Getty Images Sells For $2.4 Billion
Just a couple of weeks after Getty Images, the world’s largest stock images company, appeared to have failed to find a buyer for itself, the company announced an agreement to be sold to private equity firm Hellman & Friedman LLC for $2.4 billion. That’s 55% more than the stock was valued on Wall Street.read more
Phony Facebook Profile Lands Man In Jail
A Moroccan computer engineer has been sentenced to prison for three years for creating a phony Facebook profile that impersonated a member of the country’s royal family.The sentence was handed down on Friday by a court in Casablanca, which found the 26 year old, Fouad Mourtada guilty of "usurping the identity of of HRH Prince Moulay Rachid." The court also fined Mourtada $1,300.read more
Google Talks Up AdWords And Analytics Seminars
The majority of Google-related developments take place in or near Mountain View. The company’s now trying to spread the love, however, and over the next few months, will be holding AdWords and Analytics seminars in five different places.read more
Bloglines Users Abandon Ship
When a company’s last press release was put out in June of 2005, it’s probably wise not to expect a quick response. Still, users of RSS reader Bloglines are disappointed (and increasingly angry) following a long outage.read more
CPC Is Flat, But People Are Still Shopping
Speculation as to why Google’s paid clicks have flattened in January has led to further speculation that a recession has caused consumers to do less search-initiated shopping. Hitwise’s Bill Tancer has information that suggests otherwise.(It occurs to me also that investors have been spoiled by Google’s constant growth, as even when Google grows there is disappointment that there wasn’t more growth. And flat returns now might as well be declines. Regardless, I suppose market corrections are inevitable. It just sucks if you bought in at $747 per share.)read more
AOL Launches In Mexico
It’s hard to believe AOL hadn’t already done this; the company’s (former) dominance in America makes it seem like a natural move. Still, for whatever it’s worth, AOL has now launched in Mexico.read more
