8.18.14

Entertainment:

·         Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles leads last weekend’s box office, bringing in $28.4MM

o   http://variety.com/2014/film/markets-festivals/box-office-expendables-3-fumbles-with-16-2-million-ninja-turtles-tops-charts-1201284794/

·         The FCC extends the net neutrality deadline by 3 days to September 15, to allow interested parties to weigh in on the 1.1+ million comments

o   http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/fcc-extends-deadline-for-net-neutrality-reply-comments-1201285100/

Tech:

·         Thrillist, a young men’s email newsletter/blog, will rake in over $100MM in revenue this year

o   http://www.wired.com/2014/08/hype-commerce-thrillist/

·         Sympler is a new app that makes remixing videos, specifically music videos, easier

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/17/sympler-demo-video/

·         Spotify announced its launch into Canada, and has begun inviting select users to use the service

o   http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/6221665/spotify-begins-rollout-of-expansion-to-canada

·         Motorola’s Moto 360 watch was listed at $249.99 in a mistakenly gone live Best Buy page

o   http://www.theverge.com/2014/8/17/6027183/moto-360-smartwatch-priced-at-249-99-according-to-best-buy-listing

Deals:           

·         Yahoo! acquired ad startup ClarityRay

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/15/yahoo-acquires-clarityray/

·         Sequoia Capital added another $50MM to its previous $55MM into the customer experience platform Medallia

o   http://venturebeat.com/2014/08/18/sequoia-ponies-up-another-50m-so-medallia-can-listen-to-more-customers/

·         Leon Black’s Phaidon, his company that publishes fine art books, acquired Artspace Marketplace, an e-commerce art startup

o   http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/leon-blacks-phaidon-buys-artspace-an-online-art-market/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

·         AdNexus raised $90MM, valuing the company at $1.2B

o   http://www.businessinsider.com/appnexus-90-million-investment-values-at-12-billion-2014-8

·         US Regulators have approved IBM’s $2.3B sale of the Lenovo Group

o   http://recode.net/2014/08/15/ibm-says-sale-of-low-end-server-business-gets-regulator-approval/

Business:

·         The Leichtman Research Group conducted a poll and discovered that there are more Broadband/Internet subscribers than cable subscribers

o   http://www.wired.com/2014/08/the-internet-is-now-officially-more-popular-than-cable-in-the-u-s/

·         Google and Mesosphere partner to bring support to Google’s Cloud Platform, allowing users to set up a Mesosphere cluster on Google’s server in less than 10 minutes

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/18/mesosphere-comes-to-the-google-cloud-platform-integrates-googles-kubernetes-project/

·         Tesla rolls outs a new 400-mile battery for the its roadster

o   http://venturebeat.com/2014/08/17/silicon-valley-rich-dudes-rejoice-tesla-roadsters-getting-replacement-400-mile-batteries/

·         KKR and Australian property manager Abacus Property Group have agreed to buy 70% of the World Trade Centre in Melbourne for $112.1MM

o   http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/18/kkr-abacus-prop-grp-idUSL4N0QO2Z620140818?feedType=RSS&feedName=mergersNews

Exec Moves:

·         Kevin Rose, partner at Google Ventures and the Digg/Revision3 founder, will be moving into a part-time role to begin working on his newest mobile startup – North

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/15/kevin-rose-google-ventures-north/

·         DreamWorks Animation taps ex-DirecTV exec Fazal Merchant as CFO

o   http://deadline.com/2014/08/dreamworks-animation-taps-ex-directv-exec-fazal-merchant-as-cfo-820917/

Retail:

Startups:

·         Chris Burch’s office furnishing/makeover startup, Poppin (clients include LinkedIn, Warby Parker, NFL Network and more), raises $17MM in Series C

o http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/18/chris-burchs-office-products-e-tailer-poppin-raises-another-17-million/

Government:

Other:

·         Debbie Reynolds to receive the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award

o   http://variety.com/2014/film/news/debbie-reynolds-selected-for-sag-life-achievement-award-1201285223/