AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

Venture Beat
Over the weekend, we heard that LinkedIn has big news in store, that was likely not an acquisition by the most prominent interested buyer, News Corp. After we published the story on Sunday evening, we heard from two sources that LinkedIn was instead working on raising a new funding round — this is a [...]

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Mashable
Gifting, as silly and basic as it may seem on paper, has become quite popular on social networking sites, like Facebook. Some of the gifting applications on Facebook have gained more users than many thought possible, and have even managed to turn them into a monetary value that allows the creators to make social gifting [...]

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PaidContent.org
Red hot Move Networks, the heavily-backed provider of high quality online video streaming, has raised a huge $46 million third round led by Benchmark Capital, as well as Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO), Comcast (NSDQ: CMCSA) Interactive Media (a division of Comcast Corp.), and Televisa, making its entry into the crazy-money territory. Previous backers Steamboat Ventures (Disney) [...]

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Paid Content.org

In the weirdly complex world of blank-check IPOs and SPACs, this one is a bit of a puzzler: the talent agency William Morris (WMA), along with John Mass, EVP and head of corp dev and new ventures at the agency, and two other SPAC vets, have recently filed to raise about $500 million in [...]

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So that’s the name, I found out: William Morris Agency, which announced its then un-named fund along with Accel Partners and Venrock, now has a name for it: The MailRoom Fund. The explanation: rising from the mailroom…David Geffen, Barry Diller, and Mike Ovitz did, as did others. Richard Wolpert, the former president of Disney Online [...]

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Not surprisingly, there has been a lot of text churned out since Microsoft’s announcement of a bid for Yahoo. Here are a few of those I found useful:
Microsoft/Yahoo: Facebook is the Real Reason… Seeking Alpha
Balmer is dancing, Yang is sobbing. If you listen closely, you can almost hear the distant sound of Taps playing as [...]

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Business Week
The Razr maker will likely sell or spin off its cell-phone division. Possible acquirers include Asian rivals and private equity players
For connoisseurs of American electronics, Jan. 31 marks what may become the end of a technology icon. Motorola (MOT), the largest and most successful cell-phone manufacturer in the U.S., announced it’s considering separating the [...]

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Lance Armstrong Takes “Significant” Stake In Demand Media; Launching Wellness Site Together - paidContent.org
Demand Media, the heavily capitalized Santa Monica-based online domain monetization and media company, has made an interesting turn: it has tied up with cycling legend and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong and his foundation, to launch a health-and-wellness site LiveStrong.com. As a result [...]

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Rubicon Project Raises $15 Million Second Round; Company Vets Ad Nets For Publishers - paidContent.org
The Rubicon Project, a company that helps web publishers choose the most efficient ad networks, has raised a $15 million second round led by Mayfield Fund. Other backers included IDG Ventures Asia, Stanford University, University of California Berkeley, Matt Coffin, founder [...]

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Wall Street Journal
In one of the most widely watched efforts in corporate giving in years, Google Inc. unveiled yesterday nearly $30 million in new grants and investments, outlining how it will focus a massive philanthropic endeavor that erases the usual boundaries between the for-profit and nonprofit worlds.
The first set of major five- to eight-year initiatives [...]

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