October 31, 2011 : Comments (4)
Google+ Updates Android App, Adds New Design And Other Features
Business
U2 Singer Bono’s Investment Firm Has Facebook Stake Worth $975M
Here's something you might not know about Bono, the singer of rock band U2: he is co-founder and part of the investment team at a private equity firm called Elevation Partners. What's more, that company has a significant stake in Facebook and the firm may be looking at a profit of $765 million from its investment in the social network. Following the sale of a... Read more »
Empire Avenue Raises $1.2M, Adds Foursquare And Instagram Connections
Empire Avenue, the social stock market game, has announced that they've raised $1.2 million in a new round of funding. The round was lead by California-based Crosslink Capital with participation from Ben Narasin of Triple Point Capital, Jeff Lapin formerly of THQ and Kevin Swan and Dr. Boris Wertz of Wertz Media Ventures. Empire Avenue plans to use the funds to... Read more » Zynga Updates IPO Filing, Reveals $1 Billion Credit Agreement
Zynga has again updated its S-1 IPO filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In it, the company says that it had an internal valuation of $11.5 billion in March. It previously estimated its own valuation at $4.25 billion in April 2010 and $4.5 billion in June 2010. In addition, the company has broken down how its top games are accounting for less... Read more » Bit.ly Acquires Social Media Publishing Service, Twitterfeed
Link shortener service Bit.ly has acquired Twitterfeed, a service that helps users automatically publish content to Twitter among other platforms. Twitterfeed uses the link shortener service to share content and analyze engagements. Just last month, Twitterfeed had over 1 million users and with this acquisition, Bit.ly hopes to bring those users more in-depth... Read more » Twitter Acquires Social Discovery Tool Bagcheck
Twitter has acquired search and discovery startup Bagcheck. While it's unclear how the microblogging service plans to use the startup, the platform allows users to create a list or "bag" of their favorite products for specific activities. For example, a user could make a collection of kitchen tools and include their favorite pots, pans and utensils then share their... Read more » INFOGRAPHIC: How Social Media Employees Are Cashing Out Stock
While there are some big social media companies such as LinkedIn, Renren and Zynga which have either had their IPOs recently or will be hitting Wall Street soon, there are many other companies in the space which will not be going public in the near future. It is not always easy for employees of such companies to sell their stock, but it is not impossible for them... Read more » LinkedIn Snags More Than 115 Million Users, Quarterly Revenue Up To $121M
LinkedIn has revealed its first quarterly earnings results since its spectacular IPO. The company generated $121 million in revenue and $4.5 million in net income in the 3 months to June 30, 2011. The revenue that LinkedIn generated in the quarter was an increase of 120 percent from the same quarter in 2010, when it earned $54.9 million. This also marks a rise... Read more » Lockerz Raises $36M In Series C Funding, Hopes To Raise $45M
Lockerz, the social e-commerce company, is close to locking down $45 million in a third round of funding. So far, the company has raised approximately $36 million with DAG Ventures leading the round. Other investors include Liberty Media, Kleiner Perkins and Greg Maffei, Liberty Media's CEO. Live Nation Entertainment, the entertainment and e-commerce company behind... Read more » Facebook Acquires Digital Book Publisher Push Pop Press
Push Pop Press, a company that converts books into iPhone and iPad apps, has been acquired by Facebook. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Facebook does not have any plans to publish digital books, but it will integrate the technology and ideas behind Push Pop Press into Facebook. The company was founded by Mike Matas and Kimon... Read more »
Advertising On YouTube, LinkedIn, Foursquare Expected To Increase
Social media has emerged as a leading platform for advertisements and about 80 percent of companies that have at least 100 employees use social networks for marketing. Over 90 percent of companies surveyed have launched marketing campaigns on Facebook and 78 percent have launched campaigns on Twitter. While these two social networks might be at the forefront of... Read more » 
