SAN FRANCISCO, 4:37 AM, WED JUL 9 | 30 POSTS IN THE LAST 24 HOURS | tips@valleywag.com | RSS
Posts Tagged “

Softbank

”
The Sincerest Form Of Flattery

Facebook ripoffs around the globe

Chinese Facebook clone Xiaonei claims 15 million unique visitors and $430 million in venture from backers like Japan's SoftBank. And while it sports Facebook's trademark white-and-blue, it's not our favorite foreign-language knockoff. That'd be Hainei.com, yet another Chinese imitator from Xiaonei creator Wang Xing. As our glorious leader said it best: More »

10:20 AM on Thu Jun 12 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
1,132 views, 1 comment

social networks

Chinese Facebook clone Xiaonei raises more funding than Facebook

Masayoshi Son is the kingmaker of the Asian Internet. His latest coronation: Xiaonei, a Chinese social network whose name translates to "on campus" and whose look and feel closely mirrors Facebook's. Son's Softbank and other investors have put $430 million into Xiaonei's parent, Oak Pacific Interactive, in a deal which values OPI at more than $1 billion. This has to worry executives at Facebook, which has raised less money — albeit while selling far less of the company to investors than Xiaonei has. More »

5:00 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,143 views, 12 comments

Latest by Fidel on the Roof: So what if it is a complete copy. Same crap as it brings the same utility (or lack thereof) to the user. Not an original idea. Good for them! more »

deals

The 7-Eleven deal: Could Yahoo Japan buy Yahoo?

In the Yahoo-Microsoft takeover battle, Yahoo's 40 percent stake in Yahoo Japan is treated as an afterthought: Spare goods to be sold off to boost shareholder returns. But Yahoo Japan, in its home country, is Google, eBay, and Yahoo rolled into one. It's worth $29 billion — more than Yahoo itself was worth before the Microsoft bid. Which raises the question: Why isn't Yahoo Japan the one buying Yahoo? Before you dismiss it, consider the precedents. More »

Feature

12:20 PM on Mon Feb 18 2008
By Owen Thomas
6,410 views, 6 comments

apple

Steve Jobs has two Japanese girlfriends

Apple is in talks with Japan's top cell-phone company, NTT DoCoMo and with Softbank, the No. 3 carrier in the market. Reuters spoke to a source inside DoCoMo who said "the negotiations are not going smoothly, as Apple's conditions are extremely hard to meet." No surprise there. Apple likely wants similar terms to ones that AT&T and Deutsche Telekom agreed to: a cut of the subscription fees and a hefty markup on the iPhone itself. Apple had similar negotiations in other countries, in which Jobs infamously referred to prospective partners as "girlfriends." One of these companies will end up married to the iPhone, likely for the price that Apple quotes. When it comes to for-richer-or-for-poorer, Apple usually picks "for richer." (Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma)

3:39 PM on Wed Dec 19 2007
By Jordan Golson
689 views, Comment