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mysteries
Posts Tagged “
Ross Levinsohn
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mysteries
yahoo raid
Why Carl Icahn doesn't have a Yahoo CEO
If corporate raider Carl Icahn ever had any hope of convincing major Yahoo shareholders like Legg Mason's Bill Miller to back his alternative slate against the Yahoo board in a proxy fight, he needed a plan B in case a sale to Microsoft didn't work out. As Kara Swisher puts it, he needed "a solid management team and a cogent plan." For two reasons: One, because without an alternative to a merger with Microsoft, Microsoft would own all the chips in any merger negotiations. Two, by not naming a replacement Yahoo management team, Icahn left major shareholders with the impression that he himself would control the company after winning a proxy fight. Shareholders are unhappy with Yang & Co., but they tell Swisher that "taking such a major step as dumping them and leaving the company in Icahn’s hands — even for a short time he will be there — is decidedly more risky." So if it was so important that he do so, why didn't Icahn ever name a nominee for Yang's job? Because he was caught in a classic Catch-22. More »
10:40 AM on Fri Jul 18 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
1,494 views,
6 comments
Latest by greenstench: Mark Cuban is a windbag and I'd never have given him a dime. I wish he'd just go away with more »
jerry yang
Yahoo shares are almost below $20 in morning trading and as the company approaches its August 1 annual meeting, Yahoo's directors have finally begun to fear for their jobs and their reputations. They're negotiating with Yahoo's major shareholders and, along with agreeing to renew talks with Microsoft and approach AOL for acquisition, some on the board are offering to promote CEO Jerry Yang into a non-executive chairmanship and fire Yahoo president Sue Decker. Reporter's reporter Kara Swisher reports that shareholders and some board members have already come up with a wish list of names for the top jobs.
More »
Cowed Yahoo board members' wishlist of Yang and Decker replacements
Yahoo shares are almost below $20 in morning trading and as the company approaches its August 1 annual meeting, Yahoo's directors have finally begun to fear for their jobs and their reputations. They're negotiating with Yahoo's major shareholders and, along with agreeing to renew talks with Microsoft and approach AOL for acquisition, some on the board are offering to promote CEO Jerry Yang into a non-executive chairmanship and fire Yahoo president Sue Decker. Reporter's reporter Kara Swisher reports that shareholders and some board members have already come up with a wish list of names for the top jobs.
More »
7:02 AM on Tue Jul 1 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
3,447 views,
13 comments
Latest by bozoclown: How bout someone from among the existing exec ranks: Hmm. Who's left: * Hilary Schneider (Sue's hire) * Brad Garlinghouse more »
acquisitions
Ross Levinsohn gets ready for another knife fight
Former Fox Interactive exec turned venture capitalist Ross Levinsohn only needs to finish the paperwork to become the biggest name on Microsoft's list of 10 nominees to replace Yahoo's board, TechCrunch reports and BoomTown confirms. The high-profile rubber-stamping position should suit Levinsohn's ego just fine. More »
venture capital
AOL, MySpace bosses' bloody VC merger
Venture capitalists sell themselves as friends to entrepreneurs, and talk about how they're going into business together. Isn't it useful to know how they treat the people they're actually in business with? The tale of the formation of Velocity Interactive Group is instructive in that regard. Former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller and ex-News Corp. executive Ross Levinsohn, who oversaw MySpace, raised eyebrows when they switched VC teams last December. The full story is even more cutthroat than we imagined. More »
forecasts
What's in store for 2008? Ask ex-Fox exec and new Velocity Interactive Group investor Ross Levinsohn. "The deconsolidation of big media, something happening with Yahoo, I think, and probably widgets. Or Facebook plus widgets," Levinsohn told Kara Swisher. On second thought, don't ask.
VC Ross Levinsohn on 2008: "Facebook plus widgets"
What's in store for 2008? Ask ex-Fox exec and new Velocity Interactive Group investor Ross Levinsohn. "The deconsolidation of big media, something happening with Yahoo, I think, and probably widgets. Or Facebook plus widgets," Levinsohn told Kara Swisher. On second thought, don't ask.
venture capital
Former AOL, MySpace chiefs switch VC teams
Jonathan Miller, the man who was ungracefully booted as AOL CEO, and Ross Levinsohn, the former Fox Interactive Media chief who was never quite as in charge of MySpace as he would have liked, will form a new group at VC firm ComVentures, SAI reports. They're callng it Velocity Interactive Group. The pair plan to invest $20 million to $30 million in digital media startups in 2008 and already, they plan to close as many four deals in February. Wait, doesn't this sound familiar? More »
ross levinsohn
Fox Interactive head: Brad Greenspan is a loser
Fox Interactive head (and MySpace buyer for News Corp) Ross Levinsohn (pictured) on Brad Greenspan, the former MySpace founder who's sued MySpace for allegedly lying about its value to investors, and Fox for allegedly censoring him: More »
hewlett-packard
Loose wires: You enter a maze of twisty startups, all alike
- BusinessWeek reports on the Hewlett-Packard leak probe and ensuing scandal: "The HP board will meet on Sunday. The company declined to say if this is an emergency meeting of directors to discuss the fallout from the probe." Right, they decided to meet on Sunday for no particular reason. Just for brunch, actually! Mimosas! WE'RE ALL GOOD FRIENDS HERE. [BusinessWeek]
- Blogger Rick Abruzzo writes the stats sheet for a Net Neutral. Skills and items include Ring of Michael Arrington ("Can cast Shit Into Sunshine, once per day") and All Your Mace Are Belong To Us. [Supr.c.ilio.us]
- Nothing snarky to say about GigaOM blogger Liz Gannes's profile of the Slim Devices, makers of the Squeezebox music player. I just like the article. [GigaOM]
- Fox Interactive head Ross Levinsohn would tell new players in the Internet market, "Don't copy the original; be authentic." Or, like Ross, buy the original. [AlwaysOn]
- A secondhand guide to Digg's story-promotion algorithm shows it's really complex, harder to game than you'd think, and probably ugly as sin on the backend. [MarketingShift]
fox interactive
