Cello Jon

Emptyage: Generation X Doesn't Want to Hear It

Earlier generations have weathered recessions, of course; this stall we’re in has the look of something nastier. Social Security and Medicare are going to be diminished, at best. Hours worked are up even as hiring staggers along: Blood from a stone looks to be the normal order of things “going…

Exclusive: Carol Bartz Out at Yahoo; CFO Tim Morse Named Interim CEO - Kara Swisher - News - AllThingsD

Jersey Shore: Abercrombie and Fitch Offers to Pay 'The Situation' To Stop Wearing Its Clothes - Speakeasy - WSJ

Brilliant!

Groupon Files for $750 Million IPO

Get it out before people stop caring…

Groupon has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public in a $750 million IPO underwritten by Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs.

The filing finally reveals the details of Groupon’s financials, which have long been the subject of speculation. For the full year of 2010, the company’s revenue totaled $713 million, up an astounding 23x from 2009. However, the company’s revenue in just the first quarter of 2011 was $644 million, showing just how fast Groupon continues to grow.

Groupon’s subscriber base has shown a similar growth trajectory, with the company serving its deals to more than 83 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter, up from 50 million at the end of 2010.

The company, which has raised more than $1 billion in venture capital, has paid a price for that robust growth, however, and is not currently profitable. In its filing, Groupon writes, “We have incurred net losses since inception and we expect our operating expenses to increase significantly in the foreseeable future. … We incurred net losses of $389.6 million and $102.7 million in 2010 and the first quarter of 2011.”

Two Straight Athletes Combat Homophobia - NYTimes.com

Ben Cohen is a world-class English rugby star, and Hudson Taylor is a three-time college all-American wrestler. They live on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. They barely know each other.

But they have something quite unusual in common. They may be the only two high-profile heterosexual athletes dedicating their lives to the issues of bullying and homophobia in sports.

The question that each one frequently gets — besides “Are you gay?” — is why are they involved in something that does not directly impact them, or so it would seem.

That is just the point, they said. In much the same way that the hockey player Sean Avery’s recent endorsement of gay marriage resonated in large part because it came from an unexpected source, their sexual orientation helps the message cross to broader audiences, Cohen and Taylor said. More…

Microsoft Near Deal to Buy Skype for Nearly $8 Billion - WSJ.com

Something to make MSFT relevant again…

By ANUPREETA DAS And NICK WINGFIELD

Microsoft Corp. is close to a deal to buy Internet phone company Skype Technologies SA for between $7 billion and $8 billion—the most aggressive move yet by Microsoft to play in the increasingly-converged worlds of communication, information and entertainment.

A deal could be announced as early as Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said, though they cautioned that negotiations aren’t yet final and a deal could still fall apart. Including Skype’s long-term debt, the total value of the deal is about $8.5 billion.

Representatives for Microsoft and Skype declined to comment.

Buying Skype—a service that connects millions of users around the world via Internet-based telephony and video— would give Microsoft a recognized brand name on the Internet at a time when it is struggling to get more traction in the consumer market.

Microsoft has invested heavily in marketing and improving the technology of its Bing search engine. While it has made some market share gains over the past year, Google Inc. still dominates the search market with more than 65% of U.S. searches going through its site. More…

Digital Strategy Paying Off for Publicis - NYTimes.com

PARIS — When Microsoft this month awarded a big chunk of its North American advertising account to Publicis Groupe, the Paris-based marketing company, the news felt like vindication for the chief executive of Publicis, Maurice Lévy. In the tradition-bound advertising industry, Mr. Lévy has been one of the strongest advocates of new digital forms of marketing, and he has backed up his words by writing big checks. Five years ago, he spent $1.3 billion of Publicis shareholders’ money to buy Digitas, an Internet advertising agency, prompting rivals and some analysts to sneer that he had paid too much. Yet Mr. Lévy pushed ahead, adding other digital agencies, including Razorfish for $530 million in 2009. Now, as the advertising industry recovers more strongly than expected from a deep downturn, with digital advertising leading the way, Mr. Lévy is not shy about saying “I told you so.” The company’s growth has outpaced the market, he noted during an interview, and the digital skills it has acquired are helping it with technology-conscious clients like Microsoft, for which Publicis will manage more than $600 million in North American ad spending…More

Business & Technology | Netflix locks up rights to its first TV series | Seattle Times Newspaper

So interesting— Bold move. I am definitely routing for them—Can’t wait to see how this all pans out…

Netflix Inc.’s Internet video streaming service will be the only place to watch an upcoming TV series with a high-powered pedigree that includes Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey and the director of an Oscar-nominated film about Facebook.

The deal announced Friday illustrates Netflix’s growing clout in Hollywood as its mines revenue from its 20 million subscribers to create new home entertainment options. In this instance, Netflix will be showing a series that won’t have a scheduled broadcast time. Episodes could be released in bunches instead of just one per week.

“It’s a show people will be able to discover over time,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, said in a Friday interview. “It doesn’t have to happen over the first week, first month or even the first year of the show.”…More

Demand Media Goes Social With Customer Forums for Facebook Pages

Love it when two great companies come together. Well done!

Demand Media announced Wednesday that an updated version of Pluck, the social media platform it has owned since 2008, will allow brands to embed customer forums from their websites directly on a Facebook Page.

The new feature is built for the Buddy Media Facebook marketing platform, which eight of the world’s top 10 brands use to manage their fan pages. It allows users of the Buddy Media Platform to drag and drop existing Pluck Forums from their websites to their Facebook Pages, after which participants in a single conversation can view and contribute to it through either the Facebook Page or the website.

Meanwhile, the brand can moderate a single conversation, now taking place on two different sites, with one platform. The Dallas Cowboys True Blue Fan Club is one of the first to incorporate the new feature into its Facebook Page. Fans participate in forum conversations either through Facebook, using their Facebook identities, or on the website, using their True Blue identity. No matter how they participate, their posts show up in both places…More

Warner Bros to offer movies through Facebook | Reuters

Is the model being constructed? Google/Facebook/Apple…this is getting interesting.

Warner Bros is making some of its films available on Facebook, opening up a new revenue source for the Internet social network and signalling new competition for online entertainment companies.

Consumers can pay for the movies using Facebook Credits, a virtual currency so far used mainly in social games on the site, according to Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc (TWX.N), on Tuesday.

Facebook, which makes money mostly through online advertising, takes 30 percent of the revenue from sales by third parties on the website using Credits.

The service will initially be available in the United States, the company said.

The streaming of full-length Hollywood films on Facebook creates a new role for the 500-million-plus member social network, which has grown into one of the most powerful Web players by making it easy to share photos, videos and other content with friends…More

YouTube Buys Next New Networks, a Video Producer - NYTimes.com

Not surprising yet interesting move by Google— Should Hulu and Netflix be concerned?

SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube, the video site owned by Google, formally announced on Monday that it had acquired Next New Networks, a Web video production company, in its biggest effort yet to move beyond short, quirky home videos to professionally produced content.

The acquisition of Next New Networks, which produces original programming and helps video creators distribute their films and make money, is YouTube’s biggest leap into creating its own programming. But that will be minimal, the companies said. Original programming has taken a back seat at Next New Networks, and Google has shied away from producing its own content.

“We want to make as clean a line as possible for us to build the platform on YouTube and then let the content production happen with our partners,” said Tom Pickett, director of global content operation at YouTube…More