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Yahoo
Jerry Yang in New York talking AOL deal
The much-talked-about talks between Yahoo and Time Warner to unload AOL? They're definitely on, says a tipster, who also claims Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and President Sue Decker are in New York trying to cajole Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes into a deal before Yahoo announces third-quarter earnings later this month. Any Manhattan stargazers care to keep an eye out for him?
Politics
McCain gives Meg Whitman, eBay debate shoutouts
Asked about possible candidates to serve as his Treasury secretary, John McCain said in Tuesday's presidential-candidate debate that Meg Whitman was a top candidate. His running mate, Sarah Palin, loves to talk about putting the state jet on eBay (even though, as is all too typical for eBay sellers these days, it didn't actually result in a sale). Whitman's record at eBay is mixed; she probably stayed three years too long. But since we're on the topic, why not put all the worthless mortgage securities the government is buying on eBay? The listing fees alone will be a major boon to the Silicon Valley economy.
Deals
Facebook adds subpar search from Microsoft
Forget Facebook's controversial redesign. Users of the social network have something new to complain about: third-rate Web search, provided by Microsoft. The two moves are connected; when ad-hating CEO Mark Zuckerberg forced through the revamp of Facebook's profile pages, he bumped Microsoft-sold banners off of them. To make Microsoft whole, Facebook agreed to a search-advertising deal. You know it must burn Facebook's proud engineers — those who haven't left — to partner with an organization that has done nothing but lose market share for years.
Was "Captain Obvious" a Pixar movie?
Ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner's grand insight on online video: Sex sells. [PaidContent]
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Ex-Disney CEO Michael Eisner's grand insight on online video: Sex sells. [PaidContent]
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Caption Contest
Mark Zuckerberg im Deutschland
What was Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doing in Germany, besides getting out of town while another college pal left his company? He was ostensibly guest-lecturing at the Technische Universität-Berlin, but we'll let your imagination run wild. Can you suggest a better caption for this photo? Do so in the comments. Monday's winner: johnyletter, for "I say we nuke the entire site from orbit." (Photo by cpthook)
Quotable
Sheryl Sandberg on Facebook's business model
At a conference for magazine publishers, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg all but admitted her company still has no idea how it's going to make money, besides letting Microsoft broker ads for it. "We need to find a new model and new metrics," she told attendees at the American Magazine Conference. It's a classic move from the White House veteran's political background: If you're not winning by existing rules, move the goalposts. (Photo by Doug Goodman/AdAge)
Adrian Holovaty
Newspaper-killing Google aims to hire newspaper-saving programmer
Adrian Holovaty is going to save journalism, darn it, if the industry likes it or not. And he may soon be doing it at Google. The search engine has long suffered from a tin ear in its relations with writers and editors — the people who create the content it indexes. Holovaty gained fame for linking up Google Maps with local crime statistics to create chicagocrime.org, one of the first mapping mashups. And he gained cred in the journalism world by melding programming and reportage at the Washington Post. Most recently, he's been pursuing the same goal at his own local-news startup, EveryBlock, which he funded by winning a contest held by the Knight Foundation. And now Google wants to buy Holovaty's startup, we hear. Holovaty says that he's had no conversations with Google, but did have lunch with a friend at Google's campus last week, which he stresses was "a social matter." The effort to buy his venture — there's no "deal," Holovaty tells us — has hit some kind of unusual hitch. It's not clear what the holdup is. More »
Man, why can't I get laid off by eBay?
eBay's layoffs of nearly 10 percent of its 15,000 workforce are continuing today, a tipster tells us. Losing one's job now, with the markets so fraught, is painful. But the auction giant is, to its credit, sweetening the way out. Employees are getting five months' severance and health-insurance coverage.
