Valleywag, Silicon Valley's Tech Gossip Rag

Feuds

Details of eBay's complaint against Craigslist revealed

The text of eBay's complaint filed in a Delaware court [PDF] has made its way online, and in it, eBay "seeks equitable and legal relief" from Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster and founder Craig Newmark for:

[B]reaching their fiduciary duties of care, loyalty, and good faith by implementing certain self-dealing transactions challenged herein which were designed specifically to benefit themselves to the detriment of eBay.

Allegedly Buckmaster and Newmark attempted to issue themselves new shares in order to keep more of the profits to themselves, instead of sharing the 28.4 percent eBay can demand for their stake in the company, as Valleywag predicted. After the jump, the blow-by-blow account as detailed by the Wall Street Journal. More »

6:20 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Jackson West
988 views, 2 comments

Latest by BettySchaefer: The lawsuit "made its way online" because eBay posted it online as a press release. [news.ebay.com] As far as greed goes, those more »

Politics

Lawrence Lessig now to forever be known as "Uncle Larry"

While Republicans did what they could to paint Lawrence Lessig — and, by extension, Barack Obama — as an anti-Christian elitist, they couldn't raise the stink enough. So instead think-tanker Tom Sydnor of the Progress and Freedom Foundation has attacked copylefters as "quasi-socialist utopianism" in a review of Lessig's book Free Culture. There's just one small problem. More »

5:40 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Jackson West
787 views, 4 comments

Latest by random_play: In Valleywagia, more LOLsheviks find you!! more »

Email startup Xobni walks away from $20 million offer

Xobni, led by ex-Yahoo Jeff Bonforte, has declined a buyout offer from Microsoft, finding the software giant's plans for the startup too unformed. This from a team whose product is still in private beta. [TechCrunch]

2 comments

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
1,195 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 more »

Austin, the retirement home for aging software companies

Borland has found cheaper rents in Austin, Texas, a regulatory filing reveals. Cheaper rents, but costly obscurity. Had anyone even heard that the software maker had moved its headquarters from Cupertino? Or heard from the company, period?

4 comments

online advertising

LinkedIn's CPM rates lower than reported $75, but still impressive

Seems comments made by Kevin Eyres, managing director of European operations for LinkedIn, were optimistic in pegging ad rates at a $75 CPM. To a degree. A customer who's bought advertising on LinkedIn wrote in to let us know that last fall they negotiated a campaign to run ads against the social network's "premium content" for a $12 CPM, $3 less than the listed $15 rate. The company is now charging $45 for that same inventory, they report. A quick look at the rate card shows that the $45 price point is for vertical banner ads targetted to IT and small business professionals. Custom targeting goes as high as $76.50 per thousand impressions. Good thing to know that you can bargain down those rates 20 percent. And it's still an order of magnitude more than any other social network has been able to charge. While Facebook charges less than a dollar for slutty come-ons, LinkedIn keeps it strictly SFW. After the jump, what the company refuses to allow in ads on the site. More »

4:20 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Jackson West
1,472 views, 1 comment

Latest by MrMedia: and I heard they are making a tidy profit at LinkedIn too! Get a clue Facebook. more »

yahoo_david_filo_jerry_yang_sue_decker_blake_jorgensen_all_hands_meeting_2008.jpg

Caption Contest

On the firing line

Yahoos David Filo, Jerry Yang, Sue Decker and Blake Jorgensen watching All Hands, the Movie last week. Suggest your caption in the comments; the best will become the new headline. Yesterday's winner: WagCurious, for "Don't smell evil." (Photo byYodel Anecdotal)

4:00 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Jackson West
2,265 views, 15 comments

Politics

White House used Microsoft software to flout email-archiving law

At last, an explanation of the Bush Administration's misbehavior that will resonate in Silicon Valley: It's all Microsoft's fault. Ars Technica details how switching from an IBM Lotus email system installed under Clinton to a Microsoft Exchange server made it impossible to store White House emails systematically. The archiving system was operated manually, and Bush appointees nixed efforts to upgrade it. CIO Theresa Payton says that the White House is now working on a new system, but knowing the ways of both Washington and enterprise software, what are the chances it will be done before we have a new president?

