Tag Archives: Yahoo!
FBI Serves Search Warrants On Google and Yahoo! To Find Out More Info About Michael Barrett
The FBI has served Google and Yahoo! with search documents regarding a man named Michael Barrett. Barrett was charged with one count of interstate stalking when he released a naked video of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews (pictured above). The FBI agents are looking for a 42 second video that was posted on Yahoo!’s image and video sharing website Flickr.com. And additional information about Barrett was requested from Google by the FBI.
Between Yahoo! and Google they have about 10 days to turn over the records starting this past Wednesday. The video that was posted on Flickr appears to have been taken through a hotel room peephole. The video was viewed about 3,000 times. Wesley Hsu, an Assistant U.S. Attorney claims that the video of the woman posted on Flickr actually was not Andrews.
Barrett found three hotels where Andrews was staying and attempted to alter the peephole. Then he shot the videos through the peephole. After that he tried to upload the videos and tried to sell them to TMZ. Barrett could face about five years in prison if convicted with a fine of $250,000.
Categories Erin Andrews, FBI, Google, Michael Barrett, Wesley Hsu, Yahoo!
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Google Acquiring Teracent For Creating Smarter Display Ads
Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has acquired Teracent. Teracent is a service that allows advertisers to build smarter display ads by capturing the images, colors, and text themes. Teracent can also capture the geographic location, language, and content of the website and customize banners.
Before the acquisition announcement, Teracent raised a total of $5.8 million in funding. Teracent’s technology will be rolled into a service offered by Google’s Content Network and DoubleClick. Yahoo! previously had a partnership with Teracent, but after the acquisition takes place it is assumed that the deal will be removed. Teracent is based in San Mateo, California.
“This technology can help advertisers get better results from their display ad campaigns. In turn, this enables publishers to make more money from their ad space and delivers web users better ads and more ad-funded web content,” Google VP of Product Management Neal Mohan and Google Engineering Director Joerg Heilig on the Google Blog.
Categories Google, Teracent, Yahoo!
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Former Right Media CEO Mike Walrath Quitting Yahoo! To Work With Start-Ups Again
Right Media was acquired by Yahoo! for $680 million in April 2007. Ever since then Yahoo! has not done much with the acquired company. Clearly former Right Media CEO Mike Walrath got fed up because he decided to quit Yahoo!
Walrath was the SVP of advertising strategy when he decided to quit. Walrath said that it was time to move on with his career and he was looking forward to taking time off and working with smaller and innovative companies. Bill Wise, another Right Media executive will be filling in for Walrath.
Wise said that Yahoo! is currently trying to rebrand Right Media to focus on higher quality display advertisers. “We always thought there would be a maturation phase where Right Media would move more up market and Carol (Bartz) has come in and accelerated the road map,” stated Wise.
Categories Bill Wise, Mike Walrath, Right Media, Yahoo!
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GeoCities Lives On Through ReoCities
On October 26, 2009 Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) decided to shut down GeoCities. This took place about 10 years after Yahoo! bought GeoCities for $4.7 billion. GeoCities had gone public about one year before and was profitable. GeoCities had a bit of sentimental value for everyone that created a website in the 1990′s. I remember the first time I designed a website, I made it through GeoCities. It was around 1998 and it was South Park fan page when I was in 10th grade. Anyway GeoCities is no longer with us… or is it?
GeoCities has returned in the form of Reocities. A man named Jacques decided to download the content and websites. Then he republished the content on Reocities. About 600,000 GeoCities websites were rescued before shutting down and put on ReoCities. “On the 20th of October 2009, about a week before GeoCities was really going to close, someone else posted a link, pointing to some interesting pages. These were on an old GeoCities account, about to be erased. It wasn’t what I would call a masterpiece, and I didn’t agree with all of it, but it seemed like it was worth keeping,” wrote Jacques in a detailed post about how he pulled off the endeavor.
It is pretty fun to check out the top level “neighborhoods” listed on ReoCities and selecting random numbers. This way you can check out a piece of Internet history.
Categories GeoCities, Yahoo!, Yahoo! GeoCities
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Carl Icahn Leaving Yahoo!’s Board of Directors, But Praises Bartz On The Way Out
Carl Icahn joined the Board of Directors at Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) in July 2008. This was shortly after Icahn highly criticized the Yahoo! Board of Directors for their negligence in making an acquisition agreement with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Icahn bought and sold many Yahoo! shares ever since.
The reason why Icahn is leaving the Yahoo! Board of Directors is because he wanted to spend more time on other investments he made. “I don’t believe that it is necessary at this time to have an activist on the board of Yahoo and currently my attention is focused on other matters,” stated Icahn. Carol Bartz is “doing a great job” added Icahn.
Yahoo! and Microsoft recently struck a deal too. Microsoft Corporation’s Bing.com search engine will power Yahoo!’s various online properties including the homepage Yahoo.com. The deal is still under the regulatory approval process. Icahn owns 4.5% in Yahoo! financially based on stock.
Categories Carl Icahn, Carol Bartz, Yahoo!
