Gene Munster is a technology analyst that works for Piper Jaffray. He is well known for doing research on Apple forecasts as well. In the above video, Munster did an interview with Bloomberg to discuss his thoughts on Google vs. Facebook. In the interview Munster bluntly stated that “Google has given up on social” and Facebook is the clear winner. He also said that Facebook is what Google was 5 years ago and Google is now a Microsoft because they are not innovating as fast as they have been in the past. [BusinessInsider]
Bloomberg did some research about how tech companies used a strategy called “Double Irish” and “Dutch Sandwich” to reduce overseas tax rate to 2.4%. Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was able to cut their taxes by $3.1 billion in 3 years by moving foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda.
According to Bloomberg sources, the largest U.S. mobile phone company Verizon Wireless will soon start selling the Apple iPhone for their network. As of right now the iPhone and other Apple products exclusively work on AT&T’s network since June 2007.
Reliance Capital has acquired 18% of Bloomberg-UTV. Now Bloomberg owns 15% of Bloomberg UTV and UTV founders own 67%. Bloomberg UTV is a partnership between Bloomberg and UTV founder Ronnie Screwvala. UTVi was rebranded to Bloomberg UTV after Bloomberg bought a 15% stake around October 2009. [VCCircle]
Bloomberg has acquired Eagle Eye Publishers, a Fairfax, Virginia based government data publishing company. Bloomberg most recently acquired BusinessWeek and New Energy Finance. [paidContent]
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was on Bloomberg TV earlier this week to clarify that there has not been a mass exodus of voluntary editors. Wikipedia is still very much driven by the community.
Wales also revealed some interesting numbers about Wikipedia. To maintain Wikipedia, it costs around $10 million per year. The website survives primarily off of donations. So far Wikipedia has over $3 million in donations for the year.
Personally I’m impressed by how little it costs to maintain Wikipedia. On a per day basis, it costs about $27,397.26 to keep Wikipedia running.
What about some of the other top websites? As a comparison, YouTube costs about $2 million per day in just storage and bandwidth. Facebook most likely costs close to $300,000 per day considering that they are hosting 10 billion photos. In 2007 and early 2008, Facebook spent around $67 million on rackable servers. Facebook most likely spends $500 million per year between servers, employee salaries, infrastructure, office space, and other miscellaneous costs.
Bloomberg has bought out New Energy Finance, a United Kingdom based company that publishes news about carbon and clean power. This acquisition has taken place shortly after the finance publication company bought out BusinessWeek.
“This acquisition is the next step in Bloomberg’s initiative to develop and promote the carbon and clean energy markets,” stated Bloomberg Chairman Peter T. Grauer. “Carbon and clean energy issues touch every segment of the global economy, and are of increasing importance to our customers. Bloomberg’s vision is to be the leader in information, analytics and trading architectures to support low-carbon energy solutions.”
Bloomberg LP has won the acquisition bid for BusinessWeek. Bloomberg is the the financial company built by current New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The terms of the deal are not known, but it is rumored to be worth about $2-$5 million in cash and Bloomberg will be responsible for the liabilities of the news print company. These liabilities may include severance payments.
BusinessWeek employs about 400 people and several of these jobs will be cut. The parent company of BusinessWeek is McGraw-Hill. The news print business as a whole has been suffering as many readers have been turning to the Internet for real-time news. As part of the deal BusinessWeek editor-in-chief Steve Adler announced that benefits will be given to employees for about one year after the deal closes.
“The reporting and analytical resources of Bloomberg and BusinessWeek are unparalleled in their ability to deliver timely, distinctive and credible content to an influential and highly sought-after audience,” stated Bloomberg LP Chairman Peter Grauer. BusinessWeek is Bloomberg’s first major acquisition ever.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was on Bloomberg TV earlier this week to clarify that there has not been a mass exodus of voluntary editors. Wikipedia is still very much driven by the community.
Popular
