The WSJ fueled a rumor that Jonathan Miller is working with private equity companies to assemble a $28-$30 billion deal to buy out Yahoo! Yahoo!’s stock price went up to $11.50 per share as a result. Is this deal actually true though? I have my doubts.
You may recall that Jonathan Miller was refused permission to join Yahoo!’s Board of Directors because he was signed in a non-compete agreement with AOL. Miller is the former CEO of AOL. Jonathan Miller and Ross Levinsohn are both currently partners at Velocity Interactive Group.
Michael Arrington points out that Velocity is also actively raising a $300 million fund, but they have gotten a commitment of $150 million so far. The WSJ did not make an effort to contact Velocity regarding the story according to Arrington.
Lewis D’vorkin is a former Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX) executive. D’vorkin informed paidContent that he has raised funding for a new venture called Public Post Inc. The early stage funding was provided by Forbes Media and Velocity Interactive Group. Public Post Inc. has not launched a public site yet, but the idea for Public Post is to have a news network that revolves around authors, journalists, bloggers, and filmmakers.
Content appearing on Public Post will be provided by “knowledgeable experts” rather than citizen journalists. This is very similar to the idea behind Google Knol. D’vorkin stated that the startup won’t be linked to any other news media companies even though Forbes invested in them.
D’vorkin also hired Andrea Spiegel, another former VP at AOL. Spiegel will be acting as Public Post’s chief product officer. Public Post is D’vorkin’s second startup. D’vorkin’s first startup was created in 1995 and was called Virtual City. Virtual City was funded by Newsweek.
D’vorkin’s role at AOL was pivotal in the development of TMZ.com and AOL Fanhouse. Velocity Interactive Group is led by former AOL CEO, Jonathan Miller.
