Yesterday a 10-Q was filed with the SEC.  The 10-Q was regarding MediaNews Group and The Hearst Corporation buying 80% of classifieds web site, Kaango.  The cost of 80% ownership was roughly $20 million. 

MediaNews Group is the fourth largest newspaper company and is headquartered in Denver, CO.  MediaNews represents roughly 58 daily newspapers and 100 non-daily publications.  Acquiring partial ownership of Kaango was a vertical integration strategy for MediaNews.  MediaNews Group signed Kaango last June to provide their newspaper companies a classifieds platform.  This is the same case for The Hearst Corporation who also previously signed Kaango for a classifieds platform deal as well.

“Kaango will be held by a newly formed LLC, which is 50 percent owned by each of the two. The remaining 20 percent of Kaango is owned by its founders and is subject to a call option and is expected to be purchased in the future, the company said,” wrote Rafat Ali [paidContent].

This transaction reminds me of when eBay Inc. bought 25% of classifieds website, Craigslist in 2004 from shareholder that was a former Craigslist employee.  Clearly the classifieds market on the Internet is still hot and is acquisition-ready.

Worldwide Biggies is a new digital entertainment website that was started by Albie Hecht. Hecht is best known for his work on Spike TV and Nickelodeon. For example, he produced shows like Clarissa Explains It All, Rugrats, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, etc.  Hecht also oversaw SpongeBob SquarePants and Blue’s Clues.  Now Hecht is making a comeback full force and has raised $9 million in Series A from NBC Universal, Platform Equity, Greycroft Partners, Hearst Corporation, and Prism Ventures.

“The production studio creates content that’s directed for a multi-platform distribution model, offering content to be streamed online, on mobile phones, television, film, and consumer products. Covering all its bases, Worldwide Biggies is looking to attract the entire gamut of advertisers, regardless of what type of campaign medium they’d like to try their hand for^[1],” wrote Kristen Nicole of Mashable.

Worldwide Biggies is based in New York and has also struck a deal with TMZ.com.  From what I understand, TMZ, is working with Worldwide Biggies to create a website called StarVsStar, a fantasy betting-like league for celebrity controversies.

Worldwide Biggies was started in 2005 and the funding that the company received seems to be consistent with other recent funded-comedy website launches like FunnyOrDie and NationalBanana.

References:
[1] Mashable: Worldwide Biggies Funded by NBC and Hearst
[2] Red Herring: NBC Funds Worldwide Biggies

Hearst Magazines Digital Media announced today that they have officially acquired eCRUSH.com, Inc. eCRUSH is a social network for teens and adults. Through the acquisition, Hearst Magazines also gains other Internet properties, eSPIN and HighSchoolStyleBoard.

“We are thrilled to become a part of Hearst’s incredible network of teen brands and believe that it’s the perfect fit for the eCRUSH audience, as well as for our advertisers,” stated Amy Gibby, president of eCRUSH.com.

eCRUSH launched on February 14, 1999 (Valentine’s Day) and has matched 900,000 people through its 2,400,000 registered users. eSPIN is based on the popular Spin-the-Bottle game played by teenagers. The intention of eCRUSH is for the youth to flirt and make new friends online while respecting anonymity. eSPIN-the-Bottleâ„¢ has 1 million active users and is continuously growing.

HighSchoolStyleBoard is a photo-rating website targeted towards the youth as well. HighSchoolStyleBoard ranks users based on Best Smile, Best Hair, Most Goofy, Best Dressed, Most Emo, Most Preppy, Hottest Overall, etc. just like a high school yearbook.

Although financial details were not disclosed, I believe that it is north of $1.4 million since eCRUSH’s EBIT for 2006 was that amount. In February, Hearst is planning on launching three new teenager web companies and magazines including CosmoGIRL.com, Seventeen.com, and Teenmag.com.

MobiTV of Emeryville, CA has recently raised another $30 million as part of its Series C, according to GigaOM. On July 12, 2006, MobiTV had also raised $70 million from other investors led by Oak Investment Partners. The current $30 million in funding comes from corporations, Hearst Corporation and Adobe Systems. Throughout MobiTV’s inception in 1999, they have accumulated over $125 million.

With this new investment, MobiTV plans on expanding their services and increasing a customer base. Hearst Corporation is a major player in media investments. For example, on the Hearst Corporation homepage, there is press release entitled, “Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Hearst Corporation Lead $30M Series C Financing for Fast Growing Free Directory Assistance Provider Jingle Networks” from October 23, 2006. And we all know that Adobe Flash is being heavily used by video sharing conglomerates YouTube, Soapbox, and Google Video. So this is a clear-cut choice of investment for both Hearst and Adobe.

MobiTV offers services for cellphones, Palm products, Windows Mobile devices, and laptops. What is MobiTV? According to the About Us page on the MobiTV website:
MobiTV, Inc. is the first mobile television and digital radio service provider for cellular, WiFi and broadband enabled devices worldwide. The MobiTV® service is available in the US through Sprint, Cingular, Alltel; in the United Kingdom through 3 and Orange UK; and to Canadian customers through Bell Canada, Rogers and TELUS Mobility; and other regional carriers around the world.

MobiTV was founded by Dr. Phillip Alveda and Paul Scanlan. Alveda (current CEO and Chairman of MobiTV) was also the founding CEO and CTO of The MicroDisplay Corporation and was also a developer of spacecraft software systems and hardware at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Scanlan (COO of MobiTV) was a previous Executive VP and Managing Partner with Enterprise IG.