9.19.14

Entertainment:

·         Endemol Studios has signed its first overall deal with Byron Balasco

o   http://deadline.com/2014/09/byron-balasco-overall-deal-endemol-studios-836700/

·         ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ is going to cross $300MM in the worldwide box office

o   http://deadline.com/2014/09/fault-in-our-stars-box-office-crosses-300-million-836307/

·         Screens Entertainment Association has launched a multi-platform event for execs called the ‘Vidify Market and Summit’

o   http://deadline.com/2014/09/screens-entertainment-association-launch-lucy-salhany-sandy-climan-gerry-byrne-835961/

·         ‘Maze Runner’ raked in a modest $1.1MM Thursday night

o   http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-maze-runner-scares-734290

·         CBS has acquired the ‘Supergirl’ script

o   http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/supergirl-cbs-greg-berlanti-ali-adler-1201309008/

·         Gov. Jerry Brown has signed off on the $330MM TV/film tax credit legislature

o   http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/tv-film/6258778/california-governor-signs-bill-raising-hollywood-tax-credits

·         Ben Schmidt has launched a new charting tool that lets users search for how often a character has said any word in a movie or TV show since 1930

o   http://www.vox.com/xpress/2014/9/19/6413187/dialogue-in-television-and-movies-since-1930

Tech:

·         Please see below for an episode of ‘Incubated’ that showcases Los Angeles’ MuckerLabs Accelerator

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/18/incubated-muckerlabs/

·         Yahoo! to close its San Diego office and lay off 59 workers

o   http://recode.net/2014/09/18/yahoo-to-close-carlsbad-office-displace-59-workers/

·         Amazon outbid Google in a $4.6MM deal for ‘.buy’ domain

o   http://recode.net/2014/09/18/amazon-beats-google-with-4-6-million-bid-for-buy-domain/

Deals:

·         SAP too acquire Concur, an expense software-maker, at $129 per share giving it an enterprise value of $8.3B

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/18/sap-to-acquire-expense-software-maker-concur-for-129-per-share/

·         Telefonica has acquired Brazil’s Telecom unit GTV from Vivendi for $9.3B in cash and stock

o   http://www.telecompaper.com/news/telefonica-buys-gvt-for-eur-72-bln-in-cash-plus-shares--1038002?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+telecompaper%2FuLYl+%28Telecompaper+Headlines%29

o   http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/vivendi-picks-telefnica-in-9-3-billion-deal-for-brazilian-telecom-unit/?module=BlogPost-Title&version=Blog%20Main&contentCollection=Mergers%20&%20Acquisitions&action=Click&pgtype=Blogs&region=Body

Business:

·         Larry Ellison has stepped down as Oracle’s CEO. His two top executives, Safra Catz and Mark Hurd, will jointly operate as the new CEO.

o   http://www.wired.com/2014/09/ellison/

·         Alibaba’s IPO opened the NYSE today, making it the biggest US public offering ever

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/19/alibaba-nyse-opening/

o   http://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-ipo-september-19-2014-9

·         Vitamin Shoppe’s shareholders are pushing for the company to be acquired

o   http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/18/us-vitamin-activist-idUSKBN0HD2D320140918?feedType=RSS&feedName=innovationNews

Exec Moves:

·         Snapchat has poached Nike’s Director of Digital, Eric Toda, to run its sports partnerships business

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/18/snapchat-scores-nikes-director-of-digital-to-win-sports-partnerships/

·         Andrew Swain, the CFO of Airbnb, has left the company

o   http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/18/airbnb-cfo-andrew-swain-has-left-the-company/

·         Alexa Platt returns to Open Road Films after her stint at AwesomenessTV

o   http://deadline.com/2014/09/alexa-platt-returns-to-open-road-films-after-stint-at-awesomenesstv-836240/

·         Twitter has named Kristine Stewart as VP of North American Media Partnerships

o   http://variety.com/2014/digital/news/twitter-names-kirstine-stewart-vp-of-north-american-media-partnerships-1201309237/

Retail:

Startups:

·         Shippo raises $2MM to provide a shipping API for e-commerce businesses

o http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/18/shippo/

·         Gem, a Venice based Bitcoin startup that makes it easier the crypto coin easier to use for developers, raises $2MM

o http://www.socaltech.com/gem_gets__m_for_bitcoin_api/s-0056997.html

·         DroneDeploy, a drone management platform, has raised $2MM in seed from DFJ, AngelPad, Redpoint Ventures, and others

o http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/dronedeploy

Government:

·         France has begun bombing ISIS in Iraq

o http://www.businessinsider.com/france-bombs-isis-in-iraq-2014-9

·         Scotland voted ‘No’ on gaining independence from the UK

o http://mashable.com/2014/09/19/scotland-independence-memes/

Other: