Some words of reassurance for econalypse-addled entrepreneurs worried about an exit strategy: Google really is in a buying mood again. Discussing the company’s latest earnings on a conference call Thursday, CEO Eric Schmidt said Google is looking for businesses to buy, perhaps even big ones.
Google announced the first major layoffs in its 10-year history Wednesday – at DoubleClick, the online advertising company it bought last month for $3.24 billion. About 300 of DoubleClick’s 1,200 U.S. employees were sacked or reassigned to “transitional” roles. “As with many mergers, this review has resulted in a reduction in headcount at the acquired [...]
Microsoft (MSFT) may have no choice but to raise its “generous” $31-per-share hostile bid for Yahoo (YHOO) if it hopes to acquire the company without a messy proxy fight. This according to Citigroup (C) analyst Mark Mahaney, who in a research note to clients today said Microsoft is unlikely to walk away from the [...]
We would be disappointed in 2008-2009 if we don’t have a very significant position in the display-ad marketplace.
- Tim Armstrong, Google’s North American president for advertising and commerce
Looks like Google’s informal corporate motto, “Don’t Be Evil,” was assurance enough for the European regulators reviewing the company’s proposed merger with online ad-serving vendor DoubleClick.
The [...]
The Federal Trade Commission’s decision to approve Google’s proposed $3.1 billion acquisition of online ad-serving vendor DoubleClick without condition hasn’t exactly elicited resounding calls of huzzah! from the European Union. On the contrary, European parliamentarians seem out to spoil the deal.
The FTC today voted 4-1 to approve the $3.1 billion acquisition without condition. “After carefully reviewing the evidence, we have concluded that Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick is unlikely to substantially lessen competition,” the commission’s majority wrote in a statement, adding that it planned to keep an eye on the company should it wield its market power unwisely.
Ironic, isn’t it, that Google has played a key role in the investigation of the family ties that could prevent Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras from voting on its proposed merger with DoubleClick.
Yesterday, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy filed a petition with the FTC demanding that Majoras [...]
The Federal Trade Commission apparently has its own Evil Scale and Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick doesn’t rank on it.
Sources involved in the merger review tell TechConfidential that the commission is close to approving the $3.1 billion acquisition–with no conditions. An announcement is expected as early as next week, with the deal likely to [...]
Much as Google would like to think otherwise, the U.S. Senate isn’t quite ready to rubber-stamp its proposed acquisition of DoubleClick. The top two members of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights–Democrat Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah– sent a strongly worded joint letter to the Federal [...]
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
Best use of the Beeker “meee” ever.
While the technology behind the Telephone is new, the design is reassuringly old-fashioned, reminiscent of a phrenologist’s horn or ear-candle in form. We found the experience far more comfortable than the one we had with the Telegraph.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
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