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Glam Hires Yahoo! VP and GM Advertising Technology Platforms Josh Jacobs
Glam Media has hired Yahoo! VP and General Manager Advertising Technology Platforms Josh Jacobs. Jacobs ran the Yahoo! display ad platform and the publisher network. At Glam, Jacobs will be working as the SVP of Brand Advertising Products & Marketing. Glam grew about 50% in display advertisement revenues over in 2009 thus far. Yahoo!’s display ad revenue actually dropped about 15%.
Glam CEO Samir Arora said that their growth is because of high engagement rates. Visitors tend to spend more time on Glam than websites such as iVillage or Conde Nast. Glam was profitable as of this past September. The company will remain profitable through the rest of the fourth quarter too.
Glam raised $125 million in funding from Information Capital LLC, Accel Partners, DFJ, DAG Ventures, Walden Venture Capital, GLG Partners, Hercules Technology, Growth Capital, Hubert Burda Media, and Mizuho Venture Capital. Glam was founded in September 2003.
Categories Glam Media, Josh Jacobs, Samir Arora, Yahoo!
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Yahoo! Connected TV Head Patrick Berry Leaves After 5 Years
Yahoo! Connected TV is a service that adds widgets to television services. Patrick Barry, the head of Connected TV has decided to leave Yahoo! because there is “too much opportunity out there not too.” Barry helped manage the partnerships that Yahoo! had with Samsung and Sony. Below is the e-mail that Barry sent as his resignation.
From: Patrick Barry
Date: Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:01:01 -0700
To: Connected Team
Cc: Tapan Bhat, XXX
Subject: Moving on
Connected TV Team,
After 5 great years here at Yahoo, it is time for me to move on to new projects and aspirations. I am tremendously proud of all we have accomplished together, from defining the world’s best user experience for interactive television, to shipping our technology platform on millions devices with some of the biggest brands in the industry. You have been an amazing team, and I will treasure the great times we have had working together to overcome challenges and make an impact for Yahoo. I remain a big believer in our vision for the future of television, and I would not be leaving now if I didn’t have faith in your ability to continue to achieve our goals and extend that vision.
Thank you for the hard work, passion and commitment over these several years. I will miss you all.
I will continue to be here through the end of the month to help make sure our plans and partnerships stay on track. Please join Tapan and I on Monday morning at 9:30 in Chutes so we can answer any questions you might have about my transition.
Patrick
Categories Patrick Barry, Yahoo!, Yahoo! Connected TV
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Yahoo! Rumored To Be Selling Off Zimbra
According to sources with AllThingsD, Yahoo! has been considering selling off Zimbra. Zimbra is an open source e-mail company that Yahoo! bought for $350 million back in 2007. Yahoo! seems to be cutting loose a lot of their assets and properties on the open market including Zimbra. Another property Yahoo! is selling includes HotJobs.
As Yahoo! is preparing to launch a new $100 million marketing campaign, this is evidence that they are planning to slim their portfolio.
Rumor also has it that Yahoo! M&A exec Greg Mrva is responsible for selling the property. Before Yahoo! bought Zimbra, the open source e-mail web start-up was backed by Benchmark Capital, Redpoint Ventures, and Accel Partners. Zimbra founder and former CEO Satish Dharmaraj left Yahoo! left the company earlier this year to join Redpoint.
Categories Greg Mrva, Satish Dharmaraj, Yahoo!, Zimbra
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Yahoo! Spending $100 Million On Marketing Campaign
Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) is spending as much as Microsoft for their marketing campaign. Microsoft spent $100 million to reinvent their brand in order to get people to accept Windows Vista. Now Yahoo! is spending the same amount to launch a campaign called “It’s Y!ou.” The new advertising campaign was announced at the Advertising Bureau’s Mixx Expo by Yahoo! EVP and Chief Marketing Officer Elisa Steele.
It’s Y!ou is intended to focus on “My World” and “The World.” My Work will focus on an individual’s friends and interests. The World will focus on a broad interest information. The $100 million marketing campaign will also have a heavy focus on making web, news, and e-mail easier to use for current and future Yahoo! users.
“I think what happened with Yahoo is that people just decided to put a cloud over its head,” stated Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz. “Now, it’s like, if we’re going to remove the cloud, then there has to be something shiny and different. [But] Yahoo has a fantastic company, a billion dollars a year free cash flow, 600 million users around the world. When you get out of New York City and Silicon Valley, everybody loves Yahoo.”
Categories Carol Bartz, Elisa Steele, Yahoo!
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Jim Schinella, Yahoo! SVP For Corporate Sponsorships Stepping Down
Jim Schinella is currently the SVP for Corporate Sponsorships at Yahoo! Schinella plans to remain at the company for the rest of the year but will be stepping down after. Schinella works out of the Yahoo! New York office and has worked on several major partnerships such as a Verizon deal. Schinella joined Yahoo! in 2003, left in 2005 after becoming Global VP of Business Development, and then returned in 2007. The announcement was made internally according to AllThingsD.
Categories Jim Schinella, Yahoo!
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