3:40 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Owen Thomas
502 views, 5 comments

Latest by CaliforniaCajun: Why am I not surprised the mainstream press has said *nothing* about this? more »

Al Gore now managing over one billion dollars

cleantech

Al Gore has another $683 million to spend on climate projects

Former U.S. vice president Al Gore will chair a new $683 million Climate Solutions Fund from Generation Investment Management. The money will be used to seed public and private companies in long-term investments in carbon markets, renewable energy and cleaner fossil fuel use. Generation includes Gore's BFF John Doerr, the Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist, on its advisory board, and has partnered with Doerr's firm in the past. Doerr and Gore are currently raising another $400 million late-stage investment fund for Kleiner. Preaching climate-change end-times sermons can get the creative-capitalist congregation to dig deep when the collection plate comes around.

3:20 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Jackson West
579 views, 4 comments

Latest by Rachel Marsden: If private companies want to pay hundreds of millions to babysit this clown and keep him away from public office, more »

sex trade

Craigslist CEO admits site used for date "transactions"

At last, some straight talk from Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster on his site's role in the "erotic services" business:

Unlike the typical Internet site, just about every function on Craigslist, if you're successful in your transaction, is going to involve you meeting the other person in person; whether it's for a job interview, or to look at an apartment, or to buy a used sofa or to go out on a date.

[Marketplace]

3:00 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Melissa Gira Grant
664 views, 3 comments

Latest by random_play: @masterofmonkeys: How about Mr. White Chocolate Buckmaster Slim? more »

Anti-Jackpot

Terry Semel lost $6.2 million working for Yahoo in 2007, but Sue Decker made almost $15 million

Any Yahoo can tell you that working at the troubled Web giant doesn't pay. But for former CEO Terry Semel, it really didn't. Last year, he made negative $6.2 million, Docu-Drama notes. The accounting oddity, uncovered in an SEC filing, has to do with stock awards he forfeited when he left the company last year. Don't weep for Semel: He still owns half a billion dollars in Yahoo stock, and has sold plenty, too. What shareholders may find more upsetting are the left-and-right raises Yahoo's board handed out to top Yahoo execs in 2007, a year whose horrible performance set up Yahoo for Microsoft's hostile bid. Here are the lowlights: More »

2:40 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Owen Thomas
1,763 views, 4 comments

Latest by sggrf: you must lump Sue decker in with terry more »

IBM researcher plugs house into Twitter for energy usage updates

It's only a matter of time before the inanimate home of inventor Andy Stanford-Clark somehow pisses off TechCrunch publisher Michael Arrington and feels the wrath of "@andy_house blocked." [Earth2Tech]

2 comments

Clips

Schmidt: Microsoft-Yahoo would "elminate consumer choice"

In this excerpt from Eric Schmidt's interview with CNBC's Maria Bartiromo, the Google CEO explains that a Microsoft-Yahoo merger would "eliminate consumer choice, particularly in electronic mail, instant messaging — things where they would have 80 or 90 percent market share." As an alternative, Google has proposed the idea of serving its ads against Yahoo's search, giving it control over 80 percent of the search advertising market. But that would eliminate advertisers' choice, not consumers'. So it's cool.

2:00 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
728 views, 5 comments

Latest by bloggerman: This guy looks more and more like Edward Hermann from The Lost Boys all the time. You expect him to more »

Acquisitions

Ballmer to raise Microsoft's offer for Yahoo

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is willing to offer $33 a share for Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reports. Major Yahoo shareholders however, want $35 a share. The Yahoo board is said to be holding out for an offer in the high $30s. Meanwhile, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang continues to negotiate an alternative deal with Time Warner that would merge AOL and Yahoo and give Time Warner 20 percent control over the new company.

