Entertainment:
·
CBS Corp CEO
Les Moonves approached Time Warner chief exec Jeff Bewkes about the possibility
of merging the two media companies
·
Tube Centrex has launched a new iOS app called Product TV,
which brings together product videos from across the web
·
Please see below for an interesting article on Popcorn Time
and piracy in Hollywood
·
Sony is showing off its PlayStation Vue cloud-based TV service,
which is aimed at competing with cable TV, largely by providing both your
favorite entertainment channels as well as local TV programming
·
DreamWorks Pictures and Fox 2000 Pictures' upcoming Cold War
thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks has been titled “Bridge
Of Spies”
·
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne unveiled
improved incentives for the film, TV and videogame business as he delivered his
final budget before the country’s general election May 7
·
Lionsgate officially entered into a multiyear deal with
China’s Hunan TV & Broadcast Intermediary for co-financing, distribution,
development and production
·
STX Entertainment entered a deal with Huayi Brothers is
expected to include a bare minimum of 18 pictures in an overall funding deal
with the Chinese concern
·
Campaign Performance Audit (CPA), is CBS’ biggest research
investment yet to support TV advertising as broadcasters gird for an upfront
season struggle to keep dollars from shifting to less expensive digital
platforms
·
New comedy network LAFF is beefing up its programming assets
ahead of its April 15 launch, setting film licensing deals with Sony Pictures
TV, The Walt Disney Studios and Miramax
·
Ooyala subsidiary Videoplaza has announced a partnership with
TubeMogul to create a premium programmatic marketplace for global brands and broadcasters
Tech:
·
Live video broadcast app Meerkat is edging away from being so
reliant on Twitter’s network to power its own - the company announced a new
“light follow” feature that works via the web, making it easy for anyone to
follow users quickly without following them on Twitter
·
LinkedIn’s self-service widget — where people can add
qualifications to their LinkedIn profiles without actually visiting LinkedIn —
will now appear on websites for colleges and universities
·
Facebook unveiled a new payments feature for Facebook
Messenger that lets you connect your Visa or MasterCard debit card and tap a
“$” button to send friends money on iOS, Android, and desktop with zero fees
·
Twitter’s own dedicated music app never really took off, but a
new partner integration with Rhapsody brings 30 million full tracks to the app
via new Rhapsody audio cards
·
Foremost 'Apple will make a TV' analyst thinks Apple's TV
service will lead to an actual TV set
·
A former Facebook employee is suing the company for a number
of claims, including sex discrimination, sexual harassment and race/national
origin discrimination
·
StoryCorps has amassed more than 65,000 recordings of ordinary
individuals interviewing one another and telling extraordinary stories
Deals:
·
Aliso Viejo-based Microsemi and
Camarillo-based Vitesse Semiconductor said this morning that Microsemi has
agreed to buy Vitesse, in a deal worth $389MM
Business:
·
General Motors’ announcement that it will buy back $5B worth
of stock raises the question of whether the stock buyback has turned into a
shareholder activist shakedown
·
Microsoft is making its biggest push into the heavily pirated
Chinese market this summer by offering free upgrades to Windows 10 to all
users, regardless of whether they are running genuine copies of the software
·
Japanese shares rose today after data showed exports rising at
a faster-than-expected pace in February and Nintendo jumped on its entrance to
the smartphone gaming industry
·
Shares of Goldman Sachs' business-development company are set
to begin trading on the NYSE under ticker symbol "GSBD"
·
Oracle reported flat third-quarter revenue and slightly lower
profit as the U.S. dollar strengthened, but raised its quarterly dividend 25%
and provided satisfactory forex-adjusted FQ4 guidance
·
American Express is teaming up with big-name companies such as
Macy's, Exxon Mobil, AT&T and Rite Aid to launch a loyalty program, called
Plenti, which will operate similar to drugstore-rewards programs
·
Chinese mobile entertainment and online services giant Tencent
said Wednesday that its fourth-quarter results grew by double-digit percentage
figures
Exec Moves:
·
Please see below for an interesting article
why Emily White left her role at Snapchat
·
Pinterest has hired Kamran Ansari, a
principal at Greycroft Partners, to work on corporate development
Startups:
·
Dealyze is launching a service that
aims to offer a Starbucks-loyalty app experience to any business, but at a
lower price point than its competitors in the mobile loyalty space
·
Gumroad, a startup that helps creators sell digital goods, now
allows those creators to make items (even movies) available for rent
·
Draft is announcing today that it has raised $3.5MM to fuel
its fantasy-sports mobile-game business
·
InsideSales, a SAAS platform with a
machine learning, integrated approach to accelerate sales, raised $60MM in its
Series D
·
DoorDash, which enables small
businesses to provide its customers with local delivery services, raised $35MM
in its Series B
Government:
·
Aaron Schock, a rising star in the Republican Party, who had
his eye on a seat at the House leadership table, has announced his resignation
following questions about reimbursements and improperly used funds
o
http://www.businessinsider.com/sloppiness-and-an-oversized-ego-derailed-gop-star-aaron-schock-2015-3
·
Gunmen in military uniforms stormed Tunisia's national museum,
killing 17 foreign tourists and two Tunisians in a country that has largely
escaped the region's "Arab Spring" turmoil
·
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party unexpectedly
pulled ahead of his main rival in Israel's election, putting him in a leading
position to form a governing coalition
Other:
·
Astronauts have captured vivid Aurora display from
International Space Station
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