companies' recent history. The software giant tried in February to purchase its rival for $44.6 billion, amounting at the time to to $31 p [...]
Posted: Friday, October 10th 2008
Verizon Lobs Per-Text Charge on Content Providers
Verizon has told content partners of its plans to apply a $0.03 charge to messages sent to its customers, reports Silicon Alley Insider.
The fee applies to select messages, including SMS-based search and text alerts -- services that advertisers occasionally try providing to fickle mobile users.
Calling the fee a "major precedent" that other carriers may try to model, RCR Wireless wrote:
Cou [...]
Posted: Friday, October 10th 2008
Yahoo! Web Analytics Targets E-Commerce Merchants
Yahoo has launched a beta release of Yahoo! Web Analytics, the lovechild of its IndexTools acquisition earlier this year.
Part of Yahoo's Merchant Solutions suite, the first release of Web Analytics includes reporting and data analysis tools for Yahoo's existing hosted e-commerce customers. Updates will go live through '08 [...]
Posted: Thursday, October 9th 2008
NYT Shutters IHT.com
The New York Times is shutting down IHT.com, its International Herald Tribune site, reports MediaBuyerPlanner. NYTimes.com will host the international news normally reserved for the deceased sister site.
The move is not about cost savings, but rather about growth, NYTimes.com general manager Vivian Schiller insisted, [...]
Posted: Thursday, October 9th 2008
AdSense for Games, Now Live in Beta!
Google's long-anticipated AdSense for Games has finally gone into beta.
Casual games publishers can display video, image and text ads in their online offerings. They can also define placements "such as interstitial frames before a game, after a level change, or when a game is over," according to the AdSense blog.
AdWords team members will help market in-game ad space to relevant advertisers -- but pu [...]
Posted: Wednesday, October 8th 2008
MySpace Plots to Monetize Panoply of User Pics
Through a partnership with HP, MySpace hopes to encourage its resident narcissists to print photos and buy customized merchandise from their profile pages.
HP's web-based printing software will be available in the photo sections of MySpace users, which uploaded nearly four billion photos to date, reports the Associated Press.
Click-to-print [...]
Posted: Wednesday, October 8th 2008
Gawker Media Goes Lean Against Hard Times
Blog network Gawker Media, the parent company of flagship celebrity gossip site Gawker, is cutting down staff and revising payment options for existing bloggers, according to an open letter from founder/owner Nick Denton.
19 editorial positions out of 133 will be cut, and pageview bonuses will be suspended "for the first quarter at least" in 2009.
Pay will be raised to compensate for loss of bonus income. "If you haven't recent [...]
Posted: Tuesday, October 7th 2008
Ex-Vanity Fair Editor Unleashes Internet Beast
Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, launched The Daily Beast, a "speedy, smart edit of the web from the merciless point of view of what interests the editors."
This is the print icon's first foray in internet publishing.
"The Daily Beast doesn't aggregate," Brown writes, likely as much for her benefit as fo [...]
Posted: Tuesday, October 7th 2008
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Learn how to "go social" with widgets, interactive contests, viral video & more.Facebook Co-Founder Moskovitz Leaves for New Venture
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz has left the company to launch a startup with fellow engineer Justin Rosenstein, who joined Facebook from Google in 2007. The pair plan to build an enterprise-level productivity software package, according to AllFacebook.
Rosenstein says the service will be compatible with, if not derivative of, Facebook. "Our user interface will adopt many of Facebook's conventions, cre [...]
Posted: Monday, October 6th 2008
GOOG/YHOO Liaison Takes Backseat to DoJ Probe
Facing protest from just about every corner, Yahoo and Google have agreed to delay their sponsored search ad deal until after the Department of Justice (DoJ) completes a full review.
"The companies have agreed to a brief delay in implementing this agreement to continue our ongoing discussions with the Department of Justice," Yahoo stated. "We have had discussions with regulators [...]
Posted: Monday, October 6th 2008
eBay Snaps Up Bill Me Later, Cuts 1000 Employees
As expected, eBay laid off 10 percent of its workforce, totaling about 1000 workers. But even as the company slims down for hard times, it found the capital to make two purchases: online payment company Bill Me Later, and a classifieds firm based in Denmark.
Bill Me Later, which enables people to pay in installments for purchases across sites like WalMart, Apple [...]
Posted: Monday, October 6th 2008
BIAfn Snaps Up Kelsey Group
BIA Financial Network (BIAfn) purchased The Kelsey Group, a Princeton-based research and analysis provider that focuses on Yellow Pages, local search, small business marketing and local media.
In tandem, the companies plan to offer local analysis for firms making the transition from traditional advertising to new media platforms.
The Kelsey Group shall operate under BIA Advisory Services, LLC, a newly-formed subsidiary that includes BIA Consulting [...]
Posted: Monday, October 6th 2008
Nielsen Biz Media to Restructure, Consolidate
Nielsen Business Media may decide to combine the news desks for Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek magazines, part of a company wide editorial restructuring.
The company plans to explore a new "content strategy" across all brands, Folio reports [...]
Posted: Friday, October 3rd 2008
Antitrust Subcommittee Admonishes DoJ to Watch GOOG/YHOO Carefully
Chairman Herbert Kohl (D-WI) of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee wrote a letter to assistant attorney general Thomas Barnett, urging that the Department of Justice keep a critical eye on the sponsored search relationship between Google and Yahoo.