1:50 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
1,156 views, 4 comments

Latest by Davion: @Hopeless - nice one. more »

Online Video

YouTube hosting Playboy's 55th Anniversary Playmate casting call

Hoary softcore porn peddler Playboy is asking women interested in being the Playmate of the Year to submit video auditions through YouTube. Of course, you're not allowed to disrobe on the popular video-sharing site, so according to the contest rules, no nudity is allowed — but two-piece swimsuits are encouraged. Four lucky ladies will get plane tickets to Hollywood were they will be photographed au naturel, visit the Playboy mansion and presumably have a chance to be fondled by Viagra-fueled nonagenarian Hugh Hefner. All the entrants sign over rights to their videos to Playboy. "Cyber Girl" Dana Dicillo demonstrates exactly how wannabes should "highlight their assets" after the jump. More »

1:40 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Jackson West
9,230 views, Comment

Developers

How widgetmakers hijacked Zuckerberg's Facebook redesign

Facebook's redesign — originally planned for early April, but delayed due to objections from widgetmakers like RockYou, Slide, and Zynga — is no longer a Mark Zuckerberg production. Third-party developers have hijacked it. A source close to the redesign process tells us "Facebook has made some changes to the original design, reflecting developer concerns." Below, screenshots of Zuckerberg's original plans for the redesign, annotated with the objections Facebook-application startups raised.
More »

1:20 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
1,901 views, 7 comments

Latest by DeltaGuy: @Nicholas Carlson: [photos-a.ak.facebook.com] more »

Jackpot

John Battelle takes $22 million in fuck-you money

Anyone telling you that Federated Media, the online ad network which reps Boing Boing, GigaOm, TechCrunch and other blogs, has raised $50 million from investors is dead wrong. It's true, Oak Investment Partners and others paid $50 million for shares of Federated. But only half of that went to the company, we're told; the rest went to founder John Battelle and other employees. According to our source, Battelle's take was roughly 90 percent of the insider shares sold, or about $22 million. More »

1:00 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Owen Thomas
3,865 views, 4 comments

Latest by moore850: Word on the street is, he'll lose most of that in one incredibly bad hand of poker at a suitcase more »

Layoffs

Steve Ballmer to hold town hall at Microsoft tomorrow

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has scheduled a "town hall" meeting for Microsoft employees tomorrow at 9 a.m. The subject of Yahoo will probably come up, but why would Microsoft employees beyond executives care? More »

12:40 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Jackson West
1,897 views, 3 comments

Acquisitions

NetZero ISP's parent buys flower delivery service FTD

Just in time for Mother's Day, United Online — best known for cut-rate dial-up brands like NetZero and Juno — is purchasing FTD, the company best known for delivering flowers. Maybe United Online CEO Mark Goldston purchased the company as a gift for his mother? Because even after reading the press release, this deal makes no sense. [BusinessWire]

12:20 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Jackson West
301 views, 1 comment

Latest by matto: FTD deliveries will now be free; however they will take 6 to 9 months. more »

He didn't pay her enough to fetch a real SS uniform, so this will have to do

sex trade

Not even the French can ban access to Max Mosley's Nazi-inspired sex video

Max Mosley, head of Formula One motor racing, son of Nazi sympathizers, and now the unwitting star of a "sadomasochistic sex orgy" tape, has been denied his request to the French court to block access to the online video sites still showing it. Claiming that his right to privacy has been violated, but denying any fascist leanings played out by him and the five prostitutes hired to act out a light concentration-camp sex game, Mosley's lawyers wanted British tabloid News of the World, which released the tape, blocked from France — what for, as punishment? It's not like there aren't already all those other sites still offering the clip of Mosley in prison stripes being bossed around a beige-carpeted "dungeon."

12:00 PM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Melissa Gira Grant
2,301 views, 9 comments

Latest by FiveStarEggRoll: @Michael Arrington: If you are the real MA, I just got a little more respect for you with that sense more »

hires

Ron Sege's long career march

3Com, seeing its future in China, has promoted EVP Robert Mao to CEO and relocated him there. (3Com tried to sell itself to a Chinese investor group last year, but the Department of Defense blocked the sale.) To run its U.S. business, the telecom-equipment maker also rehired Ron Sege as chief operating officer. In 1999, then a senior vice president, he left the company to join Lycos, and subsequently served as CEO of Tropos Networks, a wireless-broadband startup. Nine years to go from SVP to COO? I've heard good tech jobs are hard to find on the East Coast, but this is ridiculous.

