Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Fidelity Investments

Capital Research & Management and Fidelity Investments Knew About Facebook’s Business Weaknesses Sooner Than Other Shareholders

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 24 May 2012 14:06:21 +0000

An executive at Facebook had reportedly told analysts that Facebook’s business was weaker than what everyone thought. This information was provided to large investors, but not smaller ones. The Wall Street Journal has reported that that Capital Research & Management wanted to buy into the Facebook IPO, but an underwriting bank on the deal warned them about Facebook’s revenue prospects being lower. Capital Research then slashed the number of shares that they planned on buying and a manager from the company told a banker at Morgan Stanley that the deal’s pricing was “ridiculous.” Fidelity Investments was another big client that was told by analysts of Facebook’s declining financial situation. Fidelity expressed their frustration to Morgan Stanley about Facebook valuations.

Intel, MasterCard, and Motorola Mobility Invests $18 Million Into mFoundry

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:32:32 +0000

mFoundry is a company that powers the mobile banking solutions for over 500 banks and credit unions across the nation. The company has raised an $18 million round of funding from MasterCard, Intel Capital, Fidelity, and Motorola Mobility. mFoundry has raised a total of $40 million in funding.

mFoundry’s software-as-a-service allows banks and other providers to give customers mobile banking options including payments. One of mFoundry’s biggest clients is the Starbucks Card Mobile app. The investors in this round of funding will be working with mFoundry to develop tailored products.

This new round of funding will be used to fund the development of new payment services and mobile products targeted at financial organizations. mFoundry was co-founded by Drew Sievers and Rodney Aiglstorfer.

How Much Groupon Executives and Investors Made From The IPO

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:57:39 +0000

Yesterday Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ:GRPN) had an initial public offering. The company set their stock price at $20 and yesterday it closed at $26.11. The company was given a valuation of over $17 billion. BusinessInsider.com has compiled a list of how much the executives and investors made from the IPO. Below is the list:

Ted Leonsis – Former AOL Vice Chairman – Made $48.27 million from 1,848,770 shares owned
Brian Totty – Groupon SVP of Engineering – Made $16.31 million from 624,786 shares ownde
Howard Schultz – Starbucks CEO/Groupon board member – Made $49.59 million from 1,899,336 shares owned
Kenneth M. Pelletier – Former Groupon CTO – Made $70.47 million from 2,698,944 shares owned
Robert S. Solomon – Former Groupon President and COO – Made $105.88 million from 4,055,000 shares owned
Andreessen Horowitz – VC Firm – Invested $40 million, Earned $132.2 million, Gain of $92.2 million
Maverick Fund – VC Firm – Invested $50 million, Earned $165.3 million, Gain of $115.3 million
Greylock Partners – VC Firm – Invested $65 million, Earned $214.9 million, Gain of $149.9 million
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers – VC Firm – Invested $65 million, Earned $214.9 million, Gain of $149.9 million
Morgan Stanley – VC Firm – Invested $75 million, Earned $248 million, Gain of $173 million
T Rowe Price – Investment Firm – Invested $100 million, Earned $330.6 million, Gain of $230.6 million
Fidelity Investments – Investment Firm – Invested $100 million, Earned $330.6 million, Gain of $230.6 million
Battery Ventures – VC Firm – Invested $58 million, Earned $417.4 million, Gain of $359.4 million
Technology Crossover Ventures – VC Firm – Invested $150 million, Earned $459.9 million, Gain of $345.9 million
The Growth Fund of America – Fund – Invested $175 million, Earned $578.6 million, Gain of $403.6 million
Accel Partners – Invested $20 million, Earned $866.96 million, Gain of $856.96 million
Digital Sky Technologies – Invested $151 million, Earned $1.11 billion, Gain of $959 million
The European Founders Fund – Earned $1.02 billion based on 6.2% ownership in Groupon
Brad Keywell – Groupon Co-Founder – Earned $1.07 billion based on 6.5% ownership
Andrew Mason – Groupon CEO – Earned $1.2 billion based on 7.3% ownership
New Enterprise Associates – VC Firm – Invested $14.8 million, Earned $2.28 billion, Gain of $2.26 billion
Eric Lefkofsky – Groupon Co-Founder – Gained $1.67 billion based on over 10% ownership of the company
Elizabeth Lefkofsky – Wife of Eric – Gained $1.67 billion based on over 10% ownership of the company

Groupon Hits Half Of Its $950 Million Series G Goal

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:15:14 +0000

Last month a document revealed that Groupon.com had plans to raise $950 million in Series G. So far the company has raised half of that amount. Investors in this round include DST Global, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Capital Group, and Morgan Stanley. This investment gives Groupon a $4.75 billion valuation. This is $1.25 billion less than what Google offered to buy them out at. [AllThingsD]

Groupon Discloses $500 Million From Unknown Investors

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 19:35:24 +0000

Group coupon service Groupon.com has raised $500 million in venture capital funding. After turning down a $6 billion offer from Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), the company decided to file for permission to raise $950 million in Series G.

Of that $950 million, it looks like $500 million has been raised from unknown investors. There are no new board members listed in the SEC filing. Some reports are suggesting that some of the new investors are Morgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price, and Fidelity. Previous investor Digital Sky Technologies is believed to be one of the investors in this round also.

One of the reasons why Groupon is raising this round is so that existing shareholders can cash out. As you may expect, some of Groupon’s shareholders weren’t too thrilled that Groupon turned down Google’s offer.

[Fortune]

Slide Over That $50 Million, I’ve Got Photo Widgets!

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 08:26:10 +0000

As you give a goofy look at the camera pointing at you in a photo kiosk at an entertainment venue, you begin to wonder what captions and background you’ll use.Â Now take this concept, slap it on the Internet in the form of a widget that can be Facebooked or MySpaced, and you’re ready to raise $50 million.

Business-savvy Internet entrepreneur and PayPal co-founder, Max Levchin did exactly that, as mentioned in BusinessWeek.Â Slide raised $50 million and increased their valuation to $500 million.Â This fourth round of investment was provided by Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price.

Photo widget companies is a proven model for acquisition targets, but is also a proven model for its vulnerability ofÂ mooching on other social networks’ user base.Â For example, Photobucket wasÂ acquired by News Corp. in May 2007 at a price of $250 million in cash.Â But before the acquisition, MySpace completely blocked Photobucket from accessing their users because of an advertising violation before making a truce.Â

Altogether, Slide has raised over $75 million including investments from other PayPal co-founder, Peter Thiel and venture capitalist, Vinod Khosla.Â Thiel is an early investor of Facebook.Â The other founders of Slide include Jared Kopf and Scott Banister, both also former PayPal employees.

Previous Slide coverage is available at: http://pulse2.com/category/slide/.