Entertainment:
·
Taken 3 took home $1.6MM on its opening night for 20th
Century Fox
·
Annapurna Pictures has stepped up to finance and produce the
Alexander Payne-directed Downsizing, a film which will go into production in
early 2016
·
CitizenFour, the feature documentary about fugitive
whistleblower Edward Snowden, has been winning awards and is touted as a major
Oscar contender
·
Elizabeth Banks and husband Max Handelman's Brownstone
Productions have signed a two-year, first-look with Universal
·
Jaycee Chan, the 32-year-old son of superstar Jackie Chan, was
Friday jailed by a Beijing court on drug offenses
·
Elvis’ first record was sold at auction for $300k
·
Viacom International Media Networks Latin America is to launch
several multi-platform apps with video-on-demand content for all its channels
operating in the region, although it isn't currently planning to offer a
general streaming and TV everywhere platform
Tech:
·
Please see below for WIRED’s list of top gadgets from CES,
including Sony’s new 4K cam
·
According to StatCounter, Google now has its smallest share of
the US search market since at least 2008 its share fell to 75.2% in December
from 77.5% the previous month
·
Facebook is still the most popular social network, but its
growth has slowed in the U.S., according to a new report out from the Pew
Research Center - Facebook Messenger usage has been soaring
·
Uber has announced plans to cut prices in 48 of its “newer”
cities in U.S. but has guaranteed that drivers will earn more money
·
Please see below for a short article on poor marketing efforts
for 4K TVs at CES
·
Messaging app Line has launched its own taxi series in Japan
·
Shopatron, which develops cloud-based online order management
software, has partnered with e-commerce provider Mozu and Brand Labs
·
Akamai has released its Q3 2014 State of the Internet Report,
its compendium of global connection speeds and broadband adoption for fixed and
mobile networks, along with 4K readiness, attack traffic and IPv4/IPv6 updates
o
http://www.videonuze.com/article/akamai-global-broadband-adoption-hits-60-4k-readiness-still-modest
·
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, responded today to the Paris
attack on Charlie Hebdo, vowed to make Facebook a place where people can speak
freely without fear of violence
·
The iPhone turns 8 years old today
·
Twitter’s video feature is only a
few weeks away
Deals:
·
Box kicked off its IPO roadshow and
amended its documents, pricing shares at $11 to $13. At the middle of that range,
Box would be valued at $1.4B, substantially less than the $2.4B valuation Box
received after raising $150MM this summer
o http://venturebeat.com/2015/01/09/box-finally-sets-ipo-price-range-with-a-potential-1-5b-valuation/
·
Facebook acquired QuickFire
Networks, a video startup that uses proprietary technology to support
high-quality videos without eating up users’ bandwidth
·
Dun & Bradstreet, the world's
leading source of commercial information and insight on businesses, has
acquired NetProspex, a leader in B2B professional contact data and data
management
·
Mexican broadcaster Grupo Televisa
has completed the sale of its 50% stake in mobile operator Iusacell to JV
partner Grupo Salinas, clearing the way for AT&T to acquire the cellphone
company
Business:
·
General Mills is planning to eliminate another 500 jobs with
the closure of two Pillsbury dough factories, adding to the roughly 1,400 job
cuts it announced last year
·
Banco Santander SA said it will raise up to €7.5 B ($8.88B) in
a capital hike, a bid by its new executive chairman, Ana Botín, to address
long-standing concerns among investors and analysts that its financial cushion
is thinner than those of other big European banks
Exec Moves:
·
Seriously has tapped a 20th Century
Fox veteran to head up its business development efforts, and a former Rovio
exec for product development efforts
·
Jane Featherstone has announced she
is leaving the newly formed Endemol Shine Group as CEO of Kudos this May
Retail:
·
Macy's -4% premarket after announcing plans to close 14 of its
stores and book charges of up to $110M, a move that was not previously included
in the company's earnings guidance
·
Saks asks that an ex-employee’s discrimination lawsuit be
dismissed “because transsexuals are not a protected class under Title VII,” the
part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that bans employment discrimination based on
race, religion, or sex
Startups:
·
Samba Networks (formerly Samba
Mobile) has closed a £250,000 ($377,000) angel round of investment to grow its
mobile video ad network
·
Soylent, a food supplement that can
be personalized for different body types and customized based on the
individual's taste, raised $10MM in its Series A from A16Z
·
Welltok, a technology company
focused on delivering web and mobile social media-based solutions to the U.S. health
plan community, raised $37MM in its Series D
Government:
·
President Obama has unveiled a proposal to make community
college free for the first two years, with federal funding covering
three-quarters of the cost and states that participate contributing the rest
Other:
·
The two suspects in the massacre at Charlie Hebdo magazine
were killed as police assaulted the building where they’d holed up near Charles
de Gaulle airport
o
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-09/shots-fired-hostages-taken-in-town-northeast-of-paris.html
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