THE BUSINESS OF TECHNOLOGY
Groupon’s CEO Andrew Mason may be out of a job after his firing following a dismal earnings report that saw the stock drop 25 percent, but at least he has a sense of humor about it. “After four and a half intense and wonderful years as CEO of Groupon, I’ve decided that I’d like to spend more time with my family. Just kidding – I was fired today. … [Read more...]
The European mobile space already has its contenders, but a large global player has now entered the continent to see what it can do. PayPal Here has launched a mobile payments reader in the UK, the next largest country in the mobile payments space after the US. PayPal already has an established presence in the UK, so it already has brand … [Read more...]
Mandiant, a US securities company specialized in identifying sophisticated cyber attacks on both corporate and government entities, has tracked members of some of the most notorious Chinese hacking groups to the doorsteps of the Chinese military, making it increasingly difficult for the Chinese government to deny it does not engage in hacking … [Read more...]
Amazon has thrown LivingSocial a lifeline. The daily deals company has raised another $110 million, bringing the company’s investment funding to a staggering $910 million since its founding in 2007. Investors in this latest round include Steve Case, Grotech Ventures, Revolution, US Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, JP Morgan, T. Rowe … [Read more...]
Pinterest has raised a $200 million round that values the company at $2.5 billion. The cash essentially buys the social sharing site more time to figure out how to actually make money to justify that valuation. The round included participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners and FirstMark Capital, along … [Read more...]
A German court ruled in favor of Facebook’s real names policy, stating that because the social network is headquartered in Ireland, it does not need to comply with an earlier German agency demand for the company to allow pseudonyms, the AP reported. Last December, the Unabhaengiges Landeszentrum fuer Datenschutz maintained that as German law … [Read more...]
ComScore released its Digital Future in Focus report for 2013, revealing that nearly 6 trillion ad impressions were served up the US. What’s more, social media is steadily taking the lead, accounting for 16.6 and will soon surpass portals as the most engaging online activity. Facebook naturally leads this surge, contributing to the largest share of … [Read more...]
A US District court dismissed four shareholder lawsuits related to Facebook’s botched IPO, on the grounds that the individual investors behind the cases purchased the company’s stock after the company had already amended IPO filings, including warnings about an unproven ability to monetize its mobile efforts, Reuters reported. The lawsuit, as … [Read more...]
Oracle, the world's third largest software maker and top producer of high end business computers, will pay $1.7 billion to acquire Acme packet, a company that sells telecommunications VoIP hardware. “The addition of Acme Packet to Oracle’s leading communications portfolio will enable service providers and enterprises to deliver innovative … [Read more...]
by MATT GALLAGHER, Red Herring Though plenty of Q&A service sites sleep contentedly in the graveyard, ChaCha is thriving alive and strong. The company recently raised a new round of $14 million. The company will use the new funding to expand its mobile and online experience as well as enhance its advertising potential. The round was led … [Read more...]