Monday, February 23, 2015

2.23.15

Entertainment:
·         Please see below for the complete Oscars list
·         The 87th Oscars on Sunday marked the second consecutive big Academy Awards for Fox Searchlight, which on the strength of its second Best Picture winner in a row
·         Twitter is declining to release the numbers on 2015 Oscars
·         The 87th annual Academy Awards suffered a 10% ratings from last year - the Neil Patrick Harris-hosted Oscars had the lowest telecast rating since 2011
·         Please see below for what the Oscar nominees have lined up in the pipeline
·         Epix has extended its movie licensing pact with Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service
·         Netflix released another trailer for the third season of its smash-hit original series "House of Cards"
·         YouTube Kids has now arrived, complete with a simplified design, a curated selection of kid-safe content, parental controls, and more
·         Nicolas Cage has joined the cast of Oliver Stone’s ‘Snowden’ in the role of a former U.S. Intelligence official
·         Universal Focus is expecting ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ to come in lower than what we’ve been predicting, with $23.2MM in its second weekend, down 73% for a running 10-day domestic cume of $130.1MM
·         The 35th annual Golden Raspberry Awards were handed out Saturday evening, satirizing "the Worst Achievements in Film for 2014"
·         Sony Music is moving onto the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City during the next two years, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter
·         The Australian national broadband network (NBN) has approached ARRIS for essential technology as it builds out its next-generation hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) broadband network
Tech:
·         Apple has announced its largest European investment ever - a €1.7B plan to build and operate two data centers in Ireland and Denmark that will power its online services for customers across the continent
·         Please see below for an article on the team who make it possible for blind people to use Facebook
·         Funnely builds smart Facebook ad campaigns for online stores
·         Buzzfeed is building out a team of Silicon Valley reporters in an attempt to change the way we talk about tech
·         Los Angeles-based venture investment firm Upfront said late Sunday that it has named rapper and entrepreneur Chamillionaire as its newest entrepreneur-in-residence
·         Paint Nite enables local artists and venues to plan, promote and sell out creative social painting events on a massive scale, and has raised $13MM in its Series A
·         Now, in a high-profile suit set to go to trial this week, a jury will pass judgment about whether one woman suffered discrimination at Kleiner Perkins
·         Google is finally testing Inbox for work email, but only for a few companies
·         Google has inked a distribution deal with the biggest wireless carriers in the U.S. to get the Google Wallet payments app pre-installed on their phones
·         Please see below for an interesting article on digital content
Deals:
·         Samsung SDI is getting more serious about EVs with the purchase of the EV battery pack division of Magna International - under the agreement, Samsung SDI will acquire Magna Steyr including all 264 employees, production and development site
·         Please see below for an interesting article on the potential Comcast-Time Warner deal
Business:
·         In 2017, Volvo plans to launch the most ambitious autonomous tech trial announced thus far: It’s going to put 100 customers in cars with autonomous capabilities and turn them loose on public roads under a program it calls “Drive Me.”
·         Marcato Capital Management sent a letter to Sotheby’s board on Friday calling on the company to buy back $500MM worth of shares
·         Investors have pulled about $2.5B since October from a hedge-fund firm owned by Carlyle Group LP after an outsize bet on mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac led to steep losses last year
Exec Moves:
·         Charlie Ergen, the brash entrepreneurial founder of Dish Network, will take over as CEO of the satcaster following the retirement of president and CEO Joe Clayton in March
Retail:
Startups:
·         Miovision, an Ontario company that is helping 500 municipalities and engineering firms in 50 countries use video technology to eliminate traffic snarls - the company raised $30MM this month
·         Main Street Hub, a company that helps mom and pop businesses run social media marketing, customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation recently announced it has received $20MM in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank
·         Social location app FacesIn has relaunched with a new focus on delivering location-based alerts about where someone will be soon — not just where they are right now
·         Round.me, which allows users to explore global locations through panoramic photos, has raised a $3MM round led by April Capital
·         The company behind Viv, a powerful form of AI built by Siri’s creators which is able to learn from the world to improve upon its capabilities, has just closed on $12.5 million in Series B funding
Government:
·         European stock markets rose and the euro started the week on a cautious note as a Greek debt deal struck last week remains in the balance
·         Lloyds is poised to resume dividend payments for the first time in more than six years, as the U.K. announced it sold another chunk of its stake in the taxpayer-backed lender
Other:
·         Shoppers crowded into the Mall of America on Sunday despite a threat of attack by an al-Qaeda-linked group


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