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Neel Kashkari
Geek turned investment banker to save Wall Street
Every coder in the Valley was thinking that somewhere, somehow, we'd get called upon to fix the market meltdown. And sure enough, one of our own has been called to the job: Neel Kashkari, a 35-year-old finance whiz kid, has been tapped to spend the Treasury's $700 billion splurge on busted debt derivatives. Who is this guy? More »
Stephen Colvin
Gamespot editor's nemesis on way out of CNET
At CNET, the heads keep rolling, nearly a year after Gamespot editorial director Jeff Gerstmann was sacked. Stephen Colvin, an executive who oversaw Gamespot, is out of the company, a tipster tells us. Gerstmann's firing came after a negative review of an advertiser's game, which made him a cause célèbre among gamers. What Gerstmann's fans will say: That Colvin and other suits are getting what they deserved for ruining the CNET-owned gaming site's editorial credibility. Josh Larson left CNET, now owned by CBS, in April. Colvin, a former magazine executive who was Larson's boss, joined CNET a year ago, shortly before the Gerstmann incident. His exit comes as CBS rejiggers CNET's generous benefits, our tipster says: More »
We Listen to Robert Scoble So Cisco Employees Don't Have To
No one told Cisco employees Scoble was talking to them
Fast Company videoblogger Robert Scoble, embracer of new technologies and young women, has informed Twitter users everywhere that he is "talking to all Cisco employees this morning ... about the latest Web collaboration stuff." Whom he has not informed: Cisco employees everywhere. "My inbox and trash have no mention of 'scoble' anywhere," a Cisco worker bee tells us. Well, duh — the announcement must have gone out on FriendFeed.
death of print
300-strong newsroom unable to put out email newsletter
Even after last year's cutbacks, our local rag, the San Francisco Chronicle, has some 300 editorial employees and managers. You'd never know it from reading the newspaper, which seems mostly filled with wire copy these days. Online, too, evidence of the Chronicle's bench strength is scant. Consider this note sent to subscribers to the Chronicle's "Top o' the Bay" newsletter:Due to staffing limitations, Top O' The Bay will be taking a week off, and will return next Monday, October 13. Thanks for reading!More »
Armchair General
Why Facebook is foundering
The great hope of the Valley, the startup everyone thought was the next Google, the company whose IPO might restart the stock-market gold rush for everyone, is not well. Why? Look to its founder. Mark Zuckerberg is mismanaging his creation's transition to greatness. In Facebook's own parlance, the company's plight is "complicated." It will take in $300 million to $350 million in revenue this year, thanks in part to a lucrative ad deal with Microsoft. But its $15 billion valuation is premised on a far brighter future — a future that may never materialize. The biggest symptom of Facebook's ailment is the flight of technical talent. In the Valley, success attracts smart people, who attract other smart people. Yes, they're after money, too, but having brilliant coworkers counts for a lot. These great minds bond and form, yes, a sort of social network of their own. When they leave, the network frays, weakening the company's ability to attract new talent. More »
12:00 PM on Tue Oct 7 2008
By Owen Thomas
15,896 views,
42 comments
Latest by DaveMcClure500Hats: hmm. let's see: 1) $15B valuation, $250M+ funds raised. 2) projected annual revenue of $300-350M. 3) min $3-5B valuation of *COMMON* stock (call it ~$4B), with the opportunity for employees to sell some portion in Nov/Dec so... tell me again what you think is wrong with this story? is it just "megalomaniacal" more »
meltdowns
Google stock drops 53 percent in less than a year
Shares of Google dipped as low as $348 today, down from a high of $747 last November. Investors have taken a bath — but so have employees. Google makes up for so-so salaries with generous grants of stock options and restricted shares — but those no longer look so generous. Henry Blodget, the disgraced yet insightful former stock analyst, says both restive groups will conspire to crush Google's profit margins. Shareholders will demand more accountability for Google's spending — expect further cutbacks in perks like Google's lavish cafes, in other words — and employees will demand more cash.
Blamestorming
The truth is the market made judgments, and the recent judgments have been poor. There were legitimate reasons for that. Now, there are operating facts about this company that are irrefutable: It has revenue, it has earnings, it has a lot of cash and no debt.
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Barry Diller blames investors for IAC stock price
Buried in a Wall Street Journal interview with Barry Diller, CEO of the ever-shifting Internet conglomerate IAC, which owns Ask.com and some other websites, was a nugget of insight revealing what Diller thinks of the people who invest in his company. Asked about IAC's stock performance, he replied:
Digital Music
MySpace inflates its music numbers
Remind us: Were we supposed to be impressed that MySpace's minor update to its music feature, dressed up as a joint venture with the record labels, has streamed 1 billion tunes in "a few days"? Before the launch of MySpace Music, MySpace was already streaming 5 billion songs a month, largely thanks to the blaring, automatically played music on most of its users' profiles. How many days are "a few"? In the ordinary course of business, MySpace would play 1 billion songs anyway — whether anyone liked it or not. You'd have to be sleeping with a MySpace flack to think this was a big story.
breakdowns