"Even should you conclude at present that this deal is not contrary to antitrust law, the Department must be sure that [it] never [...] crosses [...]
Posted: Friday, October 3rd 2008
YouTube's 'Hot Spot' Reveals Where Videos Lose Viewers
Google has launched a new feature for YouTube Insight: Hot Spot, which enables clients to play their videos alongside a graph that reflects the "ups-and-downs of viewership at different moments within the video."
"Hot" and "cold" spots in the content are determined by comparing a videos abandonment rate to other videos on [...]
Posted: Thursday, October 2nd 2008
NBCU Taps Appssavvy to Monetize New Facebook App
NBC Universal chose Appssavvy, a social media ad network, to serve as exclusive sales rep for some upcoming social media efforts.
In late October the network plans to debut a Facebook app called iCue. Created by NBC Learn, the educational division of NBC News, the app targets users seeking intellectual recreation.
Appssavvy will use traditional and customized ad programs to monetize iCue. The account is a promising indication of the future prospects [...]
Posted: Thursday, October 2nd 2008
To Its Dismay, CBS Discovers what 'Citizen Journalists' Consider News
Last September, CBS launched Eyemobile for iPhone, a service where iPhone-sporting "citizen journalists" can photograph or record news as it happens and post it on the CBS Eyemobile site.
The network's decision to incorporate citizen journalism is part of a trend whereby "legitimate" news sources -- Wired, [...]
Posted: Thursday, October 2nd 2008
Forbes.com Promises Reach, Frequency, Effectiveness -- to Premium Advertisers
With the launch of a new advertising program, Forbes.com is purportedly guaranteeing a combination of reach, frequency and ad effectiveness to its own premium advertisers.
The "Total Guarantee" program is targeted to big spenders gone skittish out of economic concerns. To participate, advertisers must spend a minimum of $1 million over 90 days, [...]
Posted: Wednesday, October 1st 2008
StumbleUpon Ditches Registration Blockade, Courts Non-Firefox Users
eBay-owned StumbleUpon is making efforts to improve its availability beyond Firefox users that have registered and downloaded its toolbar.
The service enables idle surfers to "Stumble" through random sites over the 'net. (Select sites are indexed, but publishers can also add pages to the StumbleUpon network.) As users flip through them, each page can be granted a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, which affects future sites they see.
These "gut" preference [...]
Posted: Wednesday, October 1st 2008
YHOO/GOOG Liaison Gets Blessing from CA Congress Members
Few groups, particularly advertisers, appear to be rooting for Google and Yahoo's sponsored search deal. But in a letter sent to US Attorney General Michael Mukasey, 11 Democratic Congress members from California have demanded that the Department of Justice permit the deal to go through.
The letter stated that a lawsuit to obstruct the liaison may "detrimentally affect the online advertising ma [...]
Posted: Tuesday, September 30th 2008
Widget Syndicator Clearspring Weds Widget Maker AddThis
Widget syndicator Clearspring Technologies is acquiring AddThis, a bookmarking and content-sharing widget maker.
When publishers place AddThis capability on their sites, readers are better able to share content they like with friends. Its absorption into Clearspring is purported to be a multi-million-dollar deal, but specifics were not given. President/CEO Jay Rappaport called the buy a "launch pad for a universal sharing service" for both publishers and [...]
Posted: Tuesday, September 30th 2008
Mollifying Messages Betray Banks' Attempts to Appear Stable
With the dissolution of investment banks, the falls of Lehman Bros. and Bear Stearns, and the recent absorption of Washington Mutual into JPMorgan Chase, financial service advertisers are doubling-down on ad spend to calm what customers they have left.
Last week saw a flurry of marketing activity in the finance space. Banks -- including Fidelity, Charles Schwab, CME Group, T. Rowe Price, Prudential and TIAA-Cref -- refurbished websites, sent soothing emails and purchased ad spa [...]
Posted: Monday, September 29th 2008
Google Tests Options for Search Blurbs
Google is testing a feature that lets users specify how much data they want to see in the summary sections of their search results.
When a person runs a query on Google, s/he typically gets a long string of websites back. Ideally, the topmost results are most relevant to his or her search. To help that user pinpoint exactly what he or she was looking for, each site features a summary just below the title tag, which is supposed to describe what the user will find on that page.
Below, circle [...]
Posted: Monday, September 29th 2008
BT Gives Phorm's Behavioral Ad Model Another Go
UK telecom BT is dipping its feelers back in the behavioral advertising market. The company has decided to re-test Phorm, whose technology enables participating websites to serve ads to users, based on web-surfing data provided by their ISPs. Revenue is split between the ISP, website publishers and Phorm.
BT courted media contempt when it ran two secret Phorm trials between 2006 and 2007. Discove [...]
Posted: Monday, September 29th 2008
MySpace Music: Live with All-Star Sponsorship Roster!
Last night MySpace unveiled its ad-supported streaming music and video service, MySpace Music.
The service includes shareable playlists and the ability to buy tracks from iTunes rival Amazon. Over time, users will also be able to purchase ringtones, merchandise and concert tickets, reports MediaPost.
The [...]
Posted: Friday, September 26th 2008