11:40 AM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Owen Thomas
221 views, Comment

igoogle

Marissa Mayer treating Google as her personal salon

The Google homepage today features a photo of chrome tulips by famous artist Jeff Koons. Google has hired a bunch of artists and designers to create themes as a way of promoting the iGoogle homepage. And their choices read like a veritable "who's who" of name-brand, commercial types who create work that isn't particularly daring or challenging. More »

11:20 AM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Jackson West
5,320 views, 17 comments

Latest by coolrepublica: 'm a bit upset at this because it was my idea and I explicit demand for Google using it and more »

valleywag calendar

Spontaneous drinking is in order

Looking for things to do after a hard day of surfing Valleywag at work? Tonight, Spontaneous Drinking is happening and the group is heading over to House of Shields to celebrate their 100-year anniversary (House of Shield's anniversary, not Spontaneous Drinking's). Diggnation and Internet Superstar are going live in front of an audience at Mighty while TechCrunch and CrunchGear are screening Ironman. Yeah, we don't get it, either. Although, stay tuned because (OMG) the event may be cancelled. Those waiting for Diggnation to start — or those waiting to find out if Ironman is still on — can go to an informal meetup at Chaat Cafe on Third Street.

Got something to add to the calendar? Send it to calendar@valleywag.com.

11:00 AM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Dianne de Guzman
105 views, Comment

Startups

Why Steve Perlman is into "Women of Action"

Buried in Dean Takahashi's seemingly endless interview with WebTV founder Steve Perlman for VentureBeat is this glistening nugget: Among the startups his Rearden incubator has launched is a website called Women of Action TV. Perlman has an elaborate explanation for why he started it:

[It's a] community service site with videos of athletic women like Jackie Joyner-Kersee or Florence Griffith Joyner. But it is also a technology site. It was one of the very first sites with high-definition video being distributed on the Internet. As people used that site, we saw how well it ran on different machines. We looked at the algorithms. WOA TV was a complete test bed for us and a cool site for something that wasn't covered enough, like women in sports.

Pay attention, folks: This is what makes Steve Perlman a true entrepreneur. More »

10:40 AM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Owen Thomas
423 views, 4 comments

Latest by andyfox1979: @tootingbec: hilarious. i will be following your future comments. Don't let me down. more »

Jason Calacanis

What kind of house does AOL's money buy?

Jason Calacanis once told us that he has "all the money." He got it from selling Weblogs Inc. — home of Engadget and Autoblog, among others — to AOL for $25 million. Curious to see what kind of home that kind of money buys in Los Angeles? Check out Kara Swisher's video tour of Calacanis's guest "cottage." Watch out for the bulldogs.

10:20 AM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
1,924 views, 10 comments

Latest by Ken: I don't believe he spent all 25mil on the house. that house is worth maybe $600,000 to $800,000 at most depending more »

Lawsuits

Microsoft plans to offer Yahoos $1.5 billion if they'll stay with the company

During proceedings in a shareholder lawsuit against Yahoo's board, Microsoft lawyers said that the company has set aside $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo employees. This cash is separate from a Yahoo board-approved severance package that guarantees two years' pay to anybody laid off after a change in control. Already, two-thirds of our readers said they would prefer to see Yahoo merge with Microsoft instead of AOL. Sources confirm the sentiment is similar inside of Yahoo. (Photo, "Free Man's Prison," by code_martial)

10:00 AM on Wed Apr 30 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
1,871 views, 6 comments

Latest by achates: My guess would be that a chunk of that $1.5B is to help retain Microsoftees... more »

The east coast's love affair with Gavin Newsom

Why Google doesn't want your money

Obama's Web guy admits VP text message was botched

Getting punk rock on the "iPhone bubble"

Google food manager charged with double-dealing

The reinvention of Second Life

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