Facebook just announced “that it has reached an agreement to acquire Instagram, a fun, popular photo-sharing app for mobile devices.” The deal consists of “approximately $1 billion in a combination of cash and shares of Facebook” and “is expected to close later this quarter.”
War for the Web
Facebook’s reported move into search may one day prove a mortal threat to Google’s advertising business. But in the short run, the social network’s new project comes at an opportune time for the search giant. For Google, the impending arrival of Facebook Search presents a much-needed opportunity to beat back the legions of antitrust authorities [...]
When Yahoo filed a patent suit against Facebook this week, it became as popular as Rush Limbaugh at a Planned Parenthood gathering. Will the patent gamble actually work?
Yes, Yahoo went there today—claiming in a lawsuit that it, not Facebook, is the real king of social networks. The company points to ten patents that it says cover features like messages, advertising and privacy settings. We’ve provided here abstracts of those patents for your reading pleasure.
The recent agreement between the White House and tech companies on a voluntary “do-not-track” (DNT) system for web browsing — accompanied by a framework for a more comprehensive vision of the nation’s privacy policies — is a modest but positive step forward in the broader context of personal data privacy.
Yahoo’s once dominant position with display advertising is now officially over. Research firm eMarketer released figures Wednesday showing that both Facebook and Google surpassed Yahoo last year in display-ad revenue, with $1.73 billion and $1.71 billion, respectively. According to eMarketer, overall spending on online video, sponsorships, rich media and banner advertising grew 25.2 percent to $12.4 [...]
It’s four o’clock, and you need to make a dinner reservation. The problem is, you have no idea which restaurants are the highest rated in your area. Chances are that you’ll do what 66 million others do each month: search Yelp.
A controversial investment fund run by a former Microsoft executive just added more fuel to the tech industry’s runaway patent wars by filing a new suit against AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.
In court papers filed in Delaware federal court, Intellectual Ventures said the telco companies are infringing on 14 separate patents that have descriptions like “Transmission of Multimedia Messages between Mobile Station Terminals.”
SAN FRANCISCO — Yahoo’s negotiations to sell most of its Asian holdings have abruptly broken down in a disagreement over the sales price and the best way to get the complex deal done. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the impasse Tuesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Yahoo’s efforts to sell [...]
Barnes & Noble’s most recent gambit, a refusal to sell books published by its rival Amazon, shows that the country’s largest bookstore isn’t backing down from the e-tail giant. But will it pay off?
