The latest from TechCrunch
- Klout Raises $1.5 Million To Measure Influence And Authority On Twitter
- Think Of The Children: Parents Television Council Finds iPhone Apps Too Saucy
- Internet Brands Snaps Up ExpertHub Network
- AOL Sells Instant Messaging Service ICQ To DST For $187.5 Million
- AOL's Total Revenue Drops To $664 Million For The First Quarter
| Klout Raises $1.5 Million To Measure Influence And Authority On Twitter | Top |
| Klout , a startup that measures influence on Twitter, has secured $1.5 million in Series A funding from a number of investors, including Allen Morgan of Mayfield Fund, Nova Spivack of Lucid Ventures, Zelkova Ventures , Paige Craig , Tom McInerney , Michael Yavonditte of Quigo Technologies, and Ofer Ronan. Klout, which recently released a new API, evaluates Twitter users’ behavior with complex ranking algorithms and semantic analysis of content to measure the influence of individuals and topics around the web. Since the company's launch in 2008, Klout has registered over 250,000 users and over 300 API partners, including CoTweet, HootSuite, and the newly-launched Tweetup, and is handling millions of API calls a day. The new funding will be used to scale product development and to launch a new web app that is more consumer-focused. With the large number of API partners, it’s clear that the Twitter influence startup is gaining traction, especially in third party Twitter clients. There’s always the risk that Twitter will develop its own measure of authority that can be used, but for now Klout seems to be leading the pack in terms of measuring influence on Twitter. CrunchBase Information Klout Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Think Of The Children: Parents Television Council Finds iPhone Apps Too Saucy | Top |
| So you bought your child an iPhone and you gave him or her an iTunes account and password and told them that they can simply download as many apps as they want, 24 hours a day, even if they cost money. But what's this? Junior or Julia has started downloading saucy sex sensors and card games containing images of ladies in various states of undress? How did this happen? It's Apple's fault. The Parents Television Council (also known as Parents Against Adults) believe that Apple isn't doing enough to prevent underage children from downloading apps even though each app download requires a password to be tapped in and parental controls can prevent certain apps from appearing on the phone. After all, it's Apple's responsibility to ensure that kids don't see boobs, not yours. | |
| Internet Brands Snaps Up ExpertHub Network | Top |
| Online media company Internet Brands (aka INET) today announced the acquisition of ExpertHub , a network of websites that connects consumers with attorneys and other professionals. The network will get folded into the company’s Money and Business vertical. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it is perfectly in line with Internet Brands’ growth-through-acquisition strategy. The INET CrunchBase profile lists 10 small purchases in the last 3 years alone, and its portfolio of brands is currently 100+ strong. Its latest buy, startup ExpertHub, operates a network that includes dozens of websites, such as CriminalDefenseLawyer.com, BankruptcyLawFirms.com, and LawFirms.com. Internet Brands also announced the acquisition of two websites in its Shopping vertical: DoDTracker.com – which aggregates deals from major retailers – and PursePage.com , a designer handbag review site. CrunchBase Information Internet Brands ExpertHub Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| AOL Sells Instant Messaging Service ICQ To DST For $187.5 Million | Top |
| It’s done. AOL has officially sold instant messaging service ICQ to Russian investor DST for $187.5 million. In a release, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong said "As AOL continues its turnaround effort, we're fortunate to find a great home for ICQ with DST." We originally reported that DST was sniffing around ICQ back in December. The acquisition makes sense for DST considering that the instant messaging service has a significant Russian user base. ICQ, which AOL acquired in 1998 for $400 million, draws around 32 million monthly unique visits. But over 25 percent of those visits are from Russia, where it holds the no. 1 spot for instant messaging. Rumors of ICQ’s possible sale were first reported last November. We’d heard speculation that Naspers was interested last year but dropped out of the bidding process. Back in December, we also heard Google and Skype were interesting in buying up ICQ. The final price falls below AOL’s rumored asking price of around $200 to $250 million. DST has invested heavily in Facebook , Zynga and most recently Groupon. The deep-pocketed investor has also funded Mail.ru and Astrum Online Entertainment. CrunchBase Information ICQ Messaging Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| AOL's Total Revenue Drops To $664 Million For The First Quarter | Top |
| AOL just released its financial results for the first quarter of 2010, reporting another drop in total revenues. If revenue dropped 17% year-over-year in the last quarter of 2009 compared to the same period a year before, its total revenues for the past quarter were down a painful 23% compared to the first quarter of 2009. AOL has disclosed that it has sold ICQ to Digital Sky Technologies for $187.5 million in cash , and that it is still considering a sale or shutdown of social network Bebo this year. Zooming in on the advertising part of the equation, Q4 revenues on that level dropped 19% year-over-year, from $439.8 million in the first quarter of 2009 to $354.3 million in Q1 2010. Revenue from international display advertising, in particular, took quite a nosedive with a 29% drop year-over-year. Search and contextual advertising also took a hit: -27%. On a slightly more positive note, AOL has reduced costs in Q1 2010 as operating expenses declined $139 million versus the first quarter of 2009. The company had $262.4 million of cash-on-hand, or approximately $2.45 per share of cash, on its balance sheet on March 31, 2010. CrunchBase Information AOL Information provided by CrunchBase | |
CREATE MORE ALERTS:
Auctions - Find out when new auctions are posted
Horoscopes - Receive your daily horoscope
Music - Get the newest Album Releases, Playlists and more
News - Only the news you want, delivered!
Stocks - Stay connected to the market with price quotes and more
Weather - Get today's weather conditions
| You received this email because you subscribed to Yahoo! Alerts. Use this link to unsubscribe from this alert. To change your communications preferences for other Yahoo! business lines, please visit your Marketing Preferences. To learn more about Yahoo!'s use of personal information, including the use of web beacons in HTML-based email, please read our Privacy Policy. Yahoo! is located at 701 First Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94089. |
No comments:
Post a Comment